We're (Not) Talkin' Bout a Revolution : Anti-colonial Struggles and Their (Un)justifications

Book SymposiumNon peer reviewe

The role of the corticomotorneurons in pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, degenerative disease of the motor system clinically defined by the presence of upper and lower motor neuron (LMN) signs. The site of onset of pathophysiology within the motor system in ALS remains unresolved and this thesis examines the role of the corticomotor neuron in the pathogenesis of ALS. The diagnostic utility of the split-hand sign in ALS involving preferential wasting of the ‘thenar’ group of intrinsic hand muscles namely the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) and first dorsal interosseous (FDI) was established by recording the split-hand index (SI) which was noted to reliably differentiate ALS from mimic neuromuscular disorders. The cortical and axonal excitability characteristics of the ‘thenar’ muscles namely the APB and FDI was compared with the hypothenar abductor digiti minimi (ADM) with threshold tracking transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies revealing cortical hyperexcitability to be a feature of ALS pronounced over the ‘thenar’ muscles while axonal hyperexcitability while a feature of ALS, did not selectively affect the prominently wasted ‘thenar’ muscles. Cortical hyperexcitability was also noted to precede the development of lower motor neuron dysfunction in a clinically and neurophysiologically normal APB muscle. The selective vulnerability of muscles in ALS was further defined by the split hand plus sign with a greater degree of cortical hyperexcitability over the preferentially wasted APB muscle in ALS patients when compared with a similarly innervated and relatively preserved flexor pollicis longus (FPL) muscle. In summary, corticomotorneuronal hyperexcitability as a marker of corticomotorneuronal dysfunction predominates over the muscles which are preferentially wasted in ALS and precedes evidence of lower motor neuron loss. The findings presented in this thesis support the primacy of the corticomotor neuron in the pathogenesis of the split hand phenomenon and suggest a mechanism for the pathogenesis of ALS

Not in the name of the 'Other' : The Democratic Concept of International Adjudication through the Looking Glass

Non peer reviewe

Rage for Order : The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800–1850, written by Lauren Benton and Lisa Ford

Reviewed book: Lauren Benton and Lisa Ford, Rage for Order. The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800–1850. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016, 288 pp.; ISBN: 9780674737464, $39.95.Peer reviewe

Negotiating Subjection : The Political Economy of Protection in the Iraqi Mandate (1914-1932)

The Mandate System provided a viable means for protecting European interests (without annexation), embedding the principle of foreign property protection as the basis for future relations between capital exporting and importing states. At the same time, the Mandates also protected the non-European Mandate inhabitants in preparation for their emancipation by introducing welfare measures, development, and ‘order’ that could support the protection of (foreign) property. The Iraqi example best explicates how the Mandate System uniquely combined vestiges of older imperial protection models and a future model for newly emancipated states, demonstrating the fluidity between the imperial and the international. I argue that such a fluidity helped facilitate a reciprocal causality between protecting people and protecting property, where protecting Iraqis facilitated British propertied interests. Equally, by separating the protection of people and property, I show how political self-determination of Mandate inhabitants remained distinct from their economic emancipation. Through these arguments, I demonstrate how protection of people and property was divergent and mutually constitutive.Peer reviewe

Profiting from Protection : A History of Inclusion, Exclusion, and International Law

