bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Survival vs Quality
Authors: Casal Bértoa Fernando , Enyedi Zsolt
Published: June 2021

The final chapter examines the impact of party system closure on the survival as well as the quality of democracy. We consider the question of whether closure is a necessary or sufficient precondition for the survival of democracy, and whether the other often proposed measures of party system stability, especially electoral volatility and parliamentary fragmentation, have a similarly important role. We use various indices to tap the quality of democracy, and we measure the relationship between these indices and closure by considering the intervening role of economic development. We find a special pattern in post-Communist Eastern Europe, indicating that closure can have pernicious consequences under certain conditions.
Stomach and duodenal disorders
Authors: McGregor Colleen
Published: June 2021

This chapter covers core curriculum topics relating to benign and malignant conditions of the stomach and duodenum. Particular focus is given to the diagnostic approach to and therapeutic management of Helicobacter pylori infection and peptic ulcer disease. Other benign conditions covered include gastroparesis and duodenal adenomas, namely the investigation and management thereof. Attention is given to the identification of and management of GISTs, pre-malignant gastric lesions, gastric dysplasia and gastric polyps. Also importantly covered are the epidemiology, presentation, investigation and treatment of gastric adenocarcinoma. Finally, a selection of questions covers the rare presentations of neuroendocrine tumours, Ménétrier’s disease and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome.
Small intestinal disorders
Authors: Ambrose Tim
Published: June 2021

This chapter covers core curriculum topics relating to small intestinal disorders and malabsorption. This includes a discussion of key gut hormones involved in digestion and absorptive processes including with relevance for obesity. Questions on gastrointestinal neurotransmitters and transporters provide education in gut physiology. The protean presentations of several micronutrient deficiencies seen in clinical practice are discussed. Focus is given to the diagnosis, initial management and follow up of patients with coeliac disease and villous atrophy including later-onset complications such as enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma. Also covered is the investigation of small intestinal motility disorders and the manifestations and management of functional abdominal conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome. Disorders of bile acid recirculation, microbial dysregulation including through acute infections, and key medications causing presentations with diarrhoea are incorporated in this chapter. Additional curriculum material regarding small intestinal disorders will also be covered in the mock examination chapter.
Gaussian integrals. Algebraic preliminaries
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

In this work, the perturbative aspects of quantum mechanics (QM) and quantum field theory (QFT), to a large extent, are studied with functional (path or field) integrals and functional techniques. This physics textbook thus begins with a discussion of algebraic properties of Gaussian measures, and Gaussian expectation values for a finite number of variables. The important role of Gaussian measures is not unrelated to the central limit theorem of probabilities, although the interesting physics is generally hidden in essential deviations from Gaussian distributions. A few algebraic identities about Gaussian expectation values, in particular Wick's theorem are recalled. Integrals over some type of formally complex conjugate variables, directly relevant for boson systems are defined. Fermion systems require the introduction of Grassmann or exterior algebras, and the corresponding generalization of the notions of differentiation and integration. Both for complex and Grassmann integrals, Gaussian integrals, and Gaussian expectation values are calculated, and generalized Wick's theorems proven. The concepts of generating functions and Legendre transformation are recalled.
Quantum mechanics (QM): Path integrals in phase space
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

In Chapter 2, a path integral representation of the quantum operator e-β H in the case of Hamiltonians H of the separable form p2/2m + V(q) has been constructed. Here, the construction is extended to Hamiltonians that are more general functions of phase space variables. This results in integrals over paths in phase space involving the action expressed in terms of the classical Hamiltonian H(p,q). However, it is shown that, in the general case, the path integral is not completely defined, and this reflects the problem that the classical Hamiltonian does not specify completely the quantum Hamiltonian, due to the problem of ordering quantum operators in products. When the Hamiltonian is a quadratic function of the momentum variables, the integral over momenta is Gaussian and can be performed. In the separable example, the path integral of Chapter 2 is recovered. In the case of the charged particle in a magnetic field a more general form is found, which is ambiguous, since a problem of operator ordering arises, and the ambiguity must be fixed. Hamiltonians that are general quadratic functions provide other important examples, which are analysed thoroughly. Such Hamiltonians appear in the quantization of the motion on Riemannian manifolds. There, the problem of ambiguities is even more severe. The problem is illustrated by the analysis of the quantization of the free motion on the sphere SN−1.
Symmetries, chiral symmetry breaking, and renormalization
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

