Introduction

The global rise of populism is driving a process of democratic erosion. Accordingly, scholarly attention has shifted from processes of democratization to de-democratization trajectories; or, how democracies perish after they have transitioned from authoritarianism. This chapter distinguishes between populism (a political strategy) and competitive authoritarianism (a regime type). The chapter enumerates the conceptual contributions of this book, primarily, that the rise to power of populism can lead to regime change by creating significant power asymmetries. However, while unconstrained populism in power can lead to hybrid regimes or even full-scale authoritarianism, strong judiciaries, and other institutional actors, can contain or constrain populism in power, preventing regime change. The chapter offers a new definition of populism that includes a governance dimension that is missing in other definitions and argues that Alberto Fujimori, Hugo Chávez, Álvaro Uribe, Evo Morales, and Rafael Correa are examples of populism.

The Khon Clan and the Sakyapas

Khon Konchog Gyalpo, the main disciple of Drogmi, founded a monastery at Sakya. It was this monastery that gave its name to the whole monastic order of Drogmi. Konchog was a member of the Khon clan, the family that went on to produce the successive abbots or chief lamas of Sakya who have continued as the heads of this order ever since. The succession of abbots within the family was established on the father-to-son or uncle-to-nephew pattern. In the instance of an abbot remaining celibate, it was his brother or a close relative who continued the family line and oversaw the monastery’s worldly affairs; when the abbot died, he was succeeded by one of his nephews. The Sakyas reached the summit of political power when Sakya Pandita and Phagpa won the confidence and favour of Mongolian khans. The Sakyas were appointed as regents of Tibet, whereby Tibet became subject to a single political authority for the first time after the collapse of the monarchy. The aim of this paper is to show the development of the Khon clan, how a minor aristocratic family was transformed into a significant power in Tibet in both historical and religious aspects, through the efforts of some prominent members of Khon family.

Power Management Analysis of a Photovoltaic and Battery Energy Storage-Based Smart Electrical Car Park Providing Ancillary Grid Services

Future car parks will require significant power to support electric vehicle (EV) charging as there will be both an increase in the penetration of EVs and a higher demand for charging power as battery packs increase in capacity. The effective management of the charging and local battery storage can be installed to help prevent excessive increases in electrical feeder capacity; however, it is inevitable that car parks will attain significant power capability in the future. There is therefore an opportunity for car park owners to utilise this and generate additional revenue by providing frequency response services to the electrical grid. This paper describes the modelling of a car park that utilises photovoltaic power generation, battery storage, and EV charging management strategies to provide a grid frequency response service. The analysis using simulated car park data shows that it can provide a high availability in terms of service but it is dependent on the capacity of the installed generation and storage.

How Should the State Interact Constitutionally with Corporations which have significant power and influence over its population? Lessons from the Impeachment of Warren Hastings, 1788-1795

How to maintain constitutional accountability over large corporations is an increasing theme in contemporary politics. The impeachment trial of Warren Hastings in 1788-1795 addressed this directly with the behaviour of the East India Trading Company. What lessons for today are illustrated by this historical trial?

The Politics of Legal Expertise in EU Policy-Making

Legal advisers working in the institutions of the European Union exercise significant power, but very little is known about their work. Notwithstanding the handful of cases where legal matters find their way into the news, legal advice remains invisible in EU policy making. For more than ten years Päivi Leino-Sandberg was a part of the invisible community of EU legal advisers, and participated in the exercise of their power. In this book, she shares her insights about how law and lawyers work in the EU institutions, and what their role and impact is on EU decisions from within the decision-making structure. She draws on interviews with over sixty EU lawyers and policymakers: legal experts who interpret the Treaties within the Institutions, draft legislation and defend the Institutions before the EU Court. Telling the true stories behind key negotiations, this book explores the interplay and tensions between legal requirements and political ambitions.

Low-Power Scan Correlation-Aware Scan Cluster Reordering for Wireless Sensor Networks

Cryptographic circuits generally are used for applications of wireless sensor networks to ensure security and must be tested in a manufacturing process to guarantee their quality. Therefore, a scan architecture is widely used for testing the circuits in the manufacturing test to improve testability. However, during scan testing, test-power consumption becomes more serious as the number of transistors and the complexity of chips increase. Hence, the scan chain reordering method is widely applied in a low-power architecture because of its ability to achieve high power reduction with a simple architecture. However, achieving a significant power reduction without excessive computational time remains challenging. In this paper, a novel scan correlation-aware scan cluster reordering is proposed to solve this problem. The proposed method uses a new scan correlation-aware clustering in order to place highly correlated scan cells adjacent to each other. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a significant power reduction with a relatively fast computational time compared with previous methods. Therefore, by improving the reliability of cryptography circuits in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) through significant test-power reduction, the proposed method can ensure the security and integrity of information in WSNs.

Theoretical demonstration of a capacitive rotor for generation of alternating current from mechanical motion

Innovative concepts and materials are enabling energy harvesters for slower motion, particularly for personal wearables or portable small-scale applications, hence contributing to a future sustainable economy. Here we propose a principle for a capacitive rotor device and analyze its operation. This device is based on a rotor containing many capacitors in parallel. The rotation of the rotor causes periodic capacitance changes and, when connected to a reservoir-of-charge capacitor, induces alternating current. The properties of this device depend on the lubricating liquid situated between the capacitor’s electrodes, be it a highly polar liquid, organic electrolyte, or ionic liquid – we consider all these scenarios. An advantage of the capacitive rotor is its scalability. Such a lightweight device, weighing tens of grams, can be implemented in a shoe sole, generating a significant power output of the order of Watts. Scaled up, such systems can be used in portable wind or water turbines.

Palace Networks at the Court of Carlos II: Maria Anna of Palatinate-Neuburg’s Confessor, Gabriel Pontifeser, and the Queen’s German Chamber (1690–1700)

The arrival in Madrid in 1690 of the future queen consort, Maria Anna of Palatinate-Neuburg (1667–1740), second wife of the Spanish king Carlos II (1661–1700), also brought about the establishment of an unofficial palace faction known as the German Chamber. Since the members of this faction were part of Maria Anna’s household, the analysis of their social activities gives insight into court practices during the last decade of Carlos II’s reign. This article intends to shed light on the new networks and agency of members of the German Chamber at the Madrid court, in particular, that of the queen’s confessor, Gabriel Pontifeser di Chiusa. By investigating the activities and new court practices within the queen consort’s household that enabled Pontifeser to build secure networks and achieve importance, the article reveals the significant power wielded by foreign courtiers at the Madrid court between 1690 and 1700.

Are work experience participants protected against sex discrimination or sexual harassment?

More and more young Australians are undertaking periods of work experience as a part of their study or independently to facilitate their transition into employment. They are often subject to a significant power disparity compared to others in the workplace, and need the placement to finish a course, and/or to get practical experience, connections and industry references. This makes them vulnerable, including to sexual harassment and sex discrimination. However, whether prohibitions of such conduct apply to them is a complex question, which this article explores.

The limits of Intellectual Property: Exhaustion of rights, international trademarks and digital copyright

Strong Intellectual Property (IP) protection is a fundamental point in the establishment of a market for new products and services. IP can give significant power to the owner of intangible assets in financing, manufacturing or in general commercial transactions. However, as with any sort of power, too much of it can have detrimental effects. This work provides a discussion on the limits of IP by examining the exhaustion of rights doctrine. The paper briefly presents the legal evolution of the doctrine for trademarks and digital copyright. A discussion follows on the controversial concept of international exhaustion and on the most important points of digital exhaustion.