In this thesis, I examine protection as an imperial ideology that facilitated the relationship between people and private property through subject formation and subjection. I throw light on the different meanings of protection, while demonstrating how it was continuously used to structure society and its social relations in foreseeable ways. At first extended to those who were privileged either by birth, descent, or (money) capital, protection was theorised as something offered in return for allegiance, in a reciprocal relationship between the protector and their subjects in the seventeenth century. For those submitting to the sovereign mainly to safeguard their propertied interests, its facilitation, however, made protection both restrictive and expansive: spatially, but also racially. With the expansion of the British Empire and protection’s use extending into the colonies and including new ‘subjects’ in the early nineteenth century, the relationship between protecting people and property also became contentious. I argue that by refashioning protection as reform in the colonies, it was stretched beyond its reciprocal relationship of protection and allegiance and, instead, situated on a continuum between obedience and emancipation. The continuum helped to reconceptualise protection as a means to emancipate (enslaved) labour, free (native) lands for trading, and, eventually, to facilitate the free movement of capital. Treating protection as reform was instrumental in narrowing the gap between public authority and private interests, while helping the state to separate itself from private enterprise. Situating my work both within and against the traditions of postcolonial and Marxist thought, my longue durée study starts with how protection was a part of the social processes of subjectification that tied it to propertied interests. Thereafter, I explore protection practices via three case studies: the enslaved in the West Indian slave colony of Trinidad, the natives in West African settlements and colonial protectorates, and the inhabitants of Iraq under the Mandate System. My case studies demonstrate how protection was used to include new categories of racialised subjects by creating hierarchies that hid behind the veneer of a singular subjectivity: the free person.Väitöskirjassa tarkastelen suojelua imperialistisena ideologiana, joka helpotti ihmisten ja yksityisomaisuuden suojelemisen suhdetta subjektimuodostuksen ja alistamisen kautta. Valaisen suojelun eri merkityksiä ja havainnollistan samalla, kuinka sitä jatkuvasti käytettiin yhteiskunnan ja sen ihmisten ja omaisuuden välisten suhteiden jäsentämiseen ennakoitavissa olevilla tavoilla. Aluksi suojelua laajennettiin niille, jotka olivat etuoikeutettuja joko syntymän, syntyperän tai (raha)pääoman perusteella, ja teoriassa suojelua tarjottiin vastineeksi uskollisuudesta suojelijan ja heidän alamaistensa välisessä vastavuoroisessa suhteessa 1600-luvulla. Niille, jotka alistuivat suvereenille pääasiassa omien etujensa turvaamiseksi, suojelun helpottaminen teki siitä kuitenkin sekä rajoittavaa että ekspansiivista: alueellisesti, mutta myös rodullisesti. Brittiläisen imperiumin laajentuessa ja suojelun käytön ulottuessa siirtomaihin ja uusiin "alamaisiin" 1800-luvun alussa, ihmisten ja omaisuuden suojelun suhde muuttui myös kiistanalaiseksi. Väitän, että kun suojelu kalibroitiin uudelleen uudistuksiksi siirtomaissa, se venytettiin vastavuoroisen suojelu- ja uskollisuussuhteensa ulkopuolelle ja sen sijaan sijoittui tottelevaisuuden ja vapautumisen väliselle jatkumolle. Siirtymä auttoi uudelleenkäsittelemään suojelua keinona vapauttaa (orjuutettu) työvoima, vapauttaa (syntyperäiset) maat kauppaan ja lopulta helpottaa pääomien vapaata liikkuvuutta. Suojelun käsitteen muuttaminen uudistuksiksi auttoi kaventamaan julkisen vallan ja yksityisten etujen välistä kuilua ja samalla auttoi valtiota etääntymään käsitteellisesti yksityisyrityksistä. Tutkimukseni sijoittuu sekä postkolonialistisen ja marxilaisen ajattelun perinteisiin että niitä vastaan. Longue durée tutkimukseni alkaa siitä, kuinka suojelu oli osa yhteiskunnallisia subjektiksi tulemisen prosesseja, jotka sitoivat sen omistettuihin etuihin. Sen jälkeen tutkin suojelukäytäntöjä kolmen tapaustutkimuksen avulla: Trinidadin Länsi-Intian orjasiirtokunnan orjuutetut, Länsi-Afrikan siirtokuntien ja siirtomaaprotektoraattien alkuperäisasukkaat sekä mandaattijärjestelmän mukaiset Irakin asukkaat. Tapaustutkimukseni osoittavat, kuinka suojelua käytettiin ottamaan mukaan uusia rodullisten subjektien kategorioita luomalla hierarkia, joka piiloutui yksittäisen subjektiivisuuden, vapaan ihmisen, julkisivun taakse