The goal of this chapter is to introduce accessibility, democracy, and the need to confront ableism. It begins with the story of Alice Wong, an Asian American disabled activist and bestselling author who wrote about the barriers to vote faced by People with Dis/abilities like her during the COVID-19 pandemic. The story of Alice illustrates the challenges with voting in the US, a country that is now considered a flawed democracy and facing many institutional barriers, including voter suppression laws. Informed by dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit), this chapter examines who are People with Dis/abilities, some popular myths about them, and how they are treated in the US when it comes to voting. Ableism, a system that treasures able-bodiedness and imposes it as the norm in society, is discussed as harmful to US democracy. To confront ableism and improve democracy we need accessibility, satisfying needs to allow full participation in a space or action. The chapter includes a Food for Thought section on interdependence and solidarity, from San Francisco to Gaza. It ends with a discussion of Alice Wong and the disability justice movement.

This chapter examines the role of human rights law in tackling modern slavery and human trafficking. It begins with Article 4 ECHR, which expressly prohibits slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour. It considers how each of those concepts has been defined by the ECtHR, how the ECtHR expanded Article 4 ECHR to include human trafficking, and why this was contested. Having examined the conceptual ambit of Article 4 ECHR it then considers the obligations associated with that right. Finally, it looks at how the UK seeks to satisfy its obligations through the NRM and the MSA. In this regard we will see that amendments made by the NBA and the IMA have starkly exposed growing tensions over, and resistance to, human rights law where it gives rise to obligations to those that have crossed a State’s border. Overall, this chapter thus highlights fundamental differences between the direction of travel in domestic law as compared with the direction of travel on the international plane.

This chapter focuses on the core concepts of optimization theory and its application in data science and AI. It begins with a review of differentiable functions of several variables, including the gradient and Hessian matrices, and key results like the Chain Rule and the Mean Value Theorem. The chapter then introduces optimality conditions for unconstrained optimization, explaining first-order and second-order conditions, and the role of convexity in ensuring global optimality. A detailed discussion of the gradient descent algorithm is provided, including its convergence analysis under different assumptions. The chapter concludes with an application to logistic regression, demonstrating how gradient descent is used to optimize the cross-entropy loss function in a supervised learning context. Practical Python examples are integrated throughout to illustrate the theoretical concepts.

“Alignment” is an umbrella term to describe a relationship between two or more states that involves mutual expectations of some degree of policy coordination on security issues under certain conditions in the future. The types of alignment explored in this chapter are alliances, thin and thick security institutions, coalitions, and strategic partnerships. The distinguishing features of these alignments are their differing levels of formality and the reason for their creation, or their objectives. Strategic alignments remain one of the dominant means that sovereign states possess to cooperate and coordinate their actions around common threats and political interests. States are either pulled into distrustful relations through security dilemmas or they are obliged to work together to solve common problems. Alliances, security institutions, coalitions, and strategic partnerships offer a variety of ways that states may seek to address security issues, threats, or challenges to their territories or interests.

Global public health is now seen as a security issue by many nations across the globe. Aside from naturally occurring outbreaks of infectious disease, deliberate attacks involving biological agents have emerged as a major security concern and a source of public anxiety in recent decades. Though many public health and security experts now recognize that effective prevention and response to these threats depend on building resilient public health systems around the world and international cooperation in maintaining them, it is unclear that the kind of sustained political will and economic resources exist to address such a massive undertaking that would need to take a holistic approach to human security and incorporate measures addressing: poverty; food insecurity; environmental degradation; lack of access to basic health-care services; adequate education; housing; sanitation and clean water; as well as more conventional aspects of security.

The goal of this chapter is to introduce moral panic about sexual and gender minorities, heteronormativity, and cisnormativity. It begins with the story of Frank Kameny, a White Jew and US veteran who lost his job as an astronomer during the Lavender Scare, a moral panic about gay men and lesbians working in the US government that started in the 1950s and led to their mass firing. Informed by intersectionality, this chapter connects that panic to the current assault on the rights of sexual and gender minorities or LGBTQIA2S+ persons, and discusses who they are, some popular myths about them, and what is sexuality and gender. They are pathologized, criminalized, and erased by heteronormativity, the notion that heterosexuality is the “normal” form of sexual orientation, and assuming the gender binary of men versus women, and cisnormativity, a system that favors cisgender people who identify with their gender assigned at birth and restricts gender expression. The chapter includes a Food for Thought section on gender euphoria and trans joy, from affirmation to liberation. It ends with a discussion of Frank Kameny and how gay rights build on Black civil rights.

