Serpentes Issue 5

Serpentes The Academic Journal

Issue 5 Lent Term 2020

Welcome back to Serpentes, the Radley College Academic Journal. Before you start reading, let us remind you of our aims. We aspire to change the way academic study is perceived in Radley. Due to the relatively constricted content of GCSEs and A-levels, academics becomes more about ticking a box than thinking beyond it. We would like to change this misconception because there is so much more to academics than what is written in your textbooks. Do you have an interest which you would like to write about? Have you read an especially good book recently? Did you solve or create a challenging maths puzzle?

Send it to us and it could be published in the next issue. Whether you are a Sixth former or Shell, this journal belongs to you.

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Editors Contributors

Don-In-Charge

Muez Khan, Tobias Southwell Max McGee, Ben Zhang, Mark Lertiendumrong, Harry Moore, Thomas Williams, James Harrabin, Tobias Southwell, Jeff Xi, Thomas Uglow, Mahir Mujtaba, JER, CEP DLC

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Contents The Socratic Problem - Max McGee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

China’s Belt and Road Initiative: an opportunity or threat to the UK? - Ben Zhang The Lifecycle of the Malaria Parasite - Mark Lertiendumrong . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Should Cannabis be Legalised in the UK? - Harry Moore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Would banning “semi-automatic assault rifles” dramatically reduce gun crime in the USA? Or is that a theory founded on fallacy? - Thomas Williams . . . . . . . . .

The Geo-Economics of Global Trade - James Harrabin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Why has Africa not benefited from globalisation to the same extent as other countries? - Jeff Xi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In an ambiguous state. The role of ambivalence and mimicry in the recognition of a Palestinian State. - Ms. C. E. Potts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conversations Between an Atheist and a Theist - Thomas Uglow . . . . . . . . . . .

COVID-19 and its effects on the UK economy - Mahir Mujtaba . . . . . . . . . . . .

A Civic Space - Ms. J. E. Rhyins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Some Interesting Mathematical Puzzles - Tobias Southwell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Some Interesting Mathematical Puzzles - Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5 7 10 12 15 18 21 24 31 34 37 38 39

The Socratic Problem - Max McGee Socrates is credited as being the first moral philosopher of the Western world, perhaps best known for his sayings, ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’ and, ‘I know that I know nothing’ – or, more accurately, ‘I neither know nor think that I know’. Despite this, no writing of his was ever recorded. Thus, all that we can understand about Socrates comes from secondary sources, most notably his students: Plato and Xenophon, and the playwright Aristophanes. However, these sources often contradict certain details of his beliefs, words, and life and so arises the Socratic Problem, where reconstructing the image of Socrates becomes extremely difficult; both in an historical and philosophical sense.

The richest source for Socrates is Plato’s dialogues, providing more information than the combination of antiquity. Due to both his and Xenophon’s personal relationship with Socrates, it is their works that are considered most useful when pertaining to Socrates’ personal life and habits. Problems occur when we try to differ between the ideas of Plato and Socrates. Did Plato wish to express his teacher’s ideas, or did he augment and express his own through the character of Socrates? For this we go to a student of Plato’s Academy: Aristotle, who in Metaphysics, ‘fairly ascribed to Socrates inductive arguments and universal definitions.’ With Plato’s works, we should also note that his earlier dialogs appear to be most true to Socrates, being presented as an older man, closer to when Plato spent time as his student. In contrast, in the later dialogues, Socrates is a young man, which might represent the separation between his and Plato’s ideas. Nonetheless, some scholars have suggested that this is a sign of Plato’s development as a writer and highlight how phases of education change and become more advanced as it progresses.

Xenophon is most well known as an historian, perhaps ranked only behind Herodotus and Thucydides. By this nature, we would expect to see his accounts as highly reliable, yet he has offered examples of his own fictionalised ideas such as the education of Cyrus.

As such, G. C. Field suggested that some scholars ‘lost all sense of evidence’ in Xenophon’s Socratic writings. Though in certain cases, Xenophon does in fact cite his sources, calling upon eyewitnesses. Others argue that, as an historian, although he searched for the truth, he may not have understood all of Socrates philosophical views and perhaps omitted them.

