Academic literature on the topic 'Anti-usurpation'

Despite the geographical and cultural proximity, the contemporary history of Belarus is poorly represented in Ukrainian historiography. The study of the socio-political processes that took place in the Republic of Belarus after it became an independent country is necessary to understand the reasons for the failure of its nationally oriented course in 1991–1994, the Lukashenko regime’s coming to power and its subsequent transformation into a state unfriendly to Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic bloc. After gaining independence during the «parade of sovereignties» in 1988–1991, Belarus began to experience the processes of national revival of the Belarusian language and culture and democratisation of social and political life, initiated by the national conservatives from the Belarusian Populat Front (BPF), but already in the fourth year of independence, the above-mentioned processes were curtailed and the Republic of Belarus, headed by the permanent president Alexander Lukashenko, became known as «Europe’s last dictatorship». Nevertheless, mass opposition protests have been taking place almost throughout the entire period since 1994, from the so-called Minsk Spring to the large-scale protests of 2020. The article generally chronicles the anti-authoritarian resistance of civil society in Belarus in the 1990s, examining the formation and activities of Zianon Pazniak’s Belarusian People’s Front party, the confrontation between different branches of power against the backdrop of Alexander Lukashenka’s first victory in the presidential election and his subsequent usurpation of power, human rights violations, fraud during the presidential election, regime repression of the opposition and its activities. A special focus on the Belarusian Popular Front is due to the importance of this party as the most significant opposition force during the period of independent Belarus’ existence.

AbstractThis essay reconsiders the character and significance of Edmund Burke's attitude to the seventeenth-century civil wars and interregnum. Burke may have venerated the “revolution principles” of 1688–89 over those of the 1640s, not least in the Reflections on the Revolution in France in which he notoriously compares English dissenting radicals to regicidal Puritans. Yet his response to the first Stuart revolution is more complex than has commonly been allowed and is closely bound up with Burke's earlier parliamentary career as a prominent member of the Rockingham Whig connection. The revival of an anti-Stuart idiom within the extra-parliamentary opposition of the 1760s, together with the mounting conflict with the North American colonies, gave renewed prominence to the memory of the civil wars within English political discourse. The Rockinghamites attempted to exploit this development—without compromising their own, more conservative reading of seventeenth-century history—but they were also its victims. In the years that followed, Burke and his colleagues were repeatedly identified by their political opponents with the spirit of Puritan rebellion and Cromwellian usurpation. These circumstances provide a new perspective on Burke's interpretation of the nation's revolutionary past; they also offer important insights into his writings and speeches in response to the French Revolution.

The article attempts to analyze a little-studied episode related to historical politics in the era of the First Empire in France. The revolution and the coming to power of the emperor actualized many events of the past, the reception of which took place in various, including artistic forms. The article considers an example of an attempt to act in opposition to the emperor and destroy the image of a legitimate charismatic national leader created by him through a historical tragedy. F.J.M. Renoir, a playwright and participant in the revolution, criticized the usurpation of the throne by Napoleon by referring to the history of the 16th century in the play “The States-General in Blois, or the death of the Duke of Guise”, written actually by order of the authorities. That tragedy was forbidden to be staged until 1814, and the image of the Duke of Guise, the head of the Catholic party, displayed in the work, aroused the emperor’s indignation. The article concludes that Napoleon tried to construct the image of his own power, appealing to historical examples. Among the numerous political figures of the past with whom the emperor associated himself, unexpectedly turned out to be Duke Henry de Guise, who in the historical culture of the early 19th century had a reputation not so much as a charismatic leader, as a rebel and an illegal pretender to the throne, what the opposition successfully used in its anti- Bonapart works.

