The Catholic Reformation: A Very Short Introduction

James E. Kelly traces the Catholic Reformation from its beginnings in the first half of the sixteenth century, through the years of unrest in Europe, to its global expansion in the Americas, Asia and Africa, and its continued influence and legacy into the twentieth century

State-owned Enterprises

Despite three decades of extensive state reform and privatization, State-owned enterprises (SOEs) remain key players in the global economy. The expansion of SOEs’ global footprint has caused widespread concerns about their implications for fair competition, national security, reciprocity, transparency, corruption, the function of the free market at home, and the future of the rule-based liberal international economic order. Concurrently, there is a growing perception that current international economic rules are neither conceptually coherent nor practically effective for tackling SOEs. This chapter maps out the new SOE rules emerging in free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties, such as the (Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and the EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement (CAI), and more importantly, to assess critically to what extent the new SOE rules are able to address the Chinese SOE problem

The age of hand stencils in Maltravieso cave (Extremadura, Spain) established by U-Th dating, and its implications for the early development of art

U-Th dating of associated carbonate crusts has been applied to date parietal art in Maltravieso cave, Extremadura, Spain. Known for its large collection of red hand stencils (≥60), one example previously dated to >66.7 ka was taken to suggest Neandertal authorship. Here we present a more detailed U-series study of hand stencils within the cave, and place the results in the context of the chronology of these motifs worldwide. Twenty-two carbonate samples overlying pigment of hand stencils were dated from the cave’s Sala de las Pinturas and the Galería de la Serpiente. Minimum ages for the art range from the Holocene to the Middle Palaeolithic. Alongside published dating results from other sites, this demonstrates that Neandertals as well as modern humans could create these motifs

Divergent imaginings: Transitioning to decarbonised mobility in ‘post-coalonial’ County Durham

What happens when the various parties involved in constructing decarbonised futures’ infrastructure diverge in their imaginaries? Much of the published research on the sociotechnical imaginaries relating to electric vehicles (EVs) describes the creation of the future of decarbonised transport as a process mired in conflict, with various interested parties represented as strenuously disagreeing in their assessment of the most efficacious solution. The aim of the article is to offer an alternative account, based upon data gathered through participant observation, interviews, and grey literature. It describes the sort of personal transportation futures currently being imagined in the United Kingdom. The focus is specifically on the installation of electric vehicle charge points. The author contrasts Whitehall’s national vision for this infrastructure with the ‘post-coalonial’ vision of officers of Durham County Council in North East England have articulated an alternative, a ‘post-coalonial’ vision, and finds that the vision of both the British civil service and Government of the United Kingdom focused on private ownership and commuting, while Durham County Council envisioned publicly accessible charge points that enabled various types of different journeys. Despite the striking differences the conclusion is that contrary to the findings of previous studies the existence of these divergent infrastructural imaginaries led not to conflict but to co-existence