Nevertheless, in his Symposium, Xenophon displays Socratic traits such as mock modesty and Socratic Irony, proposing that Xenophon was very much aware of what Socrates taught.

Again therefore, a similar issue to Plato develops where we are not sure what of Xenophon’s ideas are Socrates or influenced by his own.

Aristophanes’ portrayal of Socrates is perhaps most interesting. It comes from his play The Clouds, a comedy, where Socrates is a meteorologist who denies the existence of gods and even has a school. All these things directly contradict both Plato and Xenophon and so theories to tackle these differences have been suggested by many scholars. Firstly, some think that Aristophanes’ depiction is that of a Socrates years before either Xenophon or Plato had met him. Therefore, maybe as his friend, Aristophanes saw a different side to Socrates, one that had experienced different influences and events than towards the end of his life. Another option from Kenneth J. Dover is that while Xenophon and Plato tell the truth, Aristophanes looks to apply the characteristics of the sophists to Socrates, something that he was not. This is supported by Socrates’ defence at his trial where ‘they repeat the accusations which are so readily made against all philosophers.’ We must also consider that, as a comedy, Aristophanes will have embellished certain aspects of Socrates,

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already an easy target for comics due to his appearance: an ugly, satyr-like man. Some suggest using Xenophon and Plato to discriminate the real Socrates from Aristophanes’ caricature; lending to us a potential solution for the Socratic Problem.

The four most common solutions throughout the history of the Problem are frustratingly simple: Socrates’ qualities are exhibited by Plato and corroborated by others, Socrates is he who possesses no wisdom but aims to gain understanding, Socrates is the Socrates in Plato’s early dialogues, and the real Socrates is the one who turns from a preSocratic interest in nature to ethics. From these, we see that, while sometimes called the Socratic Question, Socratic Problem is more fitting as we cannot find an answer to this question. Though, at least it is not left unexamined.

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China’s Belt and Road Initiative: an opportunity or threat to the UK? - Ben Zhang China’s One Belt and One Road (OBOR) or Belt and Road(BRI) Initiative is a development strategy which interlinks trade opportunities and infrastructure projects in Eurasia (combined continental landmass of Europe and Asia) and the Pacific.

The BRI, often described as the 21st century silk road, was proposed by Chinese President Xi in 2013. Since, the project has attracted 65 countries to participate in, covering 60% of the world’s population. A projection investment of $1 trillion (mainly in infrastructure and transport links) has the potential to accelerate industrialisation and to drive economic growth through trade, especially in emerging countries.

According to President Xi’s vision of the BRI: promoting investing and trade opportunities, growing interaction would increase connectivity in Asia, Europe and Africa. Along the side with the BRI, China will increase further its “sphere of influence” by creating a global platform for economic and political cooperation.

Historically, the UK relied on trading within its large overseas empire. China and Britain have built their trading partnerships ever since the first opium war in 1839. After exiting the European Union Trade Bloc, Britain is looking for free trade agreements.

British Prime minister Boris Johnson has expressed his interest in this initiative. The UK could use the BRI as a trade opportunity to explore benefits of the massive Chinese market. In order to assess the effects of the BRI on the UK, it is important to recognise some of the Chinese objectives. This can lead us to predict how outcomes of this project will affect Britain economically and politically on a long and short run.

The BRI is the largest foreign policy imposed since the US-led Marshall Plan, which was introduced post-World War II to revive the war-thrashed economy in Europe. At this moment, the world remains uncertain whether China intends true altruism or just purely driven by an imperial incentive. Understanding China’s objectives would help us to foresee the effects and evaluate its influence on the UK. On a global scale, the Chinese promises mutual benefits the countries involved, however, China hasn’t purely invested in the BRI in search of economic gains. Some “hidden” strategic objectives behind the initiative aims at consolidating China’s regional leadership in Asia whilst also increasing its political status on a global scale.

Yet the Chinese government will not reveal its strategic plans directly to the public. In many ways similar to the Marshall plan, both contain “hidden” strategic aims.

How will the BRI increase China’s economic sphere of influence?

