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Locke on the ‘true foundations’ of government
No full textThis chapter argues that Locke ought to be recognized as an early and important theorist of constituent power, whose work offers a systematic, distinctive, and potent instantiation of that mode of thought. Grounded in a distinction between ‘Society’ (or the people) and ‘Government’, the central elements of Locke’s political thought mirror core propositions of constituent power theory. These include the innate law-generating capacity of the people, reflected most clearly in the capacity to effect binding agreements; the clear separation of constituent and legislative (constituted) power; the subjection of legislative power to constitutional constraints; and the power to form, alter, or dissolve the government being vested in the people
Afrobeats celebrates cybercrime and it's becoming a global problem
No full textWhen former US secretary of state Colin Powell took to a London stage alongside Nigerian artist Olu Maintain in 2008 and danced to a song called Yahoozee, he almost certainly didn’t know that the track is widely understood in Nigeria as a celebration of internet fraud. The moment became a striking illustration of something my research keeps returning to: how music can carry the moral codes of cybercrime far beyond their origins, laundering them in rhythm, recognition and prestige. Over the last ten years I’ve studied cybercriminal pathways, romance fraud, victimisation of senior citizens, business email compromise, and the cultural politics of cybercrime. My latest collaborative study examines 40 Afrobeats songs released between 2023 and 2025, looking for themes
Cost-utility analysis of free HPV immunization for girls in Rajasthan, India
Get PDFObjective: This paper aims to analyze the cost-utility of implementing a government policy to vaccinate adolescent girls (aged 11 years) against Human Papillomavirus (HPV) for free in the state of Rajasthan in India, compared to the current scenario where the HPV vaccination is not part of the state immunization scheme. Methods: A static, decision-analytic Markov model was used to determine the costs and QALYs associated with the intervention and comparator therapies (arms), necessary to calculate the Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) from the payer perspective, in this case, the Rajasthan state-funded healthcare perspective. The model parameters were taken from existing studies and expert opinions. Uncertainties in the model were addressed by conducting a sensitivity analysis. Results: Given the costs and the QALYs gained for the model, the intervention of introducing free HPV immunization in Rajasthan is a cost-effective measure with an ICER of -$9548.24/QALY (8,37,822 INR/QALY). Considering all the uncertainties associated with the model, the intervention is not just cost-effective, but cost-saving as well, at a willingness-to-pay threshold of one or three times the Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) per capita of the state of Rajasthan. Conclusion: Overall, the program’s high cost-effectiveness indicates that HPV immunization should be explored at a national level, addressing the evidence gaps identified in this study. Because it is extremely cost-effective to introduce an HPV immunization program for girls in the state of Rajasthan, it serves as a scalable model in similar geo-demographic regions. Clinical trial number: Not applicable
Nightmare egalitarianism: commensuration, autonomy, and imagination
Get PDFEgalitarianism is often idealized, but many anthropologists have noted its potential for nightmare scenarios involving envy, mistrust, and violence. This introduction outlines a framework for understanding the negative emotions and violence associated with the forces of commensuration that are necessary to make people equal. The levelling effect of commensuration stands in tension with autonomy and mutuality; and may be contained through imaginative social practice. Drawing on ethnographic examples ranging from Neolithic architecture to contemporary state formation, we distinguish three fundamental modes of egalitarianism: ‘non-egalitarianism’, based on the incommensurability of beings; ‘segmentary egalitarianism’, which draws equivalences within defined groups and is based on partial commensuration; and ‘general egalitarianism’ based on universal and absolute commensuration. In non-egalitarianism, the nightmare is the emergence of a sovereign central perspective. The horrors of segmentary egalitarianism are located at the boundaries of well-established in-groups, and personified by non-equals above, below, and elsewhere. General egalitarianism produces subjects that are ‘more equal than others’ and forces new in-group/out-group divides. Throughout, the violent aspects of egalitarian world-making – such as enforcing measures, drawing boundaries, and suppressing incommensurabilities – are explored not just as constraints but also as generative social forces
Has China solved AI governance?