Most quantum field theories (QFT) of physical interest exhibit symmetries, exact symmetries or symmetries with soft (e.g. linear) breaking. This chapter deals only with linear continuous symmetries corresponding to compact Lie groups. When the bare action has symmetry properties, to preserve the symmetry it is first necessary to find a symmetric regularization. The symmetry properties of the QFT then imply relations between connected correlation functions, and vertex functions, called Ward–Takahashi (WT) identities, which describe the physical consequences of the symmetry. WT identities also constrain UV divergences, and the counter-terms that render the theory finite are not of most general form allowed by power counting. As a consequence the renormalized action is expected to keep some trace of the initial symmetry. Such an analysis is based on a perturbative loop expansion. More generally, some non-trivial relations survive when to the action are added terms that induce a soft breaking of symmetry (i.e. by relevant terms). The specific examples of linear symmetry breaking, and the very important limiting case of spontaneous symmetry breaking, and quadratic symmetry breaking are examined. Finally, as an application, the example of chiral symmetry breaking in low-energy effective models of hadron physics is discussed.
Critical domain: Universality, ε-expansion
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

In Chapter 15, the scaling behaviour of correlation functions at criticality, T = Tc, has been derived. This chapter is devoted to the critical domain, where the correlation length is large with respect to the microscopic scale, but finite. In dimensions d < 4, above Tc, the property of strong scaling is derived: in the critical domain above Tc, all correlation functions, after rescaling, can be expressed in terms of universal correlation functions, in which the scale of distance is provided by the correlation length. However, because the correlation length is singular at Tc, in this formalism, the critical temperature cannot be crossed. Alternatively, one can expand correlation functions in formal power series of the deviation (T −Tc) from the critical temperature, in presence of a magnetic field. The sum of the expansion satisfies renormalization group (RG) equations also valid for T < Tc and in a magnetic field, from which follow scaling properties in the whole critical domain. The universal two-point function can be expanded when T approaches Tc, using the short-distance expansion (SDE). A few terms of the ϵ expansion (ϵ is the deviation from dimension 4) of a few universal quantities are reported. Calculations at fixed dimension and summation of perturbative expansions are described. The conformal bootstrap based on the SDE and conformal invariance at the infrared (IR) fixed point provides an alternative method to determine critical exponents.
Gross–Neveu–Yukawa and Gross–Neveu models
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

In this chapter, a model is considered that can be defined in continuous dimensions, the Gross– Neveu–Yukawa (GNY) model, which involves N Dirac fermions and one scalar field. The model has a continuous U(N) symmetry, and a discrete symmetry, which prevents the addition of a fermion mass term to the action. For a specific value of a coefficient of the action, the model undergoes a continuous phase transition. The broken phase illustrates a mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking, leading to spontaneous fermion mass generation like in the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. In four dimensions, the GNY can be considered as a toy model to represent the interactions between the top quark and the Higgs boson, the heaviest particles of the SM of fundamental interactions, when the gauge fields are omitted. The model is renormalizable in four dimensions and its renormalization group (RG) properties can be studied in d = 4 and d = 4 − ϵ dimensions. A model of self-interacting fermions with the same symmetries and fermion content, the Gross–Neveu (GN) model, has been widely studied. In perturbation theory, for d > 2, it describes only a phase with massless fermions but, in d = 2 + ϵ dimensions, the RG indicates that, at a critical value of the coupling constant, the model experiences a phase transition. In two dimensions, it is renormalizable and exhibits the phenomenon of asymptotic freedom. The massless phase becomes infrared unstable and there is strong evidence that the spectrum corresponds to spontaneous symmetry breaking and fermion mass generation.
O(2) spin model and the Kosterlitz–Thouless’s phase transition
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

At low temperature, the large distance properties of the O(2) spin lattice model can be described by the O(2) non-linear σ-model. The latter model is free and massless in two dimensions. The origin of this peculiarity can be found in the local structure of the field manifold: for N = 2, the O(N) sphere reduces to a circle, which cannot be distinguished locally from a straight line. Because the physical fields are sin θ or cos θ, or equivalently e± iθ, instead of θ, a field renormalization is necessary, and temperature-dependent anomalous dimensions are generated. However, the free θ action cannot describe the long-distance properties of the lattice model for all temperatures, since a high temperature analysis of the corresponding spin model shows that the correlation length is finite at high temperature, and thus a phase transition is required. In fact, it is necessary to take into account the property that θ is a cyclic variable. This condition is irrelevant at low temperature, but when the temperature increases, classical configurations with singularities at isolated points, around which θ varies by a multiple of 2π become important. The action of these configurations (vortices) can be identified with the energy of a neutral Coulomb gas, which exhibits a transition between a low temperature of bound neutral molecules and a high temperature phase of a plasma of free charges. The Coulomb gas can be mapped onto the sine-Gordon (sG) model, mapping in which the low- and high-temperature regions of the models are exchanged. This correspondence helps to understand some properties of the famous Kosterlitz-Thouless (KT) phase transition, which separates an infinite correlation length phase without order, the low-temperature phase of the O(2) spin model, from a finite correlation length phase, the high-temperature phase of the O(2) spin model.
Finite-size effects in field theory. Scaling behaviour
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

