Starting with three good ideas – natural equality, government resting on consent, and government limited by the terms of that consent – Hobbes derives distressing conclusions. Reason requires submission to the Sovereign even in matters of conscience. The Sovereign can do subjects no injustice. Mixed government must lead to civil war. This chapter traces and tests Hobbes’s reasoning.

The next three chapters trace the organizational development of the CCP and the KMT, linking intraparty power struggles to party-building strategies and subsequently, the development of party mobilization infrastructure. I pay close attention to contingencies during the critical junctures, showing that they shifted the balance of power among party elites and generated a ripple effect on party-building strategies and party mobilization infrastructure. Specifically, Chapter 5 documents the intense intraparty power struggle occurring in the CCP after the sudden downfall of CCP leader Chen Duxiu in 1927, following intervention by the Comintern and the Soviet Union. From 1927 to 1934, the intense elite contestation under the shadow of the Comintern led CCP elites to pursue radical urban insurgencies and a worker-centric party-building strategies despite China’s predominance as an agrarian society. Hence, this approach left the party fragile and mire in turmoil.

This chapter examines glass production in Late Antiquity, with a particular focus on technological advancements, economic significance and regional variations. Drawing on archaeological evidence, chemical analyses, typological studies and historical texts, it traces the evolution of glass manufacturing and distribution across the Roman and Byzantine worlds. The authors argue that glass production in Late Antiquity was highly adaptable, responding to shifts in economic structures, raw material availability and technological innovations. A key factor in this development was the dominance of large-scale glass furnaces in Egypt and the Levant, which supplied raw glass to secondary workshops throughout the empire. The chapter also explores how glassmakers refined shaping and decorating techniques, incorporating blown glass, engraved patterns, gold-leaf applications and coloured blobs. In terms of function, it demonstrates that glass was used across a wide range of contexts, from everyday tableware to luxury drinking vessels, lamps and even windowpanes. Regional differences are evident, with eastern Mediterranean workshops favoring elaborate embellishments, while western traditions drew inspiration from ceramic and metal vessels. A key conclusion is that glass was not only a practical commodity but also a marker of status and innovation.

This chapter examines migration in Late Antiquity, focusing on the movement of peoples and its role in shaping the post-Roman world. It challenges traditional narratives of mass invasions, instead emphasising the complexity of migration processes and their varied effects on political, social and cultural transformations. The chapter draws on archaeological evidence, including settlement patterns, burial practices and material culture, alongside historical sources such as chronicles. It highlights key migration episodes, including the movements of the Goths, Anglo-Saxons and Slavs, analysing how their settlements and artefacts reflect patterns of mobility, integration and adaptation. The chapter also considers new methodologies, such as isotope and aDNA analysis, to refine our understanding of ancient migrations. Central is the notion that migration was not always a violent invasion but often a gradual, negotiated process. While some groups displaced populations, others integrated with existing societies. The chapter stresses that the scale and nature of migration varied and calls for an interdisciplinary approach, combining archaeology, history and scientific methods, to better assess the role of migration in the transition from the Roman world to medieval Europe.

This chapter examines the urban and architectural transformation of Carthage in Late Antiquity, focusing on how the city evolved under Roman, Vandal and Byzantine rule between the fourth and seventh centuries. It discusses Carthage’s role as a political, economic and religious hub in the Mediterranean, emphasising the continuity of its strategic and commercial significance, particularly as a centre for grain production and trade. The study details how Carthage’s harbours, warehouses and marketplaces adapted to shifting imperial priorities. It also explores urban planning, noting how the city’s grid layout, monumental basilicas and elite residences reflected both Roman traditions and late antique adaptations. Religious transformation is another central theme, with a focus on the growth of Christian architecture, including churches, martyr shrines and cemetery basilicas. The chapter reassesses the impact of Vandal rule (439–533 CE), challenging traditional narratives of decline by presenting evidence of continued economic activity and urban maintenance. Under Byzantine rule (533–698 CE), Carthage experienced renewed investment in fortifications, infrastructure and religious buildings, though signs of urban contraction emerged by the seventh century. Thus this chapter demonstrates that Carthage remained a dynamic and resilient city despite political upheavals and its eventual conquest by Islamic forces.