This chapter dissects the challenges posed by weapons of mass destruction. It starts by exploring the weapon that changed the fundamentals of security and warfare – the atomic bomb with a brief look at how nuclear weapons work. Then it examines three cases focused on nuclear weapons: nuclear weapons in the Cold War, nuclear-weapon states in the twenty-first century, and non-state actors and the nuclear dilemma. The chapter rounds out with a look at the role chemical and biological weapons play in the contemporary world, offering some concluding thoughts on weapons of mass destruction and contemporary international security.

The goal of this chapter is to introduce racial trauma, radical hope, healing, and Black reparations. It begins with the story of Laverne Cox, a Black transgender woman, actress, and trans civil rights activist who wrote an essay on the impact of White supremacy on multiple generations of her family. The story of Laverne illustrates racial trauma, the emotional responses rooted in structural racism that have an intergenerational impact on health. Informed by a reparatory justice approach, this chapter examines radical healing, hope, and reparations to deal with racial trauma and achieve justice. Radical does not mean violent or extremist but is the notion that complete change is necessary to address political problems. It discusses some features and popular myths about reparations, and examines five principles for reparations: restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition. The chapter includes a Food for Thought section on how education may increase support for Black reparations. It ends with a discussion of Laverne Cox and finding hope in our ancestors.

This chapter examines the history and operation of European human rights law. It provides insight into how the ECHR and the ECtHR emerged, how they have evolved and how this relates to the different conceptions of human rights law considered in Chapter 1. It also examines how the ECtHR processes cases and interprets rights, observing that the manner in which the ECtHR approaches those tasks is fundamental to the relationship between the ECtHR and Contracting States. Indeed, it is the interpretation of rights and the processing of cases that have been the focus of reform of the Convention system. This is reflected in the various measures that have been adopted in order to ensure the effective operation of an institution that has seen its workload grow exponentially, and to preserve the continuing participation of States. The processes for derogating from rights and the suspension, expulsion and withdrawal of States from the ECtHR are further important aspects of the relationship between the Court and the Contracting States which are considered in this chapter.

The right to life is the preeminent human right - without it, all other rights are nugatory. Yet, the scope of the protection afforded by the right is contested, particularly the extent to which States are obligated to protect life. This chapter examines the protection which the common law and the ECHR affords to the right to life, noting that under the common law, the courts have tended towards a recognition of the value or sanctity of life, as distinct from a right to life. In contrast, Article 2 ECHR very clearly enshrines a right to life and imposes obligations on States to ensure its protection. There is a considerable corpus of case law concerning the scope of the right in Article 2 including a number of cases from UK courts which centre on the jurisdictional reach of the right and its enforceability under the Human Rights Act 1998. This chapter considers the protective potential of the right to life in specific contexts including in response to climate change and domestic abuse. A separate chapter examines specific issues surrounding STATE regulation of the beginning and end of life.

The goal of this chapter is to introduce the concepts of American culture and anti-Indianism. It begins with a discussion of Thanksgiving, Americans’ favorite holiday, from the perspective of Wamsutta Frank James, an American Indian, activist, and leader of the Wampanoag Tribe. For Wamsutta Frank James, Thanksgiving is not a day of celebration but a day of mourning. The use of celebrations such as Thanksgiving to promote myths about US history shows the importance of American culture for Whiteness. The chapter reviews some characteristics and popular myths about American Indians and Alaska Natives, the challenges of defining culture, and culture as a system of people, places, practices, power, and purpose. It examines incorporation, appropriation, assimilation, and segregation as strategies to enforce White cultural hegemony. The chapter includes a Food for Thought section on “cancel culture” and the freedom of speech defense. It ends with a discussion of Wamsutta Frank James and reimagining US culture.

Article 9 ECHR protects the right to freedom of thought, conscience and belief. Traditionally the volume of case law has been low, but in recent years it has expanded significantly. The ECtHR has, however, been criticised for failing to engage with why religious freedom is important, thus leaving the right vulnerable to being displaced by other rights and interests. Difficult questions arise as to whether the ECtHR adequately protects Islam and how the Court deals with conflicts between religious beliefs and the rights of the LGBTQI+, as well as the Article 10 ECHR rights of those who wish to espouse views critical of faith. Given contemporary political discourse it is likely that there will be further case law in the future. In the UK the enactment of the HRA 1998 has resulted in Article 9 ECHR being upheld on some occasions, but the courts have also adopted a narrow approach to what constitutes an interference with the right, and it is questionable whether this is in line with Strasbourg. It is therefore likely that there will also be further domestic case law on the ambit of the right.