This book has investigated trilogues as the democratic secret of European legislation. To this end, it has proceeded in two steps. The first step has been analytical in nature, in that it has described and reconstructed the law and practice of European legislation through a close engagement with the relevant normative sources (Chapters 1–3). The second step has been partly doctrinal and partly theoretical (Chapters 4–6). It has been doctrinal, to the extent that it has sought to capture and give distinctive meaning to “informality,” as both a key concept of EU law and an essential feature of trilogues. It has been theoretical, to the extent that it has discussed, appraised, and legitimized trilogues in the light of theories of public authority and democracy beyond the nation state. In this second step, the line of reasoning has also benefitted from a comparative chapter, which has thrown into sharper relief the advantages of a legislative process based on trilogues.

This chapter highlights two distinct perspectives – international and domestic – on the judicial application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention). The international perspective is framed by reference to article 4 of the Convention and the maximalist approach taken by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The domestic perspective is conceptualised by reference to the direct and indirect application of the Convention as permitted by the reception rules in monist, dualist, and hybrid legal systems. The chapter argues that the international and domestic perspectives on the judicial application of the Convention differ on account of the different institutional positions of the bodies that control them (the Committee vs the domestic courts). The maximalist international position promoted by the Committee is often unavailable to the domestic courts, although it may be a potential inspiration to them. Canvassing these distinct perspectives provides the context for a better understanding of the limitations in the domestic courts’ engagement with the Convention, detailed in the subsequent chapters.

This chapter reviews the regulation of disinformation from an African human rights’ law perspective, focusing on the right to freedom of expression and the right to vote. It provides an overview of the African regional law framework, specifically the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights of 1981 (the African Charter) and corresponding jurisprudence. The chapter also analyses the way in which freedom of expression and disinformation laws have been applied in African countries, the aim being to contextualize and illustrate how African regional law plays out at the domestic level, but with an emphasis on the position in South Africa.

This chapter summarizes Neurath’s manifold achievements before 1934, when he was forced to leave Vienna. Neurath managed to fit several careers into one, relatively short lifetime, being active in education, urbanism, economic planning, museology, graphic design, and philosophy. After an account of his student years, we document his participation in the proto-Vienna Circle, his theories of war economy, and his attempt at socialization in revolutionary Bavaria. Back in Vienna, Neurath became director of the Austrian settlers’ organization, involved in architectural planning, and founded the Social and Economic Museum, where a team of collaborators developed the Vienna Method of Pictorial Statistics (later known as Isotype). Neurath was also a founding member of the Vienna Circle, alongside Moritz Schlick, Rudolf Carnap, and Hans Hahn. Neurath was a dissenting voice from the Circle’s prevalent adulation for Wittgenstein.

‘It Is a Different World’

Through the narrow, dusty pathways of the camps, various NGO initiatives in the form of training centres and women-friendly spaces have emerged to teach women, according to one NGO worker, ‘vocational pathways to sustainable livelihoods’, by providing knowledge on topics such as self-empowerment, confidence-building, and gender equality. Many of my interlocutors alluded to the fact that the presence of humanitarian aid organizations provided opportunities that they were not afforded before in Myanmar, such as special assistance and training on domestic abuse and other forms of gender-based violence, for example. These had a profound effect on the way gender relations and roles were changing in the camps, particularly the way gender divisions of labour and ideas were reshaped. Khatun Khalamma found that the presence of a large number of humanitarian agencies and increased NGO initiatives introduced Rohingyas to ‘things we are not used to’. She tells me:

The UN Inter-Agency Response Team, in cooperation with the Bangladeshi government, led the coordination of the humanitarian response, including other development initiatives and programming. Strolling through the camps in the mornings among the bustle of activity in the markets, one can see men gathered around tables in makeshift teahouses watching news on television sets and women indoors tending to the housework. One notices Rohingyas, young and old, holding mobile phone sets and watching the news and connecting to loved ones across borders and oceans. (Note that a mobile phone blackout by the Bangladeshi government took place starting in the fall of 2019 – when I conducted my fieldwork in 2017–2018, they were still readily available and in use.) The arrival of NGOs brought access to technology, television sets in the bazaars, and the presence of the international community through NGO workers, fieldworkers, researchers, and other regular foreign involvement.

