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Across history, lotteries were used in political selection to combat corruption, ideological polarization, and inequity in access to governance. Today, democracy seems to be facing similar challenges – are lotteries a potential solution? This Element responds to recent calls to incorporate lotteries in democracy, by analyzing historical cases of their use. We focus on the rationale behind and benefits of lotteries – to prevent elite capture, equalize access to power, and improve deliberation – and then the details of their implementation. Drawing on academic research, our chapters analyze the use of lottery-based selection in pre-modern Greece and medieval Florence, and present original micro-level empirical data on lottery-based selection in the construction of the 1848 Danish constitution and in parliaments in 19th century Europe. We conclude with a discussion of how these analyses inform the use of lotteries in modern day governance. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
This Element examines Secular Stagnation in the USA and responds to a recognised need for greater conceptual precision and analytical clarity regarding its nature and economic implications. Revisiting the contemporary economic debate, I propose a coherent reconceptualisation of Secular Stagnation grounded in long-run descriptive empirical evidence and an evolutionary theoretical framework. The analysis shows that stagnation should not be understood as a mere shortage of innovation or a transitory macroeconomic imbalance, but as a structural outcome of the interaction between technological change, demand dynamics, and selection mechanisms. Finally, I discuss how recent advances in automation technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), may either mitigate or reinforce Secular Stagnation, depending on how innovation policies and institutional settings shape the direction and diffusion of technological change in the US economy.
Since Wittgenstein's death in 1951, readers have advanced numerous claims about his philosophy's political significance. Some take his philosophy to have a conservative or reactionary bent; others take it to have a relativistic leaning; yet others associate it with classical liberalism, neo-liberalism, or Marxism. The Political Wittgenstein surveys this terrain in four chapter-length narratives about the development of distinct views of the political significance of Wittgenstein's thought. This Element offers a thorough introduction to the question of a Wittgensteinian approach to political thought. It simultaneously makes a case for reading Wittgenstein's philosophy as, at base, political, liberating and pressingly pertinent.
Inequality and its evolution over time are increasingly important subjects within the social sciences, particularly in the field of political economy. This Element identifies for the first time which inequality measures are best suited to capture the dynamics of inequality. The author generates a dataset of twelve types of inequality measures for 108 years across 34 countries using mortality distributions. When modelling inequality as a fractionally integrated process and using a Vector Autoregression approach, they find that mean-independent inequality measures are more suited to dynamic studies. In contrast, however, mean-dependent measures are unsuitable for dynamic studies. They suggest that no inequality measure should be used for dynamic purposes without rigorously testing its suitability. Tests of temporal normality and volatility serve as excellent "marker" tests of whether a chosen inequality measure is suitable for dynamic contexts. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
By building knowledge in a deliberate and systematic manner, we can gain a more complete understanding of a given research area relevant to corpus linguists. Specifically, empirically informed hypotheses (i.e., hypotheses that result from a synthesis of findings from all relevant prior studies) play a key role in this endeavor in that they enable us to test to what extent generalizations from previous research are consistent with our results, or if we need to make adjustments to our existing knowledge or theory. In this Element, we aim to provide a practical and accessible introduction to select statistical methods for evaluating such empirically informed hypotheses. In particular, we illustrate techniques from the broader null-hypothesis significance testing framework (e.g., equivalence testing), and structural equation modeling framework (e.g., measured variable path analysis), with the goal of encouraging knowledge building in a more principled and systematic manner in corpus linguistics.
Archaeologists increasingly rely on philosophical principles, as evidenced in the Ontological Turn, yet often only engage Western philosophers, which is unfortunate as Indigenous scholars, particularly Native American authors, have provided alternatives applicable to archaeological research. Within this volume, we introduce readers to Native American scholars whose work we apply to major topics in archaeology, including landscapes and knowledge, kinship and extended personhood, and cosmology and ceremonial practices. By contrasting with traditional, Western-based interpretive approaches, we demonstrate the transformative potential of relying on Native American philosophers not only in terms of better understanding the archaeological record but also in how archaeologists and practitioners approach issues such as repatriation, archaeological collections care and handling, and sovereignty. In all, this volume presents a powerful new approach to archaeological research that provides readers with an introduction to Native American philosophers, relevant case studies, and real-world examples that they can use in their own works.
