Affective polarization (or antipathy between supporters of opposing political camps) is considered a threat to societal cohesion and democratic stability worldwide. However, causal evidence of its impact remains scarce, especially outside the United States. Our study examines the individual-level consequences of affective polarization by manipulating it in a survey experiment in nine countries (Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States; N ≈ 18,000) and subsequently assessing the downstream consequences for social avoidance and discrimination of opponents, support for aggression, aversion to political compromise, democratic norms, democratic dissatisfaction, and political engagement. Our intervention successfully reduced participants’ affective polarization in six out of nine countries. In turn, this was associated with significant improvement in interpersonal relations and (in contrast to recent US studies) support for democratic norms. Importantly, the impact varied between societies, suggesting that the consequences of affective polarization may be more context-dependent than previously understood.

The Christian church in late Roman Britain is usually seen as a largely urban phenomenon, but there is increasing archaeological evidence of a late Roman Christian ‘hot spot’ along Hadrian’s Wall, which seems to date from the time of the Theodosian reorganization of the northern defences of the British provinces, following the near collapse of Roman rule in 367. We also have evidence for the Christianization of the lands immediately north of the Wall from the late fourth century onwards. This article argues that this Christianization seems to be part of a deliberate policy by the imperial government to draw the British tribes north of Hadrian’s Wall more securely into the oikumene (the whole civilized Roman world, now further united by Christianity) as a means of securing the frontier. This article also examines how, as a by-product of this policy, the logistics chain running south from the Wall into what is now north-west England may then have served as a conduit for Christianity from the border region into Britannia proper, as well as exploring its later impact on the development of Christian Northumbria.

This article reveals an untold transnational history of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) legal transplant of maternity protection from Europe and the United States. Article 49 of the Chinese Constitution stipulates that the state shall protect mothers. However, this clause also includes an obligation to practice the family planning policy, which is notorious for forced sterilizations and abortions. Why does a clause meant to protect mothers come with controls over reproductive autonomy and potential harm to mothers? This article argues that the combination of the protection of mothers with family planning policies emerged through the malleability of maternity protection within the CCP’s legal framework. This malleability originated from the evolving interplay between the political challenges—both international and domestic—the CCP encountered and the diverse backgrounds of mothers directly affected by this legal principle. Maternity protection proved an effective vehicle for the Party to address challenges across contexts by reconstructing its functionalities. This article identifies three ways in which the CCP interpreted maternity protection to further its political agendas: political movements, public health, and birth control. These interpretations aligned with the political challenges of expanding influence, ensuring wartime survival, and consolidating the socialist regime, as well as with the targeted audiences of urban workers, rural peasants, and socialist nationals.

The Punjab school, a network of soldier-administrators involved in the conquest and governance of the Punjab between the mid-1840s and mid-1860s, had a profound influence on British Christian attitudes towards the empire in India. The network included some sixty army officers and civilian administrators, who were characterized by military valour, a strict sense of duty, emphasis on moral character, paternalist attitudes, philanthropic activism, imperialist beliefs, and an evangelical Christian faith. They exercised considerable personal authority under what was called the ‘non-regulation’ system. Members of the network supported the expansion of Christian missions in the Punjab, viewing the empire as having a providential purpose for the spread of Christianity.

Following the end of World War Two in May 1945, the British army remained in Germany. Initially there to provide support to the Control Commission Administration, it stayed after the formation, in 1949, of the Federal German Republic. Its new role was to help provide defence against any threat from the Soviet Union. That task ceased to be relevant in 1990, but it was not until 2019 that the last garrison withdrew. During this whole period, churches were provided for the military. This article looks at the development of the provision, explores how these churches functioned, including their relations to German churches, and then traces the closure of the churches. It considers the unique position of these churches in British ecclesiastical history. Finally, it is suggested that more research is needed if these churches are not to be forgotten.

This paper explores the dynamics of power and legitimacy between the late Roman Empire and the societies beyond its northern and eastern frontiers, arguing that shared understandings of political authority, developed through centuries of interaction, facilitated the establishment of post-Roman kingdoms. Unlike the more formalized relationships with client kingdoms along the empire’s eastern and north African frontiers, interactions along the northern and eastern European borders were more fluid. The paper posits that gift-giving, particularly of imperial brooches and gold medallions, was central to establishing political relationships between the Roman emperor and rulers beyond the frontier. These gifts created networks of obligation, with recipients potentially owing peace, tribute, or military service. A newly identified imperial brooch from Ureki in Georgia suggests a wider geographical reach of these networks. However, by the fifth century, rulers beyond the frontier began to imitate Roman symbols of power, commissioning their own versions from local craftworkers. By doing so, they cut themselves loose from earlier ties of obligation. The paper concludes that this long history of interaction and mimesis of Roman power structures enabled populations beyond the Roman frontier to understand and ultimately emulate Roman imperial power.