A number of numerical calculations, like Monte Carlo or transfer matrix calculations, are performed with systems in which the size in several or all dimensions is finite. To extrapolate the results to the infinite system, it is thus necessary to understand how the infinite size limit is reached. In particular in a system in which the forces are short range, no phase transition can occur in a finite volume, or in a geometry in which the size is infinite only in one dimension. This indicates that the infinite-size extrapolation is somewhat non-trivial. In this chapter, the problem is analysed in the case of second-order phase transitions, in the framework of the N-vector model. The existence of a finite-size scaling is established, extending renormalization group (RG) arguments to this new situation. Then, finite volume geometry and cylindrical geometry, in which the size is finite in all dimensions except one, are distinguished. It is explained how to adapt the methods used in the case of infinite systems to calculate the new universal quantities appearing in finite-size effects, for example, in d = 4−ϵ or d = 2+ϵ dimensions. Special properties of the commonly used periodic boundary conditions are emphasized.
Stochastic differential equations: Langevin, Fokker–Planck (FP) equations
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

This chapter is devoted to the study of Langevin equations, first order in time differential equations, which depend on a random noise, and which belong to a class of stochastic differential equations that describe diffusion processes, or random motion. From a Langevin equation, a Fokker–Planck (FP) equation for the probability distribution of the solutions, at given time, of the Langevin equation can be derived. It is shown that observables averaged over the noise can also be calculated from path integrals, whose integrands define automatically positive measures. The path integrals involve dynamic actions that have automatically a Becchi–Rouet–Stora–Tyutin (BRST) symmetry and, when the driving force derives from a potential, exhibit the simplest form of supersymmetry. In some cases, like Brownian motion on Riemannian manifolds, difficulties appear in the precise definition of stochastic equations, quite similar to the quantization problem encountered in quantum mechanics (QM). Time discretization provides one possible solution to the problem.
Langevin field equations: Properties and renormalization
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

Langevin equations for fields have been proposed to describe the dynamics of critical phenomena, or as an alternative method of quantization, which could be useful in cases where ordinary methods lead to difficulties, like in gauge theories. Some of their general properties will be described here. For a number of problems, in particular related to perturbation theory, it is more convenient to work with an action and a field integral than with the equation directly, because standard methods of quantum field theory (QFT) then become available. For this purpose, one can associate a field integral representation, involving a dynamic action to the Langevin equation. The dynamic action can be interpreted as generated by the Langevin equation, considered as a constraint equation. Quite generally, the integral representation of constraint equations, including stochastic equations, leads to an action that has a Slavnov–Taylor (ST) symmetry and, in a different form, has an anticommuting type Becchi–Rouet–Stora–Tyutin (BRST) symmetry, a symmetry that involves anticommuting parameters. This symmetry has no geometric origin, but is merely a consequence of associating a specific form of integral representations to the constraint equations. This symmetry is used in a number of different examples to prove the renormalizability of non-Abelian gauge theories, or to prove the geometric stability of models defined on homogeneous spaces under renormalization. In this chapter, it is used to prove Ward-Takahashi (WT) identities, and to determine how the Langevin equation renormalizes.
Large order behaviour of perturbation theory
Authors: Zinn-Justin Jean
Published: June 2021

In quantum field theory (QFT), the main analytic tool to calculate physical quantities is the perturbative expansion. Following, Dyson's intuitive argument, the divergence of perturbative series was demonstrated in some models of quantum mechanics (QM) with polynomial potentials, using the Schrödinger equation. Later, it was proposed to study the problem within a path integral formulation. A systematic method in field theory was proposed by Lipatov, using the field integral representation of the φ44 field theory and instantons. It can be shown that the ground-state energy of the quartic anharmonic oscillator is analytic in a cut-plane. The imaginary part of the energy on the cut is related to barrier penetration. The behaviour of the perturbative coefficients at large orders is related to the behaviour of the imaginary part for small and negative coupling and can be obtained by instanton methods. The method has been generalized to the class of potentials for which (in general complex) instanton contributions have been calculated. The same method can be readily applied to boson field theories, while the extension to field theories involving fermions, like Quantum QED, requires additional considerations. The general conclusion is that, in QFT, all perturbative series, expanded in terms of a loop-expansion parameter, are divergent series.
Places of Form in Early Modern Poetics
Authors: Hetherington Michael
Published: June 2021

