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Although John Calvin had no biological children who survived, through his wife, Idelette, he had two stepchildren: Jacob and Judith Tourneur. This article will show that these siblings were the source of some consternation for the reformer in the years following their mother's death. Both had to appear before the Consistory of Geneva, the morals court created and dominated by Calvin. Jacob was summoned in 1556 for leading a life of debauchery instead of learning a trade and for participating in the Mass while in Germany. He was excluded from the Supper and briefly jailed. Convicted of adultery in 1562, Judith was jailed and subjected to a public caning, and her husband received a divorce for her infidelity. The punishments the Tourneurs received were in line with those typically assigned for these transgressions. The last appearance for each before the Consistory was when they successfully petitioned to be readmitted to communion, reflecting this institution's ultimate goal of reintegrating sinners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In August 2014,1 arrived in Ferguson, Missouri, to cover the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson. As a young photojournalist, I found myself at the epicenter [...]

In 1997, I conducted interviews with and observed former East German academics who belonged to the Leipzig branch of the Rosa Luxemburg Association. This segment of the East German intelligentsia shared counterfactual narratives about how reformers could have changed the trajectory of East German history. Identifying with the reformers, they signalled their loyalty to the German Democratic Republic while distancing themselves from its reputation for political repression. They also shared narratives about the post-socialist era in which they cast themselves as victims of Germany's reunification. These narratives implied that they did not unduly benefit from reunification nor pose a threat to the new democratic order. Other segments of the former East German intelligentsia, such as jurists and journalists, represented themselves as professionally active in the post-socialist time-space, consciously shaping their reputation in relation to their western German colleagues. The article concludes with a comparison to the Romanian and Polish intelligentsias, who, unlike segments of the East German intelligentsia, cast themselves as contributing to their nations' respective futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reformers assert that lobbyists take advantage of legislators who lack adequate staffing and research to win policy outcomes for their interest group clients. However, in the United States, legislators usually determine their own levels of staff. This paper exploits the 1990 passage of California's Proposition 140 to test a situation when the legislature's capacity dropped. Proposition 140 immediately lowered legislative expenditures for the 1991–1992 session by 38%, which decimated the policy staff, particularly in the state's Assembly. Using bill analyses that identify which outside groups served as the source of legislation, we shows that group sponsored bills became more likely to pass than non‐group bills in the wake of Proposition 140. This effect is concentrated in bills introduced in the Assembly. We account for other factors that could explain this relationship, particularly direct and indirect effects of the term limits wrought by Proposition 140, but find they did not alter legislator relationships with outside groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to compare Heidegger's and Āl-e-Ahmad's views on technology; first, the close relationship between subjectivism and modern technology was analyzed based on Heidegger, and subsequently, it was pointed out that Heidegger's approach towards technology is a critical confrontation based on engagement/disengagement dialectics. Then Jalal Āl-e-Ahmad's view on technology was analyzed, emphasizing that, unlike Heidegger, with a philosophical, ontological, and anticipatory approach to modern technology, Āl-e-Ahmad took a selective and voluntarist approach towards modern technology by adopting a political and social stance. Āl-e-Ahmad, like Promethean and leading intellectuals and reformers, believed that a Westoxificated society is a society that has not yet achieved technology and is technologically dependent on the West. Therefore, to deal with Westoxification, it should become a technological power by adopting a will-based approach--a machine must be built and owned; however, at the same time, one should not be got caught by the machine because it is a means and not a goal. Unlike Āl-e-Ahmad, Heidegger considered technology not a mere tool but a kind of ontology and way of thinking that affects all humans' areas and affairs, so it is not easy to escape modern technology's grip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skeptic: You are a controversial figure for your work in the area of Critical Race Theory (CRT). What led you to this subject? Rufo: My professional background is in documentary [...]

While pro‐market economic institutions are a strong and causal predictor of economic development, such institutions are not expected to have the same impact across countries. Furthermore, there are actually a few instances where countries that enacted market‐friendly reforms had negative economic growth soon after. Examining 49 cases of large and sustained increases in economic freedom over a five year window, we find 10 cases that were followed by low/negative economic growth thereafter. We consider various potential determinants of failed reforms by comparing different measures between the successful and failed reforming countries. Our strongest evidence points to the following as plausible reasons for failed reforms: culture (high levels of power distance, low levels of individualism, and low levels of generalized trust), areas of economic freedom that countries reformed (less focus on sound monetary policy, more focus on limiting the size of government, and more variance between the five areas), and autocratic political institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Oberammergau Passion Play – arguably the largest and longest-running Passion Play tradition in the world – depicts Jesus' arrest, conviction and crucifixion at a spellbinding scale. It has also been at the centre of a controversy regarding its historic antisemitism and its efforts to reform, having engaged a director with a zeal for radically changing it. However, this article, informed by a large ethnographic study, argues that the feud that engulfed the town for decades – with reformers and traditionalists at loggerheads – has now abated. The 2022 Passion Play was made almost entirely by pro-reform locals, with traditionalists now outnumbered and sidelined, due to both their own choices and intentional exclusion by those at the helm. What remains of the feud has now changed shape, focusing not on the changes to the play but on the leadership style of the director. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looking at the recent cases of security force defection in Belarus and Venezuela, this paper develops a theory of security force 'confidence' to supplement the existing literature on security force defection. Security forces' confidence (or lack thereof) in the regime, other security forces, the opposition, and their future prospects in a transition help to explain why security forces in both countries have stayed cohesive and loyal to the regime during crisis. Our research found little data to support some of the other arguments that are popularly used to explain these cases, namely external support, differences in protester tactics, and counterbalancing by the regime., In February 2019, hundreds of Venezuelan military officers deserted across the Colombian border on foot during the humanitarian convoy crisis, and over the following two months officers joined political opposition [...]