The Fragility of Constitutional Democracy

Is the survival of constitutional democracy in America at serious risk? Given the actions of the Trump administration, and given the decline of democracy and concomitant rise of authoritarianism the world over, there is genuine cause for alarm. In light of these fears, it is worth remembering that the authors of The Federalist Papers were notably pessimistic about the survival chances of republican government. To what extent have their constitutional design innovations contributed to present woes, and conversely, to what extent will the Constitution ensure the survival of democracy? This Essay argues that while the design of the Constitution is both helpful and harmful, much will ultimately turn on the political dimension. In particular, this Essay claims that the republic will survive only if the ongoing practices of democracy re-affirm its central values. But there are significant challenges to maintaining constitutional democracy. In addition to President Trump in the White House, current challenges include the decline in the democratic norms of civility and compromise, the rise of ideological warfare and hyperpartisanship, and the ever-deepening polarization between opposing camps—not only in government but also in the public at large. In the coming years, the continued vigilance and resistance of individuals and institutions will be crucially important to ensure the survival of constitutional democracy in America

Box of Ideal Gas in Free Fall

We study the \textit{quantum} partition function of non-relativistic, ideal gas in a (non-cubical) box falling freely in arbitrary curved spacetime with centre 4-velocity u^a. When perturbed energy eigenvalues are properly taken into account, we find that corrections to various thermodynamic quantities include a very specific, sub-dominant term which is independent of \textit{kinematic} details such as box dimensions and mass of particles. This term is characterized by the dimensionless quantity, \Xi=R_00 \Lambda^2, where R_00=R_ab u^a u^b and \Lambda=\beta \hbar c, and, quite intriguingly, produces Euler relation of homogeneity two between entropy and energy -- a relation familiar from black hole thermodynamics.Comment: 5 pages, no figures; abstract abridged and an appendix added outlining some relevant mathematical steps; accepted in Phys. Lett.

Classifying Corruption

Why is corruption wrong? This article argues that there are two main approaches to conceptualizing the “wrong” of corruption: first, corruption as an abuse of power; and second, corruption as inequality. In addition, I claim that there is a conceptual convergence between these two approaches. As a result, many forms of corruption can be framed as either an abuse of power and/or as a violation of equality. I show that even quid pro quo corruption can be framed in equality terms — a surprising outcome given the Supreme Court’s acceptance of quid pro quo corruption and rejection of equality-based corruption. This article also raises two queries about Lawrence Lessig’s theory of dependence corruption. My first claim is that dependence corruption is not fully consistent with an originalist understanding of corruption, and my second suggestion is that the “wrong” at issue in dependence corruption is ultimately a concern about representation. In addition to developing a conceptual map of corruption, this article focuses on the theoretical puzzles and challenges posed by corruption. For corruption as inequality, I identify seven forms that it could take, and I show how some of these forms have manifested in the Court’s campaign finance decisions. For corruption as the abuse of power, I identify three conceptual challenges (involving corrupt political gain, the public interest, and legislative independence). I argue that these conceptual challenges make it difficult to distinguish corruption from ordinary democratic politics

Designing low carbon buildings : a framework to reduce energy consumption and embed the use of renewables

EU policies to mitigate climate change set ambitious goals for energy and carbon reduction for the built environment. In order meet and even exceed the EU targets the UK Government's Climate Change Act 2008 sets a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the UK by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. To support these targets the UK government also aims to ensure that 20% of the UK's electricity is supplied from renewable sources by 2020. This article presents a design framework and a set of integrated IT tools to enable an analysis of the energy performance of building designs, including consideration of active and passive renewable energy technologies, when the opportunity to substantially improve the whole life-cycle energy performance of those designs is still open. To ensure a good fit with current architectural practices the design framework is integrated with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) key stages, which is the most widely used framework for the delivery of construction projects. The main aims of this article are to illustrate the need for new approaches to support low carbon building design that can be integrated into current architectural practice, to present the design framework developed in this research and illustrate its application in a case study

Is TRIPS suffering from Big Giant’s Syndrome: Good Economics versus Self Interest?

The paper discusses TRIPS as a protection measure on knowledge and new technologies through property rights and analyses the Southern concern if protection of new technologies by means of TRIPS may mean that South can no longer imitate the North in implementing emerging technologies and concepts as was the case with Newly Industrialized Countries of Asia in 1980s. The paper shows that trade and research and development trends are highly skewed in favor of the North and this means that in any such international economic landscape, TRIPS may advantage the North and restrict the South from trading under a technologically aligned level playing field