‘Form’ is a notoriously capacious, unreliable, and yet necessary commonplace of both modern and early modern critical vocabulary. This essay explores the flexible and imaginatively generative ways in which the concept migrated from discourses of philosophy and logic into literary criticism and practice, drawing on a range of writers of different nationalities from across the early modern period, but focusing especially on English literature of the Elizabethan fin-de-siècle. It argues, in particular, that one of form’s principal places in that exciting cultural moment was the mind of the poet: the mind trained, structured, or ‘informed’ by poetic theory; the mind as a place which moulds and shapes the materials of language and representation into communicative forms; the mind as the source for the forms of utterance we call ‘style’.
Painting as ‘Reall Performance’ in Rembrandt’s Studio
Authors: Weststeijn Thijs
Published: June 2021

Whereas various previous studies have addressed Rembrandt’s own reading habits, this essay shifts attention to the viewer: how did the master expect his public to react to his works? On the basis of art theories from Rembrandt’s circle (chiefly by Samuel van Hoogstraten and Franciscus Junius), the artist’s studio is reconstructed as a place of criticism, where art was evaluated in performative terms: ancient theories of ekphrasis and emotional involvement were put to painterly practice. This practice involved the artist preparing his figure compositions by ‘performing’ in front of a mirror or for an audience, or by trying out small-scale choreographies using dolls. In addition, the presentation of an artwork to viewers could also approach the ideal of an immersion in a virtual reality through the use of curtains, the declamation of texts, and other sound effects.
Introduction
Authors: Kresin Vladimir Z. , Ovchinnikov Sergei G. , Wolf Stuart A.
Published: June 2021

This chapter outlines the story of superconductivity, which started at the beginning of the twentieth century, and describes major breakthroughs, such as the discovery of the Meissner effect and the isotope effect. Several important developments preceded the microscopic theory formulated by Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer: the two-fluid model, London equations, and the Ginzburg–Landau theory. Formulation of the theory brought further progress, such as quasiparticle tunnelling and the Josephson effect, and the search for new mechanisms of superconductivity and novel materials such as high-Tc oxides and hydrides. The main excitations in normal solids, including phonons, polaronic states, plasmons, and magnons, are described. A rigorous description of the adiabatic method, the foundation of the theory of solids, is provided, and the electron–phonon interaction, renormalisation phenomena, and the dynamic polaronic effect are introduced. The Heisenberg model, the key ingredient of the theory of magnetism, is also described.
Mechanisms
Authors: Kresin Vladimir Z. , Ovchinnikov Sergei G. , Wolf Stuart A.
Published: June 2021

This chapter introduces the general concepts of pair correlation, and superconductivity as a strong non-adiabatic phenomenon. Phonon, electronic, and magnetic mechanisms play the major roles; each of them can serve as the origin of the superconducting state. Speaking of the phonon mechanism, it is essential that an explicit expression for Tc depend on the intensity of the electron–phonon interaction. In principle, the electron–phonon mechanism can provide high values of Tc, up to room temperature. Pioneering work by Little, who introduced the electronic mechanism, is described. The mechanism has been analysed for one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional systems. The plasmon mechanism can play a role for layered materials. The superconducting state can be provided by magnetic degrees of freedom. The band limit with spin fluctuations and the regime of strong electron correlations are described. The Hubbard Hamiltonian and the t − J model are the ingredients of the approach.
Inhomogeneous Superconductivity and the ‘Pseudogap’ State of Novel Superconductors
Authors: Kresin Vladimir Z. , Ovchinnikov Sergei G. , Wolf Stuart A.
Published: June 2021

This chapter discusses the high-Tc oxides, which display many unusual properties above Tc, especially for the underdoped compounds. One can observe some features typical for the superconducting state, such as the energy gap, anomalous diamagnetism, and the isotope effect; they coexist with finite resistance. These features are caused by an intrinsic inhomogeneity of the compound. Various energy scales (Tc, Tc*, T*) can be introduced. The system contains a set of superconducting ‘islands’ embedded in a normal metallic matrix. The inhomogeneity is caused by the statistical nature of doping and the pair-breaking effect. The formation of a macroscopic superconducting phase (at T = Tc) corresponds to the transition, which is of a percolative nature. The resistive and Meissner transitions are split. The granular superconductors are inhomogeneous and their properties are similar to those of doped systems. The ordered doping should lead to an increase in the value of the critical temperature.
Britain’s Western Indian Ocean Island-Scape
Authors: Longair Sarah
Published: June 2021

The British Empire had a significant influence on the history of the islands in the western Indian Ocean. In turn, the location, size, culture, and environment of these islands shaped the history of empire. This chapter investigates these islands’ strategic significance, their role in trade and commerce, and their diverse colonial cultures. It also considers these islands as sites of confinement and scientific research. Taken together, this chapter highlights the pivotal role played by western Indian Ocean islands—and their distinctive cultures, environments, and geographies—in the expansion and maintenance of Britain’s maritime empire in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Desire as Belief
Authors: Gregory Alex
Published: June 2021