It is widely agreed by proponents of shareholder and stakeholder capitalism that firms are needed to create long-term value. While they debate whose interests this value creation should serve and how it should be measured, they rarely question the concept of value itself or whether firms should have this social role. This consensus is striking since the meaning of value is often unexplored and inadequately defined. This Element addresses that gap and challenges this consensus. It explores the nature and meaning of value, examines how value creation became the social role of firms, and asks whether firms should have this social role. It shows that the role of firms is not to create economic value for shareholders or stakeholders but to provide goods and services in ways that are consistent with social values. The analysis also offers a new, relational theory of the firm to help enable this paradigm shift.
An investigation into the metaphysics of the logical properties. Textbooks define logical truth and logical consequence in terms of models. But what are models, and why is invoking them a good way to define these properties? The answers take us through questions about the bearers of logical truth, the distinction between logical and non-logical expressions, and, ultimately, to an account of what logic is.
This element is a study on Hegel's dialectic. One motivation for turning to dialectic is the idea that in order to understand the complex and dynamic structure of reality and of our thinking itself, we need a different way of thinking from that provided by standard logic and by traditional philosophy. The aim of the book is to present Hegel's basic idea of dialectic and to explain it through an interpretation of the text, an account of its reception, and a survey of themes in the secondary literature. The main theses discussed are that Hegel's dialectic is primarily a method of thinking and that he develops a unified theory of dialectic in his various writings.
This Element explores kincentric and relational methodologies for decolonising educational research. While Indigenous methodologies emphasise decoloniality, relational accountability, and kinship, mainstream research often neglects these principles. Addressing this gap, it introduces Dùthchas-an Indigenous Gaelic concept of kinship, interconnectedness, and ethical responsibility-as a kincentric, relational methodology. Drawing on research with Anishinaabe and Gaelic community members and broader Indigenous scholarship, the Element interrogates dominant paradigms and reframes data collection, analysis, and dissemination as knowledge gathering, generation, and sharing. It advocates participatory, community-led design and Indigenous-informed analytic approaches, such as Anishinaabe Bizindam (deep listening) and Càirdeas (Gaelic kinship), grounded in researcher positionality and reflexivity. Practical guidance is provided for implementing kincentric and relational methodologies, while respecting Indigenous data sovereignty and cultural protocols. By bridging Indigenous and non-Indigenous traditions, it offers theoretical insights and a framework for decolonising research practices.
This volume recovers early scandals of sexuality shaping the underground press in antebellum New York. In 'racy' newspapers, periodical editors used the form and content of their publications to curate, create, and circulate new ideas about emerging and established social forms, including sexual expression and intimacies. Editors reported obsessively on female sex workers' outspoken performances, wavering between the lurid fascination of exposé and the urge to celebrate singularly compelling and disposable women. This study contends with the uneven archiving of these scandalous materials, focusing on The Broadway Belle and Mirror of the Times (1855), edited by notorious “city mysteries” novelist George Thompson. This volume follows boasting performances of masculine potency and editorial proficiency. Sections chart the rise of personal mythologizing and self-reflexiveness as lingering conventions of professional editorship long after the racy papers faded away. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Corporations are the engine of the modern economy, yet public debates are ideologically polarized between two extremes-shareholder value theory and stakeholder theory-and the real workings of corporations and their contributions to society are obscured. This book attempts to break the shackles of these two ideologies. It starts from the 'Two Corporate Axioms' that any reasonably well-informed person should accept, i.e., the dominance of corporations and the existence of market competition. It then derives the 'Eight Corporate Theorems' as logical extensions of the axioms and, based on these theorems, re-examines major issues surrounding corporations, including their purpose and governance. To make this construct more realistic, the book weaves the theorems into the story of an imaginary AI company, starting as a venture company and expanding eventually into a multi-planetary enterprise. This book concludes by offering a vision of the corporation as a long-term community for co-prosperity.
William Whitehead's The Roman Father (1750) was the most prominent Roman play in late eighteenth-century Britain, and highly revealing of how Britons engaged with Roman history. This Element begins by surveying all eighteenth-century Roman plays, and shows that they focused on what it calls 'the transhistorical Roman character', typically set against a more historically-specific depiction of Rome. It proceeds to explore The Roman Father's text, reviews, performance history, and links to other aspects of historical culture. It argues that, of the three attitudes to history present in eighteenth-century Britain – the exemplary, historicist, and sentimentalist – all three were active in the theatrical context, but took genre-specific forms. Nonetheless, the changing attitudes visible in the theatre between 1750 and 1800 testify to changing attitudes to Roman history outside the theatre too: the decline of the exemplary attitude and the transhistorical Roman character, and the increasing prevalence of historicism and sentimentalism.