This chapter explores the transformation of coinage in Late Antiquity, examining its economic, political and cultural significance between the third and eighth centuries. It analyses a wide range of numismatic materials, including Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic coinage, to trace how monetary systems evolved in response to imperial policies and economic shifts. The study emphasises the transition from the traditional Roman denarius system to the solidus-based economy introduced by Constantine, in which the solidus became the dominant currency across the Byzantine world. It also examines how coinage functioned as a tool of imperial propaganda. A central argument is that changes in coin iconography reflect broader cultural and religious transformations. The adoption of Christian symbols such as the Chi-Rho and crosses on Byzantine coinage marked a shift from classical motifs to explicitly religious imagery. The chapter also highlights how early Islamic rulers adapted Byzantine coin models, gradually replacing human portraits with inscriptions emphasising monotheism. By considering regional variations, the study examines the persistence of local minting traditions and the interaction between different monetary economies. Thus, it demonstrates that coinage in Late Antiquity was more than a medium of exchange – it was a powerful instrument of ideological messaging and state control.

This chapter brings together the book’s analysis and argues that crucial yet feasible reforms can be made to the operation of the global anti-financial crime regime. They include distinguishing between various categories of regulated services, such that certain essential services – for example, basic bank accounts – must be provided to everyone but attract reporting obligations, whereas highly specialised services with a significant potential to facilitate money laundering – for example, high-end investment banking activities – must be refused if a suspicion arises that proceeds of crime are involved. The chapter also argues that the FATF Recommendations should be revised to explicitly require countries to maximise intelligence-gathering opportunities that serve law enforcement purposes while minimising the risk of complicity in money laundering, terrorist financing or proliferation financing. In particular, this should entail the requirement for countries to ensure that the regulated businesses’ AML/CTF compliance efforts are aligned with the country’s law enforcement priorities, whether through public–private partnerships, ‘keep open’ laws or other appropriate means.

Chapter 12 examines how international law is interpreted and applied in climate litigation. The authors explore the interplay between international and domestic law, and how it can shape the outcomes of climate litigation. Their exploration of emerging best practice reveals a progressive trend: domestic courts are increasingly incorporating international climate obligations into their rulings. This trend not only underscores the significance of international law in shaping domestic legal responses to climate change but also amplifies the capacity of domestic legal systems to address the impacts of climate change more effectively. Moreover, the authors spotlight emerging best practices from regional and international bodies. They argue that these practices demonstrate the potency of international legal norms in influencing the trajectory of climate litigation, fostering a global legal landscape that is increasingly responsive to the climate crisis.

Rawls had misgivings about the account of stability he gave in A Theory of Justice. It ignored “the fact of reasonable pluralism,” that is, that the social contract has to attract people who disagree about fundamental values of the kind embraced in “comprehensive” doctrines. The contract doctrine welcomes reasonable comprehensive doctrines but forbids the use of state power to promote a comprehensive liberalism, which he confessed he had assumed. There is also a “fact of oppression,” that no state can stabilize itself by imposing a comprehensive doctrine without resorting to the tactics of Torquemada or Stalin. A “liberal principle of legitimacy” forbids this. One must hope for an “overlapping consensus” of reasonable, comprehensive doctrines to settle upon a “political conception of justice.” Rawls’s concessions may lead even further, amounting to a “fact of justice pluralism,” that is, that there are multiple, incompatible, but equally reasonable political conceptions of justice – including ones that reject political equality as Rawls conceives it. Rawls admitted there was a “family” of such conceptions but insisted that each must satisfy a “criterion of reciprocity.” This chapter ekes out Rawls’s published remarks to construct a “reciprocity” argument for fair value, complementing the “stability” argument of Chapter 15.

This chapter revisits the challenges with which the AML regime is fraught and recasts them in a new light. The chapter begins by addressing law enforcement responses to money laundering, namely the prosecution of money launderers and the confiscation of proceeds of crime. It proceeds to discuss regulatory responses, with a focus on the tensions they entail, namely exclusion versus surveillance, exclusion versus the presumption of innocence and surveillance versus privacy. It then explores the challenges presented by the misalignment between law enforcement priorities and private-sector compliance efforts, including defensive reporting, derisking, the displacement effect and tick-box compliance. The chapter then outlines potential solutions, including a modified reporting regime, public–private partnerships, privacy- enhancing technologies, and the implementation of a risk-based approach. The last substantive topic in this chapter is the special case of the legal profession, which presents particularly difficult choices in connection with both exclusion and surveillance. Finally, the conclusion brings together this analysis to elucidate the limitations of the existing FATF-mandated framework.