What is it to want something? Or, as philosophers might ask, what is a desire? This book defends ‘desire-as-belief’, the view that desires are just a special subset of our beliefs: normative beliefs. This view entitles us to accept orthodox models of human motivation and rationality that explain those things with reference to desire, but nonetheless to also make room for our normative beliefs to play a role in those domains. And this view tells us to diverge from the orthodox view on which desires themselves can never be right or wrong. Rather, according to desire-as-belief, our desires can themselves be assessed for their accuracy, and they are wrong when they misrepresent normative features of the world. Hume says that it is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of your finger, but he is wrong: it is foolish to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of your finger, and this is foolish because this preference misrepresents the relative worth of these things.
Representing Reasons
Authors: Gregory Alex
Published: June 2021

This chapter assesses the worry that desire-as-belief raises the bar too high for desiring since it excludes many animals from having desires. In response, the chapter first sketches a general theory of how normative beliefs get their contents: a version of conceptual role semantics according to which the content of a given normative belief is determined by the inputs and outputs to that state. Then, with this theory in hand, the chapter argues that animals count as borderline cases of creatures with desires, since they are borderline cases of creatures with reasons beliefs. This conclusion has some intuitive appeal, and remaining resistance may be undercut by appeal to the distinction between desires and likings, and by appeal to the fact that “wants” is sometimes used merely to mean “needs”.
Conclusion
Authors: Gregory Alex
Published: June 2021

This brief chapter first restates the arguments for desire-as-belief, reiterates how it illuminates various questions about motivation, rationality, and what we ought to do, and recapitulates the ways in which the view can avoid objections. It then briefly restates the contrasts between desire-as-belief and some rival views. The chapter next presents some autobiographical claims about which aspects of the view the author finds most and least compelling, and finally notes various topics that stand out as requiring further investigation in relation to desire-as-belief: the nature of reasons, the prospects for objectivism in metaethics, developments in neuroscience, and questions about desire-as-belief and the status of knowledge – as opposed to mere belief – about reasons.
Understanding Elite Commitment to Social Protection
Authors: Lavers Tom
Published: June 2021

This chapter examines the political economy of the adoption and evolution of Rwanda’s Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme (VUP), concluding that strong government commitment to the VUP was shaped by the characteristics of the political settlement that was established around 2000. For the Rwandan government, the VUP has never been just a social transfer programme, but a key part of the development strategy that aims to promote social stability and the legitimacy of the ruling coalition through rapid socioeconomic development. In particular, the VUP originates in an emerging distributional crisis in the mid-2000s in which rapid economic growth alongside low rates of poverty reduction threatened the government narrative of inclusive development. While donor social protection ideas have also been influential, these are purposely adapted by government with a view to meeting its developmental and political goals.
Towards a Vernacular Study of Border Security
Authors: Vaughan-Williams Nick
Published: June 2021

This introductory chapter sets out the puzzle posed by the intensification of walling and deterrent security on the one hand and the proliferation of populist calls for tougher borders on the other. It argues that in order to address this puzzle it is necessary not only to consider the roles of governmental actors, media sources, and people on the move in the performance of Europe’s so-called ‘migration crisis’, but also the views, experiences, and political agency of EU citizens in whose name tougher border security is ultimately legitimized. While the nationalist populist mantra of ‘taking back control’ of borders and sovereignty claims to speak for large numbers of EU citizens, relatively little is known about how citizens conceptualize, understand, and talk about the ‘crisis’—and the twinned issues of migration and border security—in the context of their everyday lives. The discussion engages with theoretical and methodological debates about the status of the vernacular as a distinctive approach in the social sciences. It builds on existing interdisciplinary literature in order to develop a vernacular study of border security, which draws on positioning theory in order to understand subject formation in, and the wider political significance of, social conversations. It outlines how this vernacular approach was applied in the ‘Border Narratives’ project, the findings of which form the underpinning research for the book as a whole. Finally, it provides a map of the key arguments, summarizes main contributions, and explains how each chapter addresses a different facet of the above puzzle.
Border Anxieties
Authors: Vaughan-Williams Nick
Published: June 2021