First of all, president Xi intends to use the BRI as a strategy to boost China’s domestic and Industrial exports. By the end of the WWII, the U.S. had a high industrial capacity, however, overcapacity caused the stagnation of U.S. economic growth. The U.S. looked for oversea markets for exportation of American goods to tackle this problem. In recent years, Chinese GDP growth has slowed down; causing widespread overcapacity in the 7

heavy industries such as steel. By investing in the OBOR initiative, 150 million tonnes of excess steel capacity can be invested into pipelines, railways and other transport methods.

The establishment of financial institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank(AIIB) also helps to solve this.

Secondly, the BRI helps China to internationalise its currency (RMB), likewise the Marshall Plan allowed the U.S. to export its currency, China hold ambitions to create the world’s largest trading platform. This would allow China to increase its cross-border payments made by RMB and thus increase its global influence in economy. In short, China will increase its economic sphere of influence by leveraging their capital to get involved in helping other countries to get wealthier, so they can become customers of the Chinese products.

How will the BRI increase China’s geostrategic/political sphere of influence?

China is eager to establish the global status of a superpower and the BRI could be seen as a “political” strategy.

The economic instability in Western Europe after WWII encouraged the growth of Communism around the world. The Marshall plan was also an ideological campaign between Capitalism and Communism. Although the battle over ideology is not the case for the BRI as ideological factors are not viewed as important today. However, the initiative focuses on increasing connectivity including interlinking pipelines, harbours, railways. This consolidates China’s trading relationships within Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa.

China’s BRI also targets to intensify relations with Western Allies such as the UK through economic and political integration.

China seeks to increase its diplomatic support by pulling countries close together with infrastructure investment and trade deals. Acknowledging Chinese strategic aims behind this massive investment project, we could then associate potential risks; these risks affect countries differently according to their levels of development and political stability.

Today, China is transiting to a service sector-oriented economy, one of Britain’s great strengths. UK’s position on Brexit gives the government the opportunity to trade freely with the rest of the world. London is one of the world’s largest financial and serve centre and its strategic location at the end of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” provides the BRI a vital link between Asia and Europe. Former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond said in the Belt and Road summit in Beijing “As China drives forward the Belt and Road initiative from the East we in Britain are a natural partner in the West”. The BRI is an economic opportunity to the UK because of its scale and associated financial opportunities for businesses in the UK. “Our offer is to bring together the best of Chinese manufacturing, engineering and construction, with the best of British project design and legal, technical and financial services expertise, as we promise the golden era of U.K.-China relations to deliver world class sustainable infrastructure for the 21st century,”- Philip Hammond in 2019 In contrast, Jörg Wuttke of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China has spoken, “(the BRI initiative) has been hijacked by Chinese companies, which have used it as an excuse to evade capital controls, smuggling money out of the country by disguising it as interna8

tional investments and partnerships.” Given the massive scale of the BRI, if the Chinese government fails, the whole series of projects would collapse and will affect a chain of countries.

The BRI provides more opportunities than the risks to the UK both politically and economically. The first freight train which arrived in London from China was named after a saying by former Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong, “the East Wind shall prevail over the West”. As long as the East Wind is well regulated, the BRI project will provide better good to our country.

Figure 1: Map of the BRI

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The Lifecycle of the Malaria Parasite - Mark Lertiendumrong Malaria is an infectious and parasitic disease carried by mosquitos of the Anopheles genus as vectors. What causes the infection is a Protozoan, a single-celled eukaryote of the Protoctista kingdom, of the genus Plasmodium. Although there are around 156 species of the parasite, only 4 have humans as their exclusive natural host: P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae and P. falciparum with P. falciparum accounting for nearly 90% of all cases.

When a person gets bit by an infected mosquito, it injects its saliva through its hypodermic needle-like mouthpiece into a small blood vessel. Its saliva contains anticoagulants to allow it to draw blood without the blood clotting and simultaneously, the parasites which are in the saliva are released in the form of sporozoites into the bloodstream. In the span of a few minutes, the sporozoites enter liver cells and start to replicate rapidly. It is the fastest known replication of a eukaryote with 1 becoming 10000 in 48 hours. This exoerythrocytic stage takes 10 days for P. falciparum and is completely silent.