Classical symmetric association measures, such as correlation and chi-square indices, are widely used in applied psychology. However, these indices have limitations in identifying asymmetric implicative relationships. Standard regression analysis of Y on X, frequently interpreted as evidence of a directed dependence $X\to Y$, does not preclude the reverse direction ($Y\to X$). While various proposals in the literature have sought to provide non-symmetric association measures between binary events, most have overlooked the potential information in the contrapositive ($\bar {B}\to \bar {A}$), in addition to the main assertion ($A\to B$). When multiple variables are involved, asymmetric dependence is frequently represented as intricate dependency networks, which can be challenging to summarize and interpret in terms of higher-order clusters or latent dimensions. This article introduces a novel statistical implication index designed to address both limitations. The efficacy of this asymmetric index is demonstrated through its ability to detect one-way implication relationships, using both positive and contrapositive evidence. It also facilitates dimensional reduction by establishing aligned sets of nodes in a graph representation, under the condition that a Rasch model holds on these nodes, thus filling the gap between graphical and dimensional models. The efficacy of this index is substantiated through both simulated and real-world data illustrations.

Historians have argued over how much influence the army had on local government during the 1640s and 1650s. Discussion of the military impact on parish religion has, however, been more limited, despite many remembered accounts, from both loyalists and nonconformists, of its negative consequences. Such memories are examined here, along with contemporary legal records relating to the involvement of military Justices of the Peace and ordinary soldiers in dealing with religious matters. A conclusion is reached that while the army later became a scapegoat for all that was deemed wrong with the 1640s and 1650s, its religious agency was more limited than later accounts suggested. It was not, however, insignificant, as the military exercised influence through selective representation and subtle networks of power, intervening decisively at particular times over issues of religion that particularly concerned them.

This article introduces the Markov Riding Position Sampler (MaRiPoSa) for simulating Canadian elections under alternative configurations of electoral district boundaries. Despite Canada’s strictly non-partisan system of boundary design, MaRiPoSa demonstrates that, for a single Canadian election, there are alternative, allowable and more equitable configurations of boundaries to return either Liberal or Conservative governments without changing the vote or location of a single voter. If the same votes in the same places produce different governments depending on which valid configuration of boundaries happens to be used, to what extent can we say that it is voters and their territorial distributions that determine the outcome of Canadian elections? Canada will need to adjust principles and institutions to prepare for the new technological environment brought about by advances in computing and artificial intelligence.

This paper presents four case studies exploring how Latin is taught and positioned within Catholic secondary schools and colleges in Northern England. While Latin education is often debated in terms of class and elitism, this study adds a religious dimension, examining how Catholic identity, ecclesial values, and liturgical politics influence curricular choices. Using qualitative data from interviews with Latin teachers, the research investigates how schools interpret papal calls to preserve Latin. The findings reveal a varied landscape: in selective or fee-paying schools, Latin is linked to prestige; in more inclusive settings, it is framed as cultural enrichment. Yet, across all cases, institutional backing is limited, with Latin instruction often depending on dedicated individuals rather than policy or Church direction. The tension between inclusive education and doctrinal identity further shapes how Latin is taught. Additionally, the decline of Latin in liturgy weakens its status in the curriculum. By focusing on the intersection of faith, market dynamics, and ideology, the study highlights both opportunities and constraints for Latin’s revival in Catholic education. It concludes that Latin’s future in these schools cannot rest on tradition alone but requires nuanced, context-specific engagement.

Drawing on sensory, animal, environmental, and Japanese American history, this article explores Cat Island, Mississippi, site of a top-secret Army dog training program during the Second World War. Based on the theory that different races emitted distinct scents, the project attempted to train dogs to detect Japanese people, with the goal of deploying them in the Pacific theater. To develop the canine’s olfactory skills, the Army used Japanese American soldiers as bait. The project failed because William Prestre, the project’s director, sought a stable and immutable conception of race and the environment that did not exist. Military officials focused on the strategic value of the dogs and were circumspect about the existence of a racial odor, whereas Japanese American soldiers derived enjoyment from their activities along the Gulf Coast. Thus, constructions of race and environment were highly malleable, even during the short tenure of the Cat Island project.