Chapter 5 focuses on EU citizens’ border anxieties and vernacular narratives of ontological (in)security; it argues that such narratives offer insights into the everyday politics of desire for border security predicated upon fantasies of control. Analysis of group discussions centres on how citizens conceptualized ‘the border’, what they understood by ‘tougher’ borders, and why they found bordering practices—including walling—appealing as a policy paradigm for responding to migration in the contemporary EU context. The discussion engages critically with interdisciplinary debates about psycho-social approaches to bordering and the politics of ‘ontological security’. Work orientated by the dominant Laing–Giddens paradigm offers a conceptualization of the relationship between macro-level and micro-level bordering practices, notions of home and belonging, and the illusion of the bounded nation-state as the origin of a pure and stable identity, but it presumes that ‘more bordering’ equates to ‘greater security’. By contrast, Brown’s (2010) psychoanalytical approach to walling offers tools for understanding the counter-intuitive process whereby excessive bordering practices may result from and further stimulate the repression of anxieties, which leads to an obsessive drive that produces the very dangers it seeks to negate. But while Brown’s view helps in part to address the puzzle posed by the contemporary EU context, it ultimately leaves no possibility of escape, no potential for change, and no recognition of actually existing alternatives to ever more bordered states and lives, and yet these counter-narratives are also rendered visible by a vernacular approach to European border security.
The Reactive Attitudes and Responsibility
Authors: Brink David O.
Published: June 2021

The chapter introduces Strawson’s link between the reactive attitudes and responsibility. It defends a realist understanding of that link, in which it is responsibility that grounds the reactive attitudes. It explains how responsibility and excuse are inversely related and how our practices of excuse vindicate a compatibilist conception of responsibility. It concludes by exploring quality of will and distinguishing accountability from attributability and answerability.
Affirmative Defenses
Authors: Brink David O.
Published: June 2021

Different affirmative exculpatory defenses are distinguished and examined, including justifications, such as self-defense and necessity, and excuses, such as insanity, duress, and provocation. Traditional assumptions about the normative architecture of the defenses are examined and questioned. Should the standards in defenses be objective or subjective? Can self-defense be assimilated to necessity? Should we recognize partial justifications? Are necessity and duress distinct defenses? Is provocation a justification or excuse? These questions are addressed and a revised conception of the architecture of defenses is defended.
Digitalization
Authors: Solymar Laszlo
Published: June 2021

Digital electronics (based on signals in the form of pulses) turned out to be superior to analogue electronics which produced the exact waveforms. The emergence of digital techniques reduced noise and at the same time was less demanding of bandwidth. Pulse code modulation was introduced and became the dominant form of modulation. The operation of digital exchanges is explained. Their growth is plotted as a function of time for the decade 1987–97. Digital signal processing is discussed. Shannon’s theory predicting that a certain amount of information can be transmitted entirely free of noise is discussed.
Optical Communications: The Beginning
Authors: Solymar Laszlo
Published: June 2021

The first efforts by Alexander Graham Bell at optical communications by incoherent light are discussed. Those were very inefficient at the time but after the invention of the laser it was only a question of time when coherent optical communication will dominate the communications scene The beginning was slow because propagation both in air and in fibre waveguide was too large. Enormous efforts by the Corning Glass Works brought down the attenuation to a figure as low as a few dbs per kilometre making some further applications feasible. The next break-through was the invention of the fibre amplifier enabling the erection of long relay-free lines (maybe up to 10,000 km) possible range of applications was greatly extended by the invention of the fibre amplifier. Coherent light propagation in thin, single-mode fibres is discussed a very thin fibre is discussed. It is shown that an optical fibre can carry an enormous number of communication channels. The laser was invented just in time to help produce the signals, and it also became possible to produce pure enough glass fibres in which an optical signal could propagate with low attenuation. The invention of erbium-doped fibre amplifiers allowed them to be spread all over the world, including large number of lines under the oceans.
Deregulation and Privatization
Authors: Solymar Laszlo
Published: June 2021

The end of the Second World War saw the company AT&T in a dominant position in the US. They had the local monopoly, the long-distance monopoly, and the manufacturing monopoly. They were under constant attack by the Justice Department who sought to stop their monopoly position by applying the Anti-Trust laws. In 1984 they succeeded, and the AT&T empire was dissolved. Seven independent, so-called Baby Bells, were set up. Bell Telephone Laboratories, the world’s greatest research laboratory, was split up. In the UK at about the same time the Post Office lost its monopoly position, although British Telecom, set up in its stead, was allowed to keep a monopoly position but had to accept regulation. France Telecom was also privatized.
Optical Fibres Revisited
Authors: Solymar Laszlo
Published: June 2021

A history of the use of single- and multimode fibres in optic fibres is provided. Wavelength division multiplex is introduced, The same fibre can carry hundreds of wavelength bands. The longest stretch of optical fibre line is about 10,000 km. The greatest capacity achieved has been in the petabit/s range for a single cable with 32 cores, each one having 16 wavelength channels capable of carrying 680 Gb/s each. The ‘last mile’ problem still has not been solved in Britain. The relative advantages of satellites and optical fibres are discussed. Fibres working on different physical principles, e.g. holey fibres, have also been invented.
Legal Advice, the Foreign Office, and Britain’s Neutrality Policy, 1870–1914
Authors: Frei Gabriela A.
Published: June 2021