Introduction

One bright, warm afternoon, I sat across the desk from Akrithi, a trans woman in her thirties who has a guru1 and is also an NGO staff member. As sunlight streamed in through her office window behind her, she excitedly related her experience of a recent advocacy project for transgender people. What struck me was how her perception of her abilities and potential shifted as a result of her participation in this kind of activist work:

From Akrithi's perspective, the skills she developed through her employment at an NGO caused a dramatic shift in how she perceived and understood herself and her place in the world.

Akrithi's employment history also includes sex work. With a note of pride in her voice, she relays how she “got out” of sex work and into office employment at an NGO:

Akrithi frames her employment history as a linear progression, moving “up” from engaging in sex work at a public park to a career as an office worker in an NGO. Her pride is evident in how, upon becoming an office worker, she steadily climbed the NGO employment ladder to her current position. Tellingly, Akrithi does not simply think of her career trajectory as an alternate source of employment and income compared to sex work; rather, it symbolizes the transformation her life has undergone. According to Akrithi, the changes in her employment have “proved” that she has accomplished something truly remarkable.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah recount the turbulent years of rebuilding Jerusalem after the exile, but there are different layers in the texts. The Ezra layers present a feminized hero, the Nehemiah layers a masculinized hero.

This chapter introduces the elements of Flavius Agricola’s funerary ensemble (sculpture, epitaph, tomb), positions them within the Vatican necropolis, and contends that they combined to form a cohesive, carefully conceived whole.

In 1626, workers took aim at four spots marked on the floor of the largest church in Christendom, Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The structure’s immense dome hovered more than four hundred feet above them, for they stood at the intersection of the church’s nave and transept. They began to dig. These shafts, when eventually filled with masonry, would support a towering bronze tent (called a baldacchino) over the high altar. As shovels and picks hacked deep, the excavation took laborers back through layers of history. After breaking through the floor of the Renaissance church, they burrowed through the fill separating it from its fourth-century predecessor. They then cracked through that building’s pavement and struck an ancient cemetery (Fig. I.1). If authorities expected to find anyone’s remains, they were those of Peter himself or one of his papal successors, for they believed the key apostle and later popes were buried here.

Appendix

It is somewhat implicit that the readers are familiar with the first course on solid state physics, which mainly deals with electronic systems and teaches us how to distinguish between different forms of matter, such as metals, semiconductors and insulators. An elementary treatise on band structure is introduced in this regard, and in most cases, interacting phenomena, such as magnetism and superconductivity, are taught. The readers are encouraged to look at the classic texts on solid state physics, such as the ones by Kittel, Ashcroft and Mermin.

As a second course, or an advanced course on the subject, more in-depth study of condensed matter physics and its applications to the physical properties of various materials have found a place in the undergraduate curricula for a century or even more. The perspective on teaching the subject has remained unchanged during this period of time. However, the recent developments over the last few decades require a new perspective on teaching and learning about the subject. Quantum Hall effect is one such discovery that has influenced the way condensed matter physics is taught to undergraduate students. The role of topology in condensed matter systems and the fashion in which it is interwoven with the physical observables need to be understood for deeper appreciation of the subject. Thus, to have a quintessential presentation for the undergraduate students, in this book, we have addressed selected topics on the quantum Hall effect, and its close cousin, namely topology, that should comprehensively contribute to the learning of the topics and concepts that have emerged in the not-so-distant past. In this book, we focus on the transport properties of two-dimensional (2D) electronic systems and solely on the role of a constant magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of a electron gas. This brings us to the topic of quantum Hall effect, which is one of the main verticals of the book. The origin of the Landau levels and the passage of the Hall current through edge modes are also discussed. The latter establishes a quantum Hall sample to be the first example of a topological insulator. Hence, our subsequent focus is on the subject topology and its application to quantum Hall systems and in general to condensed matter physics. Introducing the subject from a formal standpoint, we discuss the band structure and topological invariants in 1D.