Framing Financialization and the State

In the age of financialization, it appears that financial elites dominate both the economy and politics. Indeed, much of the academic literature on the state’s role in propelling financialization argues that states liberated finance precisely due to the political power of finance capital and the influence of pro-finance, neoliberal ideas. This chapter, however, argues that during the 1970s and 1980s, when the most important financial liberalizations were passed, British policymakers were not directly dominated by an ascendant class of financiers. Rather, they found themselves indirectly dominated by the pressures of the global profitability crisis upon Britain’s economic balances with the rest of the world. This chapter theorizes this form of impersonal domination through an interpretation of Marx’s value theory. When the market-dependent agents of capitalist society interact through money-mediated commodity exchange, they unleash a dominating, competitive logic that sets them against one another in a race to raise labour productivity while pushing the economy into crises of falling profitability. Within this system, policymakers must simultaneously respond to the impersonal pressures of world market competition and maintain domestic legitimacy. In order to balance these contradictory imperatives, especially during crises, policymakers employ strategies of depoliticized discipline and palliation—the former seeking to impose competitive discipline on the domestic economy in a politically insulated manner, and the latter seeking to delay competitive market pressures so as to protect governing legitimacy. This chapter argues that the policies of financial liberalization pursued by the British state in this era can be understood through this lens.

Agent-based simulation for reconstructing social structure by observing collective movements with special reference to single-file movement

Understanding social organization is fundamental for the analysis of animal societies. In this study, animal single-file movement data—serialized order movements generated by simple bottom-up rules of collective movements—are informative and effective observations for the reconstruction of animal social structures using agent-based models. For simulation, artificial 2-dimensional spatial distributions were prepared with the simple assumption of clustered structures of a group. Animals in the group are either independent or dependent agents. Independent agents distribute spatially independently each one another, while dependent agents distribute depending on the distribution of independent agents. Artificial agent spatial distributions aim to represent clustered structures of agent locations—a coupling of “core” or “keystone” subjects and “subordinate” or “follower” subjects. Collective movements were simulated following two simple rules, 1) initiators of the movement are randomly chosen, and 2) the next moving agent is always the nearest neighbor of the last moving agents, generating “single-file movement” data. Finally, social networks were visualized, and clustered structures reconstructed using a recent major social network analysis (SNA) algorithm, the Louvain algorithm, for rapid unfolding of communities in large networks. Simulations revealed possible reconstruction of clustered social structures using relatively minor observations of single-file movement, suggesting possible application of single-file movement observations for SNA use in field investigations of wild animals.

Agent-based simulation for reconstructing social structure by observing collective movements with special reference to single-file movement

Understanding social organization is fundamental for the analysis of animal societies. In this study, animal single-file movement data ‒serialized order movements generated by simple bottom-up rules of collective movements— are informative and effective observations for the reconstruction of animal social structures using agent-based models. For simulation, artificial 2-dimensional spatial distributions were prepared with the simple assumption of clustered structures of a group. Animals in the group are either independent or dependent agents. Independent agents distribute spatially independently each one another, while dependent agents distribute depending on the distribution of independent agents. Artificial agent spatial distributions aim to represent clustered structures of agent locations ‒a coupling of “core” or “keystone” subjects and “subordinate” or “follower” subjects. Collective movements were simulated following two simple rules, 1) initiators of the movement are randomly chosen, and 2) the next moving agent is always the nearest neighbor of the last moving agents, generating “single-file movement” data. Finally, social networks were visualized, and clustered structures reconstructed using a recent major social network analysis (SNA) algorithm, the Louvain algorithm, for rapid unfolding of communities in large networks. Simulations revealed possible reconstruction of clustered social structures using relatively minor observations of single-file movement, suggesting possible application of single-file movement observations for SNA use in field investigations of wild animals.

Civil Law Consequences of the Non-Adjustment of an Insurance Product by the Distributor to the Demands and Needs of a Customer

According to the author, only in certain situations may the non-adjustment of insurance products to the demands and needs of the customer lead to the invalidity of insurance contract terms, or be remedied by the interpretation thereof in favour of the customer. Thus, the basic legal remedy which can be used by the customer in such case is to claim damages from the distributor. As a rule, distributors assume contractual liability based on the presumption of fault: in the case of brokers arising from brokerage contract, and in case of other distributors from obligations specified in the provisions of the Insurance Distribution Act. Insurers bear tortious non-fault liability for the activities of their dependent agents. Basically, clients may claim full damages according to the so called “difference theory”. In many cases however the damages will be restricted to the value of the overpaid insurance premium.

Digital Occupation: Gaza's High-Tech Enclosure

In disengaging from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Israel did not end the occupation but technologized it through purportedly “frictionless” hightechnology mechanisms. The telecommunications sector was turned over to the Palestinian Authority under Oslo II and subcontracted to Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL), furthering a neoliberal economic agenda that privately “enclosed” digital space. Coming on top of Israel's ongoing limitations on Palestinian land-lines, cellular, and Internet infrastructures, the result is a “digital occupation” of Gaza characterized by increasing privatization, surveillance, and control. While deepening Palestinian economic reliance on Israel and making Palestinian high-tech firms into dependent agents, digital occupation also enhances Israel's territorial containment of the Strip.