The Papal Brief restoring the English hierarchy was promulgated on September 29th 1850. On October 25th the Shrewsbury Chronicle reprinted without comment a straight summary taken from the French Catholic paper, L’Univers. Soon enough anti-Catholic feeling, fanned to fury by Cardinal Wiseman’s provocative and flamboyant Letter from the Flaminian Gate, was unleashed across the length and breadth of the nation. In the next few weeks the Chronicle reprinted a whole series of letters on the controversy, an open letter from the Bishop of London to his clergy, John Russell’s open letter to the Bishop of Durham, endorsing the bishop’s remark that this example of ‘papal aggression’ was both ‘insolent and insidious’. Replies were also published: Bishop Ullathorne’s letter to The Times and an article in The Spectator both insisting on the spiritual nature of the issue, rather than presenting it as a threat to the constitution of the English Church and nation. These seemed to go unnoticed. An advertisement appeared from the clergy of Shrewsbury signed amongst others by the Archdeacon of Salop, and Kennedy (of Shorter Latin Primer fame), then Headmaster of the Schools. A petition was to be left for signing in Mr. Lake’s, in Market Square, protesting about the ‘illegal usurpation of power, insulting to our most gracious sovereign… openly intimating a design eventually to subjugate England to papal control’. The local papers seemed happy enough to encourage the debate.

The article deals with the peculiarities of formation of legal consciousness in Russia. The problem of human rights was raised in the 18th century among the noble elite, who realised the need for political rights for protection from arbitrary power. With the exception of Radishchev's book, where the theory of natural law was consistently applied, the problem of civil human rights was indirectly sounded only within the framework of university courses of natural law, which to some extent influenced the formation of legal consciousness of the enlightened strata of society. Reformation projection of Alexander I did not change the legal situation in essence. The usurpation of political issues by Nicholas I led to the transformation of legal discourse into ethical discourse, although Nicholas I himself for some time considered natural law discourse acceptable. In theoretical terms, the identification of natural law with the idea of natural human rights is not quite legitimate: natural law doctrine does not assert the necessity and unconditional nature of human rights. The concept of natural human rights as a political conclusion emerged in the New Age and was developed during the Enlightenment, which was taken up in Russia by Radishchev and the Decembrists, and then left public discourse for a long time. The anti-legalism and paternalism rooted in the public consciousness, the lack of a stable original liberal tradition determined the generally low legal culture of society, weak legal public discourse, which was reflected in the limited nature of reforms, the dependent state of legal institutions and the system of legal proceedings, and the underdevelopment of representation.

Rousseau's Lettres écrites de la montagne have traditionally been cited as evidence of the influence on his thinking of Genevan traditions of democratic republican political argument, on the grounds that the Lettres were written on behalf of those members of the citizens and bourgeois in the city who were critical of the growing powers of the magistracy, the co-called représentants. This essay proposes a different reading. It argues that the Lettres confirmed long-standing Genevan suspicions about Rousseau's politics and theology which were held both by the représentants and the magistrates. The reason was that Rousseau had composed the Lettres as a critique both of représentant plans for democratic reform and of magisterial usurpation of the sovereign rights of the citizens. The Lettres underscored Rousseau's commitment to the distinction between sovereignty and government outlined in the Contrat social. Rousseau believed that Geneva deserved to be a model for European states because the distinction between sovereignty and government characteristic of its constitution had such clear historical roots. He also recognized that growing uncertainty concerning the relative powers of the General Council, the smaller executive committees of leading magistrates, and the Consistory had created a political impasse. Accordingly the Lettres argued for a new political settlement, that would redefine the constitutional relationship between citizens and magistrates, as well as between church and the state. Rousseau emerges as a dedicated enemy of democratic political innovation in Geneva, and an advocate of renewed Reformation which would make religion the foundation of an anti-commercial morality. Rousseau's singular and heterodox perspective on Geneva and its history is outlined in the essay, which places Rousseau's Lettres in the broader local context of republican and magisterial reform politics.