This Element offers the first comprehensive study of George Crabbe's engagement with medical thought and practice in his poetry. Drawing on his interest in illness, care, and healing as a trained physician, surgeon, apothecary, and obstetrician, it addresses how his medical expertise and awareness inform his assessment of social problems, his perspective on the role of a poet, and his views on education and religion. The study examines the intersection between Crabbe's poetic achievement and medical discourse in advancing humanist healing for mind and soul, and explores how his verse registers systemic and ethical issues surrounding poverty, addiction, intoxication, and madness through an unsentimental and truthful style. By tracing the moral and social implications of the connection between medical vision and poetic philosophy, it recovers Crabbe as a significant poet-physician of the long eighteenth century and invites renewed attention to the cultural work of his poetry in health and medicine.
This Element presents a constructionist approach to clausal syntax in Swedish. Swedish syntax poses some challenges to language learners and linguists alike, particularly as regards word order. We handle these challenges in a network model of Swedish syntax, in which clausal and phrasal constructions at different levels of generality interact with argument structure constructions and other syntactic structures. Key to the analysis is a restrictive treatment of clausal hierarchy, a view of constructions as conventional usage patterns, and treating combination of constructions by conceptual blending. Thus, the model combines a formalized overall account of clausal syntax with a view of language as inherently usage-based. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Intentionality is a key constituent of human action in a world of pervasive uncertainty and provisional knowledge. Intentionality provides meaning to the action plans of the agents that interact within a socioeconomic system. Social interaction produces orders that, although more than the sum of individual actions, acquire direction imprinted by the intentional content and structure of the courses of action of the individuals and organizations that interact within the system. Although many of the consequences of interaction may be unintended and even opposite to agents' intentions, the evolution of the system is not entirely blind. Explaining why and how this can be so is the purpose of this Element.
Cancer is increasingly recognized as a complex, multidimensional social experience rather than purely a physical or biological disease. This, in turn, highlights the role of communication in cancer-related 'work' such as seeking and receiving a diagnosis, managing disclosure, and incorporating treatment and recovery into everyday life. Although an extensive body of work examining cancer and communication has investigated some of this complexity, the experiences of migrant women in Asia are currently underexplored. In this Element, I argue that the complexity of cancer diagnosis and disclosure for this group can be usefully examined from a perspective of intercultural communication. To support this argument, I investigate instances of intercultural communication that unfolded in a series of focus groups with Filipino migrant domestic workers diagnosed with cancer in Hong Kong.
The Mar Menor, Europe's largest saltwater coastal lagoon, was long sustained by high salinity and low-nutrient waters that supported remarkable biodiversity. Since the late twentieth century, however, intensive tourism, industrial agriculture linked to the Tagus–Segura water transfer, and legacy mining pollution have driven accelerating ecological degradation. The eutrophication crisis of 2016 and the mass anoxic events of 2019 and 2021, which caused extensive marine die-offs, marked a profound ecological and political rupture. In response, a civic movement led by Teresa Vicente achieved an unprecedented outcome in 2022: the lagoon was granted legal personality, becoming the first ecosystem in Europe to obtain such status. This Element examines the social, legal, and scientific transformations surrounding this case and argues that recognising the lagoon as a subject opens new possibilities for rethinking human–nature relations and imagining more-than-human political communities grounded in ecological justice.
This Element launches a broadside against the visual-centric approach that has dominated philosophical and scientific discourse about the senses. Considering the variety and breadth of sensory experiences, from the deceptively familiar territories of smell and taste to the frequently overlooked experience of touch and interoceptive processes, it challenges us to rethink the philosophical bedrock of our theories of mind. It advocates a shift towards a more multi-modal and embodied approach that values biological realities and cross-cultural insights. It analyses traditional criteria for classifying sensory modalities and examines how sensory augmentation technologies provide insight for theories of perception by virtue of sensorimotor learning. The Element also highlights the disconnect between current scientific advancements and philosophical inquiry, suggesting that refocusing on the senses more broadly defined, especially on kinesthetic experiences, illuminates new paths through the thorny 'hard problem' of consciousness. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.