The legal theory of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) posits that SOEs persist due to legal failures rather than market failures. It views privatization fundamentally as a process of legalization rather than liberalization. Privatization does not always suggest the state’s withdrawal from private sectors; in many cases, it is accompanied by expanded or stricter regulatory oversight. This perspective generates two implications. First, the successful reform of SOEs depends on the state’s ability to clearly define its control and establish institutions that deter opportunistic actions. A judiciary capable of effectively distinguishing between government opportunism and the legitimate exercise of power – thereby restraining abuse of power while upholding lawful decisions – is crucial. Second, if the government can develop effective regulation of private firms without ownership, the need for maintaining SOEs diminishes. Given the advantages of private firms in terms of ownership costs, further investment in developing robust legal and regulatory institutions could promote social efficiency by reducing the role of SOEs.

In this chapter, I consider the Dialogues as a text that formulates and criticises a particular argument for design (‘the argument for design’). After presenting the relevant material from the Dialogues, I consider the strengths and weaknesses of the formulation of the argument that is the object of Hume’s criticisms, and set out what I take to be the full range of criticisms that Hume makes of it. I then assess the strength of these criticisms, paying particular attention to writers – for example Paley, Reid, Dawkins, and Hawthorne and Isaacs – who have claimed that Hume’s objections to ‘the argument for design’ are weak or ineffectual. Next, I consider the originality of Hume’s critique of ‘the argument for design’; I argue that, on the evidence that I have considered, Hume deserves most of the credit for the objections to ‘the argument for design’ in the Dialogues. I conclude with some brief remarks about the relative importance of the success of the criticisms of ‘the argument for design’ to the overall project of the Dialogues.

The preface explains why I have chosen realism and reference as a framework for studying Jewish theology, and how this approach is related to the model of Jewish theological language I developed in my first book.

This chapter connects the threads from the preceding two chapters by examining representations of “India” as part of the social, cultural, and physical landscape of Eastern Africa in fictional works by African authors of Indian descent. In Sophia Mustafa’s In the Shadow of Kirinyaga (2002) and Barlen Pyamootoo’s Bénarès (1999), the diasporic imagination cites and sites symbolic Indian spaces within local African contexts hierarchized by race, class, gender, and ethnicity. Placing these texts in a shared but differentiated discourses of race, colonialism, and nationalism in Mauritius and East Africa, the chapter demonstrates that they inscribe Indian cultural spaces in diasporic locations not to express nostalgia for a distant homeland or to make cultural claims on the locality; but instead, their diasporic imagination moves through local, unresolved histories of colonial, racial, and gendered violence, uniquely sustained by ongoing forms of displacement and dispossession. Anarchival movements in these texts uncover Black migration histories as entangled and interdependent with Indian diasporic insinuation of transnational ties.

The response describes initiatives at the University of Cambridge Primary School (UCPS) and Laborschule Bielefeld in Germany that promote democracy education and provide children with the tools and opportunities to engage meaningfully in democratic processes. At UCPS, a Children’s Congress allows students to participate in school decision-making processes, a collaboration with academic researchers sought to understand how children think and feel about their disenfranchisement and a democracy curriculum teaches children key concepts and empowers them to form their own opinions and articulate them effectively. Laborschule Bielefeld focuses on peaceful conflict resolution as a foundation for democratic education. It uses the concept of ‘nonviolent communication’ to teach children how to express their feelings and needs constructively.

The competing forces of ownership costs and regulatory costs explain the sectoral distribution and historical development of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China. While SOEs are generally believed to incur higher ownership costs and have thus been reformed in many sectors, they continue to play a significant role in others. This chapter focuses on several sectors where a trend of "advance of the state, retreat of the private sector" has been observed. In the water utilities sector, empirical evidence suggests that in prefectures where the government fails to frequently adjust water tariffs according to the law to reflect changes in production costs, SOEs are more prevalent, indicating that challenges in tariff regulation likely deter private investment. In the steel and coal mining sectors, frequent changes in state policy have also likely negatively affected private investment. Additionally, in the commercial banking sector, the state maintains SOEs probably due to concerns that regulatory failures could lead to a financial crisis. These examples illustrate how regulatory costs influence the development of SOEs in regulated sectors in China.

Because the consensus view is that rabbinic theology is not theoretical, it is necessary to show that the rabbis prized knowledge of God. Using a range of literary, rhetorical, and epistemological approaches, the chapter firmly establishes the place of theology in rabbinic Judaism.

The Ptolemaic state did not pursue a policy of ‘state monopolies’ in industry and trade. Although state intervention was extensive in some sectors, markets played an important role in others. Fiscal contracts leased out to entrepreneurs shared certain procedures and terminology, but the reality of state control was different in every industry, determined by strategic concerns and practical considerations. Together, these institutions show a pragmatic state concerned primarily with securing revenues from economic activities. While the papyri also highlight the limits of state control and the possibilities to evade regulations, they do not show a general decline of state capacity in the second century. The impact of the regulations on economic performance varied. While the ‘oil monopoly’ caused significant inefficiencies, the same was not necessarily true in other sectors. The regulations stimulated the circulation of coinage, leading to increased market performance, to an extent supported also by state enforcement of agreements and property rights. Finally, the analysis underscores the significant fiscal and economic role of temples and professional associations.

This chapter explores the transformation of medieval Arthurian knowledge in early modern Germany, starting with the last Meisterlieder from Hans Sachs and his followers till the middle of the sixteenth century, when medieval Arthurian literature gradually fell out of fashion. Only the Wigalois adaptations and the Prose Tristan were still printed until the late seventeenth century, and a few Arthurian topoi remained as well during this ‘Arthurian break’: the name of the sword of the king, the adultery of the queen and the opulence of the king’s court. The rediscovery of medieval literature in Germany after 1750 by Bodmer and his followers did not manage to remodel and adapt this material but instead connected the medieval tradition with classical models.

This chapter considers the Middle English Arthurian verse romances, and the ways in which these texts interact with the genre of Middle English romance at large. First, the chapter explores the relationship between expected audiences and the choice to write in verse when considering Arthurian subject matter. The chapter then turns to romances usually designated as non-Arthurian, and asks: to what extent do Arthur and his knights creep into narratives set outside, beyond or without the Arthurian court, and what might this tell us about the cultural impact of Arthurian material in medieval England? Finally, a number of romance tropes – the fair unknown, the loathly lady, and intruders of all kinds – are used to show Middle English verse romance’s potential to both reinforce and disrupt Arthurian courtly values.

Sir Thomas Malory’s late fiftenth-century prose work Le Morte Darthur is the most substantial Middle English account of the legendary king, and has strongly influenced later Arthurian writers, including Tennyson, Twain and T. H. White. We know little about  Malory and his reasons for writing (in prison); was it a commission? The Morte was printed by William Caxton, the first English printer, and frequently reprinted, but only one manuscript copy survives. I discuss Malory’s adaptation of the familiar story, using a remarkable range of sources in several languages. He gives surprising prominence to Lancelot, not a popular figure in the English tradition, and chooses to include the Grail Quest, in which most knights fail. I consider Malory’s deceptively plain style, his values, his attitudes to women, and also his historical context; he fought in the Wars of the Roses, so Arthur’s rise and fall must have had particular significance for him.