No full textChina’s approach to AI governance poses a challenge for policymakers worldwide: can governments keep up with technologies that evolve faster than the rules meant to govern them? Researchers Songruowen Ma and Kenddrick Chan explore China’s strategy
Western Balkans as the frontline of Russian hybrid warfare
No full textHybrid warfare (HW) scholarship acknowledges the phenomenon’s contextual and temporal specificity, yet its dominant conceptual framing has generated a literature largely centred on identifying and categorising hybrid activities. This focus has left the contextual vulnerabilities that enable hybrid threats (HT) and shape an adversary’s selection of tools and methods underexplored. Addressing this gap, the paper offers a comprehensive analysis of Russia’s engagement in the Western Balkans, guided by three core questions: to whom, where, and why is the HT directed in this particular environment? It finds that how local societies perceive an external actor’s engagement (domestic response) is integral to public understanding of what constitutes a HTthreat, and affects whether and how an adversary engages in HW. In the Western Balkans, affinity with Russia is a key factor shaping the domestic response to Russia’s interference in domestic processes, enabling Russia to pursue a sophisticated and impactful range of activities with regional effects, which has turned it into a HW frontline. From a policy practice perspective, a comprehensive contextual analysis that uncovers what makes certain HW practices effective provides a necessary foundation for developing an appropriate set of countermeasures to alter domestic responses within HW deterrence approach focused on societal resilience
Adoption, incidence and welfare impacts of interest-free loans: evidence from solar PV
No full textSteep declines in solar PV costs raise questions about whether, and how, to continue support. This paper analyses Scotland’s interest-free Home Energy Scotland (HES) Loan, which encourages household PV adoption by lowering borrowing costs and extending repayment periods, reducing upfront capital barriers. This type of instrument has a low fiscal cost but has been relatively under-examined in previous research on solar subsidies. Using a database of more than one million household PV installations in the UK over the period 2010–2021, the authors compare Scottish localities that have access to loans with similar English localities that are ineligible, before and after 2017, when the HES Loan was introduced. The results show clearly that the HES Loan increased household adoption of rooftop solar panels in Scotland, even though the country has relatively low solar potential, and shifted take-up towards smaller systems suitable for smaller properties. In terms of the distributional impacts across wealth groups, unlike previously examined policies including upfront rebates and Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs), there were broad gains and relatively larger effects in lower-wealth areas and across urban and accessible-rural locations, yielding a less skewed wealth and geographical distribution of installations. The paper also examines the value-for-money for the government. The results consistently indicate positive welfare gains from the loan at modest fiscal cost. Overall, the paper provides robust evidence that interest-free loans can cost-effectively expand the uptake of household solar PV while promoting equitable access, complementing (and in some contexts outperforming) production-based support policies (i.e. those that subsidise households per unit of electricity produced by their solar panels)
Investment or losers’ compensation? The mis-selling and re-selling of EU Cohesion Policy
No full textThe European Union Cohesion Policy – the flagship EU investment programme – has since its 1989 reform invested over a trillion euros to promote development across Europe. Over the decades, this policy has helped transform economies, create jobs and reduce disparities. Yet it faces a crisis of identity and legitimacy. Once promoted as a bold development investment in Europe’s future, it has increasingly been reframed in political narratives as a form of support, solidarity or even as a compensation or subsidy for the ‘losers’ of integration. This mis-selling of Cohesion Policy has eroded its public image and political support, just as new challenges – from competitiveness and trade to security – have put its future at stake in EU budget negotiations. This article delves into the narrative of EU Cohesion Policy since 1989 and examines how it shifted from ‘development investment’ to ‘losers’ compensation’. It argues that this reframing has undermined the policy’s relevance and credibility and contributed to its frail position in the current budget negotiations for the post-2027 period. A return to a development-focussed narrative to re-sell the policy is urgently needed