At the Humboldt University of Berlin, German historian Alexander Korb defended, with the highest grade (summa cum laude), his doctoral thesis in historical studies ?In the Shadow of the World War II. Mass violence by the Ustasa against Serbs, Jews and Roma?. His radically new thesis are as follows: 1) in the State of Croatia (1941-1945) ?there was no genocide against the Serbs?; 2) clerical component (Croatian Catholic clergy and the Vatican) ?played no significant role? in the mass violence against the Serbs in the State of Croatia (1941-1945), so the forced catholicization of the Serbs was ?purely secular in character?. Korb, therefore, enters into absolute conflict with the vast majority of previous research papers and their conclusions. Korb?s theses are challenged from three aspects in this analysis: a) scientific and historical, b) linguistic and philosophical (definitionism theory) and c) political. Regarding scientific and historical aspects, Korb approached this problem one-sidedly, in a selective way, and from the very beginning drastically reduced i.e. excluded an enormous part of primary historical sources and scientific literature. He excluded all Serbian sources, including testimonies of Serbian survivors and victims, on the grounds that they were either ?Serbian nationalists? or ?Serbian communists?, then all testimonies of eye-witnesses from the opressors side - German Nazis and Italian Fascists - with justification that they are manipulated by ?Serbian nationalists? or ?Serbian communists?, as well as all primary historical sources and scientific literature which testify of the role of Croatian Roman Catholic clergy and the Vatican, on the basis that they are ?anti-clerical?. From linguistic and philosophical aspect, Korb?s argumentations clearly belong to the principle of ?usurpation of power over definitions and psychagogy? recognized by classical theory of concepts as a convenient redefinition, virtualization of reality and psychagogic establishment of the new ?real reality? in the minds of the target group through its internalization. Korb?s work is, therefore, rather relativistic linguistic and philosophical treatise clad in historical science than scientific study of history. As for the aspect of political science, it can be concluded that paradigm shift in social sciences and humanities in Germany, due to his indisputable efforts, obtained a new quality, a completely different level of arbitrary and virtual reflection of reality. Namely, these sciences are rapidly getting mutual and dominant ideological and political connotation.

Abstract Constitutional courts are portrayed as counter-majoritarian institutions empowered to strike down ordinary legislation that is inconsistent with the constitution. This power is to be used sparingly, since it is seen as being in tension with basic democratic principles. Judicial review in these circumstances should be limited to minority rights protection and the enforcement of structural limitations that prevent majority rule excess. But this is only half the story. Depending on the democratic credentials of the particular constitution, courts that strike down legislation as inconsistent with the constitution can also be said to be engaging in majoritarian action. The characterization of constitutional courts as counter-majoritarian institutions is premised on: (1) the status of ordinary legislation as the quintessential majoritarian instrument, (2) the un-elected nature of judges, (3) a narrow understanding of the concept of the ‘negative legislator’, and (4) the democratic deficit that results when judges impose their views over those enacted by parliament. This Article challenges these assumptions. First, this Article demonstrates that ordinary statutes adopted by elected legislatures are not necessarily the superior articulation of popular will. On the contrary, the democratization of modern constitution-making allows the constitution to acquire ultimate majoritarian status. Because of popular skepticism about the ability of ordinary politics to adequately reflect society’s views on important substantive policy matters, the People have repeatedly decided to bypass the legislative process and directly entrench these policy views in the constitutional text. As a result, it is the constitution that embodies popular will. Second, this Article dissects the so-called counter-majoritarian difficulty, in order to distinguish between illegitimate counter-majoritarian review and legitimate counter-majoritarian review. The former occurs when the constitutional court substitutes the legislature’s policy views with its own, thus generating an impermissible democratic deficit. The latter occurs when the constitutional court invalidates ordinary legislation that violates minority rights or exceeds the structural limits imposed by the constitution. In both instances, counter-majoritarian intervention is warranted, precisely, to make sure that democratic self-government through ordinary politics can be adequately carried out. Third, this Article suggest the existence of a third class of judicial review: legitimate majoritarian review. This is when a constitutional court invalidates ordinary statutes because the legislature attempted to substitute the will of the constitutional drafters with their own. In other words, in instances when the legislative body carries out an anti-majoritarian act by ignoring the policy choices made by the People and entrenched in the constitutional text. When a court strikes down legislation of this sort, it is actually re-establishing majoritarian self-rule by making sure that the constitution’s policy commands are respected. In that sense, the court is not exercising independent judgment. Instead, it becomes the enforcement instrument of the majoritarian constitution to avoid legislative usurpation. This makes the un-elected nature of courts an almost irrelevant factor. Finally, this Article explores how the majoritarian potential of judicial review on constitutional matters interacts with the ‘negative legislator’ role of constitutional courts. In particular, how the ‘negative legislator’ should not be characterized, necessarily, as a limited one.

