This chapter examines private architecture in Late Antiquity, focusing on the evolution of domestic structures and their role in social, political and religious life. It explores various building types, including domus, villas, insulae, palatia, praetoria and episcopia. The chapter argues that private architecture during this period was highly diverse, reflecting both continuity and transformation. While wealthy residences – whether aristocratic homes, episcopal residences or governor’s palaces – shared similar monumental features such as triclinia, courtyards, baths, and reception halls, often blurring the distinction between private and official spaces, imperial palaces frequently evolved from earlier residential buildings. At the same time, Christian bishops adapted aristocratic architectural models for their own use. Overall, archaeological evidence suggests that private architecture played a crucial role in expressing social status and power, with the design and decoration of homes reinforcing elite identity. At the same time, this study highlights how the economic and political shifts of Late Antiquity shaped domestic architecture, leading to both the persistence of elite housing and the gradual decline of multi-family insulae.

Two of the most striking developments in the modern history of global Christianity have been the respective strengths of Catholic Christianity in Central and Latin America and of Protestant and Pentecostal Christianity in mostly sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this chapter is to shed some light on these important stories by focusing on two early modern, imperial case studies, one from the Spanish conquest of New Spain and another from the British colonial project in West Africa, specifically Sierra Leone. Moreover, to what extent does the theoretical model of nuclei (the inner core of religious traditions), nodes (points of connection and exchange), and networks (transnational flows of people, ideas, and artifacts) help us understand better the various processes that produced such significant consequences for the global transmission of Christianity in the early modern and modern world?

Lacan’s writings were for many decades the primary mode of access that the public had to his work. This was unfortunate because Lacan disdained writing and strove to write in a way that could not be readily understood. His oral seminars, which are now available, provide an enlightening contrast. This introduction concentrates on Lacan’s seminars to present a philosopher preoccupied with the problem of subjectivity and how the insights gleaned from psychoanalysis might be able to contribute to thinking through this problem. Many critics have wrongly associated Lacan with other French thinkers of his time, such as Jacques Derrida or Michel Foucault. This book will draw a significant contrast between them and highlight their irreconcilable differences.

The chapter deals with the history of the Hussite revolution in the first half of the fifteenth century in Bohemia. It focuses on the discourse of heresy, which underwent significant differentiation in the late Middle Ages as political conditions became increasingly complex.

Adherent to the Neo-Confucian orthodoxy, Qiu Jun’s magnum opus demonstrates the nature of Neo-Confucian learning, which is a knowledge practice rooted in the Confucian Classics, corroborated by orthodox histories, and oriented to statecraft – a mixture of humanist antiquarianism (or Confucian Classicism) and pragmatism. Preoccupied with the Confucian qualities and the piety towards Confucian institutions and traditions, Neo-Confucian scholars were concerned with China’s secular constitutional structure beyond moral self-cultivation. In their socio-politically oriented programs, the Classics were presumed to be instrumental, and histories useful, for maintaining the Confucian institutions and traditions that are reciprocal to Chinese identity and qualities.

The section titled “Institutions of Penal Prudence” (“Shenxing xian”) has established Qiu Jun’s reputation as a legal thinker in China, Korea, and Japan. After a brief review of this section, the chapter focuses on three issues on which Qiu showed fairly innovative thinking. First, he gave the most erudite and systematic exposition of moderation in the application of legal punishments. The Ming Code provided an array of inflexible sentences for an ever-growing amount of crimes, which caused discomfort among sensitive magistrates. Confucian Classics were mobilized in order to legitimize a more sparing use of the punitive arsenal, for which Qiu Jun provided the model argumentation. Second, he was instrumental in the insertion of judicial precedents in the Code to complement the statutes, which daringly braved the Ming founding emperor’s interdiction of changing the Code. Lastly, he pleaded for a better regulation of the death sentences review by the Assizes.

This chapter considers the various means and methods for the peaceful settlement of international disputes as envisaged under the UN Charter and associated mechanisms. The key provisions of the UN Charter are considered, followed by an assessment of various methods of dispute settlement: negotiation, enquiry, mediation and conciliation, arbitration and adjudication. Given its significance to international law, particular attention is given to the ICJ and its jurisdiction in contentious cases and to deliver advisory opinions. The relationship between the ICJ and the Security Council is assessed, as are trends in dispute settlement.

There are several downsides to having lower taxes that conservatives tend to ignore. Low taxes are frequently associated with worse health outcomes, such as life expectancy and infant mortality. Low taxes are also associated with worse educational outcomes. Less social mobility, lower human development scores, and worse infrastructure are also associated with lower levels of taxation according to cross-national and US data. None of this is good for America’s economic performance or society.

Chapter 10 on International Atmospheric Trust cases investigates the application of the public trust doctrine in climate litigation. Historically, under this doctrine courts have maintained that certain natural and cultural resources should be held in trust for the public, with the government acting as a trustee. The authors explain the practical application and interpretation of this doctrine in climate litigation, examining key cases (through 2022) across various jurisdictions, including the United States, Canada, India, Pakistan, and Uganda. The effect is to produce a Restatement of best practices in climate litigation revealing the successes and challenges encountered when invoking the public trust doctrine in climate litigation. This review of the case law reveals an emerging distinction between the U.S., which has seen the erection of procedural barriers in federal and state courts to avoid deciding cases on the merits, and international courts, who have reached the merits of several cases, ordering remedial actions. The chapter underscores the potential of this doctrine to induce more robust climate action among the political branches of government, reflecting a growing recognition among courts outside the U.S. of their own role in safeguarding the atmosphere.