As the predominant sea power in the nineteenth century, Britain shaped the understanding of neutrality at sea prior to 1914 like no other nation. This chapter examines how Britain formulated its neutrality policy in the aftermath of the American Civil War, and how this policy was implemented in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the Sino-French War of 1884–1885, and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Each conflict posed new legal challenges. It focuses on how the British government received legal advice, and how the government administration of foreign affairs changed as a result of the growing importance of legal advice in international politics. While the Foreign Office was responsible for the implementation of the neutrality policy, this chapter highlights the importance of the Law Officers of the Crown who, as the principal legal advisers of the British government, shaped state practice and, more generally, the understanding of neutrality at sea.
Horizontal Agreements
Authors: Whish Richard
Published: June 2021

Chapter 2 considers the application of the Competition Act 1998 to ‘Horizontal Agreements’, and in particular to cartel behaviour, since that piece of legislation entered into force on 1 March 2000. It is a tour de force of the enforcement practice. The chapter notes that early years of the legislation were somewhat disappointing, with a fairly low level of enforcement, although the OFT did score success with pioneering investigations of so-called ‘hub and spoke’ cartels in the Football Shirts and Toys and Games cases. From about 2006 onwards there were more decisions from the OFT, and some of the cases, such as Construction bid-rigging and Fuel surcharges, were high profile ones. Despite this, criticism of under-performance was voiced, not least by the National Audit Office. It is noted that in due course the OFT was replaced by the CMA, and there has been a noticeable increase in enforcement in recent years. Whish suggests that in a post-Brexit world it can be anticipated that there will be yet more enforcement, including of larger cartels which historically would have been investigated by the European Commission in Brussels.
Vertical Agreements
Authors: Jones Alison
Published: June 2021

Alison Jones looks at vertical agreements in Chapter 3. This chapter charts the development of UK competition law and policy towards vertical agreements over the 20 years since the Competition Act 1998 came into force. It traces how UK policy has evolved, before examining the UK jurisprudence that assesses the compatibility of vertical agreements with competition law. It notes that although many UK cases initially focused on resale price maintenance, more recently a number have analysed vertical restraints affecting online selling, which have proliferated since 2000 with the rapid growth of e-commerce. The chapter also considers how the law could, or should, develop in the future, especially now the transition period following the UK’s departure from the EU has ended. An important issue considered is whether, post-Brexit, the UK authorities should continue to follow EU competition law in this sphere, which has in significant respects been influenced by internal market considerations, or whether it should take a different course.
Competition Law and the Digital Economy in the UK and Beyond
Authors: Gormsen Liza Lovdahl
Published: June 2021

In Chapter 14, Liza Lovdahl Gormsen considers the contemporaneous debate on how best to address aspects of the interaction between competition law and the digital economy. She stressed that data is the pinnacle of the digital economy. It has fuelled amazing innovations in all sectors of the economy, but the accumulation of data in the hands of a few global companies may lead to lock-in, bottleneck issues, and leverage. The chapter notes that according to the report Unlocking Digital Competition, which was prepared for the UK Treasury, competition policy will need to be updated to address the novel challenges posed by the digital economy. Some of these updates can happen within current powers, but legal changes are important to ensure that this job can be done effectively. The Competition and Markets Authority’s market study on Online Platforms and Digital Advertising recommends establishing a Digital Markets Unit and ex ante regulation as a possible way forward. Building on the outputs from the Furman Review, the government asked the CMA to lead a Digital Markets Taskforce. In December 2020, the latter published its advice, A New Pro-competition Regime for Digital Markets, where it sets out the role of the Digital Markets Unit and an overview of its proposed regulatory framework for digital firms. This chapter looks at some of the challenges for UK competition policy in digital markets, in particular in relation to data, enforcement, and regulation. It also touches upon some of the potential issues that the UK faces in the digital economy following Brexit.
Introduction
Authors: Lepoutre Maxime
Published: June 2021

The Introduction sets the stage by arguing that, in their current form, normative ideals of democratic public discourse tend to be too distant from reality to yield action-guiding prescriptions. Perhaps inclusive public speech is a powerful way of pooling knowledge or contesting power when people who like each other exchange reasons in good faith. But this tells us very little about the value of inclusive public speech in divided settings such as our own, where speech is routinely used to rage, vilify, or deceive, against a background of mutual dislike, political ignorance, and social fragmentation. The Introduction then argues that, to remedy this problem, we need to develop a systematic normative picture of democratic public speech—and specifically, of the norms that should govern democratic public speech—that is sensitive to these non-ideal features.
Offering Shared Reasons
Authors: Lepoutre Maxime
Published: June 2021