AbstractSevere heterogeneity within glioblastoma has spurred the notion that disrupting the interplay between multiple elements on immunosuppression is at the core of meaningful anti-tumor responses. T cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains (TIGIT) and its glioblastoma-associated antigen, CD155, form a highly immunosuppressive axis in glioblastoma and other solid tumors, yet targeting of TIGIT, a functionally heterogeneous receptor on tumor-infiltrating immune cells, has largely been ineffective as monotherapy, suggesting that disruption of its inhibitory network might be necessary for measurable responses. It is within this context that we show that the usurpation of the TIGIT − CD155 axis via engineered synNotch-mediated activation of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived natural killer (NK) cells promotes transcription factor-mediated activation of a downstream signaling cascade that results in the controlled, localized blockade of CD73 to disrupt purinergic activity otherwise resulting in the production and accumulation of immunosuppressive extracellular adenosine. Such “decoy” receptor engages CD155 binding to TIGIT, but tilts inhibitory TIGIT/CD155 interactions toward activation via downstream synNotch signaling. Usurping activities of TIGIT and CD73 promotes the function of adoptively transferred NK cells into intracranial patient-derived models of glioblastoma and enhances their natural cytolytic functions against this tumor to result in complete tumor eradication. In addition, targeting both receptors, in turn, reprograms the glioblastoma microenvironment via the recruitment of T cells and the downregulation of M2 macrophages. This study demonstrates that TIGIT/CD155 and CD73 are targetable receptor partners in glioblastoma. Our data show that synNotch-engineered pluripotent stem cell-derived NK cells are not only effective mediators of anti-glioblastoma responses within the setting of CD73 and TIGIT/CD155 co-targeting, but represent a powerful allogeneic treatment option for this tumor.

Les systèmes biométriques vocaux sont utilisés dans diverses applications pour une authentification sécurisée. Toutefois, ces systèmes sont vulnérables aux attaques par usurpation d'identité. Il est donc nécessaire de disposer de techniques de détection plus robustes. Cette thèse propose de nouvelles techniques de détection fiables et efficaces contre les attaques invisibles. La première contribution est un ensemble non linéaire de classificateurs de sous-bandes utilisant chacun un modèle de mélange gaussien. Des résultats compétitifs montrent que les modèles qui apprennent des indices discriminants spécifiques à la sous-bande peuvent être nettement plus performants que les modèles entraînés sur des signaux à bande complète. Étant donné que les DNN sont plus puissants et peuvent effectuer à la fois l'extraction de caractéristiques et la classification, la deuxième contribution est un modèle RawNet2. Il s'agit d'un modèle de bout en bout qui apprend les caractéristiques directement à partir de la forme d'onde brute. La troisième contribution comprend la première utilisation de réseaux neuronaux graphiques (GNN) avec un mécanisme d'attention pour modéliser la relation complexe entre les indices d'usurpation présents dans les domaines spectral et temporel. Nous proposons un réseau d'attention spectro-temporel E2E appelé RawGAT-ST. Il est ensuite étendu à un réseau d'attention spectro-temporel intégré, appelé AASIST, qui exploite la relation entre les graphes spectraux et temporels hétérogènes. Enfin, cette thèse propose une nouvelle technique d'augmentation des données appelée RawBoost et utilise un modèle vocal auto-supervisé et pré-entraîné pour améliorer la généralisation
Voice biometric systems are being used in various applications for secure user authentication using automatic speaker verification technology. However, these systems are vulnerable to spoofing attacks, which have become even more challenging with recent advances in artificial intelligence algorithms. There is hence a need for more robust, and efficient detection techniques. This thesis proposes novel detection algorithms which are designed to perform reliably in the face of the highest-quality attacks. The first contribution is a non-linear ensemble of sub-band classifiers each of which uses a Gaussian mixture model. Competitive results show that models which learn sub-band specific discriminative information can substantially outperform models trained on full-band signals. Given that deep neural networks are more powerful and can perform both feature extraction and classification, the second contribution is a RawNet2 model. It is an end-to-end (E2E) model which learns features directly from raw waveform. The third contribution includes the first use of graph neural networks (GNNs) with an attention mechanism to model the complex relationship between spoofing cues present in spectral and temporal domains. We propose an E2E spectro-temporal graph attention network called RawGAT-ST. RawGAT-ST model is further extended to an integrated spectro-temporal graph attention network, named AASIST which exploits the relationship between heterogeneous spectral and temporal graphs. Finally, this thesis proposes a novel data augmentation technique called RawBoost and uses a self-supervised, pre-trained speech model as a front-end to improve generalisation in the wild conditions