Rebuilding Contested States: A comparative study of institutional design during political transition in Egypt, Iraq, Libya, & Tunisia

Rebuilding a contested state following an authoritarian breakdown requires widespread support for the new political system from all communal groups. A central theoretical assertion of the institutional design literature is that inclusion of communal groups in institutional frameworks creates support for a political system. However, empirical evidence to either verify or refute this claim is inconclusive. A survey of institutional design literature reveals an implicit distinction between de jure inclusion (inclusive frameworks) and de facto inclusion (inclusion in practice). To date, this distinction has not been sufficiently differentiated and systematically examined, with large-N studies most often examining the impact solely of de jure inclusion on support, and case studies failing to make a clear conceptual distinction between these two elements of inclusion. To address this gap in the research, this study asks: during a period of political transition in a contested state, does de jure inclusion, de facto inclusion, or a combination of both, build support for a political system? To investigate this question, the study undertakes a small-N comparative study of institutional design during political transitions in the Middle East and North Africa region. Four countries are selected that underwent rebuilding of their political institutions following authoritarian breakdown: Egypt, Iraq, Libya, and Tunisia. Four hypotheses are advanced that capture the expectation that either de jure inclusion, de facto inclusion, or a combination of both, will build support for a political system. The hypotheses are investigated in two key institutional design moments in the selected countries: electoral system design and constitution-making. The study finds that de jure inclusion is not a sufficient mechanism to create support of all communal groups for the political system, whilst de facto inclusion may be sufficient. In no case where de jure inclusion alone was observed, was support for the political system present. In all cases where de facto inclusion was present, there was support for the political system, regardless of whether or not there was de jure inclusion. The study contributes to our understanding of the rebuilding of contested states following authoritarian breakdown, suggesting that, alongside an emphasis on de jure inclusion in electoral system design and constitution-making, de facto inclusion deserves consideration

Cobordism categories of manifolds with corners

In this paper we study the topology of cobordism categories of manifolds with corners. Specifically, if Cob d , ⟨ k ⟩ \text {Cob}_{d,\langle k\rangle } is the category whose objects are a fixed dimension d d , with corners of codimension ≤ k \leq \;k , then we identify the homotopy type of the classifying space B Cob d , ⟨ k ⟩ B\text {Cob}_{d,\langle k\rangle } as the zero space of a homotopy colimit of a certain diagram of the Thom spectra. We also identify the homotopy type of the corresponding cobordism category when an extra tangential structure is assumed on the manifolds. These results generalize the results of Galatius, Madsen, Tillmann and Weiss (2009), and their proofs are an adaptation of the methods of their paper. As an application we describe the homotopy type of the category of open and closed strings with a background space X X , as well as its higher dimensional analogues. This generalizes work of Baas-Cohen-Ramirez (2006) and Hanbury.</p

Cobordism categories, corners, and surgery

The first result of this manuscript is a formula for calculating the homotopy type of the classifying space of the cobordism category [special characters omitted] the cobordism category whose morphisms are cobordisms of manifolds of fixed dimension d with corners of codimension ≤ k together with structure on the tangent bundle determined by a fibration &thetas;. The result is the zero space of a homotopy colimit over a certain diagram of Thom spectra. In some interesting cases we are able to evaluate this homotopy colimit explicitly. One such case is the cobordism category of oriented two-dimensional manifolds with boundary. In other words, we determine the homotopy type of the domain of an open-closed topological field theory. The second half of this thesis shows how the traditional sets appearing in the Browder-Novikov-Sullivan-Wall smooth surgery sequence may be replaced by the classifying spaces of cobordism categories and the maps between these sets may be replaced by functors

Frozen in Motion: Ethnographic Representation in Donald B. MacMillan’s Arctic Films

This chapter examines the explorer Donald MacMillan, who accompanied Robert Peary during the 1908-09 Polar expedition, and took tens of thousands of still photographs and exposed nearly 100,000 feet of motion picture footage during his long career as explorer, scientist, lecturer, and ethnographer. Four of MacMillan’s edited single-reel films – Hunting Musk-Ox with the Polar Eskimo (date unknown), Travelling with the Eskimos of the Far North (1930), Eskimo Life in South Greenland (filmed during a 1926 expedition), and Under the Northern Lights (circa 1928) –survive. Genauer’s chapter argues that MacMillan disavowed narrative and generic conventions of ethnographic representation, which allowed his films to break from the supposed verisimilitude characteristic of contemporary explorer films.</p

...Modern interiors today and tomorrow; a critical analysis of trends in contemporary decoration as seen at the Paris exposition of arts and techniques and reflected at the New York World's fair.

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