This chapter considers an influential norm of public discourse—the ‘shared reasons’ constraint—according to which deliberators must appeal to considerations that are suitably shared when offering justifications. This norm plays an important role in facilitating the contestation of power. Nevertheless, in contexts marked by deep social divisions, even the weakest formulation of the shared reasons constraint ends up excluding too many considerations from public debate. The chapter suggests that, to offset this exclusiveness, we should first restrict the shared reasons constraint to the most formal arenas of public discussion. But it then argues that this is not enough. We must also welcome emotionally charged and non-argumentative forms of speech. Though these forms of speech have traditionally been viewed as antithetical to the shared reasons constraint, the two must in fact operate hand in hand. Emotionally charged narrative enriches the pool of shared resources from which the shared reasons constraint proceeds, and thereby mitigates its exclusionary implications.
The Problem of Fragmentation
Authors: Lepoutre Maxime
Published: June 2021

This chapter assesses the challenge that social and spatial fragmentation poses for inclusive public discourse. This fragmentation impedes democratic speech by keeping people apart, by fuelling intergroup ill will, and by amplifying intergroup inequalities. To address this problem, the chapter recommends adopting ‘integrative’ policies aimed at desegregating social and political groups. Integrative policies, however, remain deeply controversial. For one thing, they may appear to violate people’s freedom of association. And, in particular, such policies seemingly overlook the important interest that members of historically oppressed groups have in residential self-segregation. But, properly understood, integrative measures in fact need not jeopardize these interests. First, integrative policies create meaningful associative opportunities even as they restrict others. Second, integrating a system of public discourse does not require integrating all sites in that system. Doing so therefore leaves space for historically oppressed groups to engage in a meaningful measure of residential self-segregation.
Conclusion
Authors: Lepoutre Maxime
Published: June 2021

The conclusion summarizes the book’s account of what norms should govern political speech. It reiterates how these norms can remain relevant in contexts marked by mutual dislike, ignorance, and fragmentation. And it briefly outlines remaining empirical and theoretical challenges that must now be tackled to realize this ideal.
Financial Crises and the Limits of Bank Reform
Authors: Keller Eileen
Published: June 2021

This book is about the nature of crisis responses and the politics of financial sector reform leading to their adoption. Studying both French and German participation in international banking reforms and the responses implemented to the global financial crisis domestically, it shows that they cannot be separated from the institutional and the specific socio-economic context in which they emerged. Whereas France pushed for greater independence from the banks by strengthening financial disintermediation and non-bank intermediation, Germany supported classic bank intermediation. Analysing the reasons for this puzzling difference, the book shows that the main lessons drawn from the crisis were the consequence of differing patterns of social learning, which led to changes in widely shared beliefs of specific aspects of banking. While these related to the conditions of bank lending and the limits of bank intermediation in France, in Germany, they were linked to the risks of financial innovation and financial sector concentration. The book builds on an in-depth analysis of French and German banking with a focus on the decade prior to the crisis, crisis management, and the reforms implemented in response to the crisis. It features extensive interview data with over 70 professionals from the financial industry, regulatory agencies, and senior political decision-makers, complemented by profound document and data analysis. Contrary to other accounts of the post-crisis reforms concentrating on regulatory change only, this book focuses on how evolving financial practices and reform priorities mutually condition each other over time, forming distinctive developmental paths.
Adjustments to financial globalization
Authors: Keller Eileen
Published: June 2021

This chapter gives an overview of the adjustments made in France and Germany since the onset of financial globalization. In brief terms, it sketches the emergence of modern finance and the changes financial globalization has brought about. The chapter synthesizes the main characteristics of the French and the German banking sectors and their development until the financial crisis. The chapter also discusses how both adjusted to financial innovation and increased competition, strengthening their financial markets. The chapter concludes with the implications these developments have had for banking and the funding of the economy in both countries, analysing a series of empirical indictors on bank lending, bank profitability, and market-based forms of funding.
Studying the development of integrated financial sectors
Authors: Keller Eileen
Published: June 2021

This chapter presents the theoretical framework of social learning. Given the changes financial sectors underwent in the decades before the crisis, it begins with a brief overview of how the research on financial sectors has developed in comparative and international political economy. It summarizes key insights, synthesizes the progress that has been made, and highlights remaining conceptual difficulties. The subsequent sections spell out the ontological foundations and the theoretical building blocks that inform the book’s analytic prism of social learning, which is the answer provided to the difficulties identified in the first part. The chapter closes with the causal chain that underlies the mechanism of social learning, which structures the subsequent empirical chapters.