After this rapid replication, the liver cells burst and releases all the parasites now in the form of merozoites into the bloodstream. They invade the red blood cells and through a process of asexual reproduction called schizogony, multiply from 1 to 16 to 32 within a single red blood cell in 3 to 4 days cycles. There are many intermediate forms such as the trophozoite form and the schizont form which the process is named after.

The parasite breaks down the haemoglobin to use as amino acids until only the heme is left. The residual heme is toxic to the parasite and so to detoxify it, the parasite creates haemozoin, an inorganic crystal. This erythrocytic stage is where symptoms start showing with the distinct fever and chills caused by the immune response to the haemozoin released into the blood when the infected red blood cell bursts. Furthermore, as the infected red blood cells lose its biconcave shape and become a lumpy shape, it attaches itself onto the extracellular matrix of its surroundings, including non-infected red blood cells. This is to stop it from reaching the spleen where disfigured red blood cells are destroyed. As a result of this attachment, blood clots can form and a severe case would be in the brain, cerebral malaria, which is the largest cause of malaria-related death. The new merozoites repeat the cycle resulting in an increase of parasitaemia, the number of parasites in the blood, by 10 or even 20 times in 1 cycle.

Even though there are a large number of merozoites in the blood, only 1 to 5% will undergo its sexual stages and differentiate to become male and female gametocytes which are haploid. When a mosquito takes a blood meal, the gametocytes will then infect the mosquito. This is the end of the parasite’s journey in human hosts.

Soon after the gametocytes infect the mosquito, the male gametocytes will undergo exflagellation, which includes 3 rounds of mitotic division, creating 8 flagella which separate to become individuals described as microgametes like a sperm cell. The female gametocytes, on the other hand, will only form 1 macrogamete, an egg, each. A microgamete will fertilise a macrogamete, producing a diploid zygote which soon transforms into a motile form, an ookinete. It will then enter the midgut cells of the mosquito and transform into an oocyst. This whole process from fertilisation until becoming an oocyst takes around 24 hours.

During this time, the parasite suffers massive losses in terms of numbers, from perhaps thousands in the initial blood meal to only a few becoming oocysts. This is due to the

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immune system of the mosquito, killing them as they cross the midgut epithelium layer.

Now the oocysts will take 5 to 7 days to develop itself mitotically without cytokinesis which results in its dramatic enlargement. Note that this development happens alongside the mosquitos’ egg development. The parasite takes advantage of this fact as it means the mosquito will lay their eggs and have another blood meal which will repeat the cycle for the parasite. When the oocysts finish its development, it bursts to release potentially thousands of sporozoites to circulate in the haemolymph, the equivalent of blood for mosquitos. We are now back to its first form that was introduced. They will try to invade the salivary glands and only those that are successful in doing so will be able to continue their lifecycle in a human host. This cycle, starting from the sexual stages infecting the mosquito until becoming sporozoites in the salivary glands, is called the sporogonic cycle. Understanding the process of the parasite which we are trying to eradicate has been an effective strategy in identifying ways to achieve the goal. Certain chemical processes that are essential to its survival can be targeted. One such example is chloroquine, synthesised in 1934 by German scientists Hans Andersag, which inhibits the formation of haemazoin, leading to the death of the parasite in the schizogony stage. Although the parasites are now resistant to chloroquine, scientists are still understanding more processes which may be a new target for developing a drug against malaria.

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Should Cannabis be Legalised in the UK? - Harry Moore Cannabis is an illegal drug made from the cannabis plant. It can make one feel happy or relaxed but can also have the opposite effect of making one anxious and/or paranoid.

THC is the main chemical in cannabis which changes your mood and behaviour and whilst some believe it is relatively harmless, others believe that it has a wide range of effects for users, the main one being the effect on your mental health due to the damage it does to a developing brain.

The legalisation of cannabis is a highly debated topic especially in the UK due to the pressure of the population and the successful tests of legalisation of cannabis in places such as Canada and states in the USA such as California. It is said that CBD, a chemical found in Cannabis has health benefits and can help those who suffer with epilepsy and anxiety.

However, this has not been studied in depth and the effects are not truly known. Legalisation of cannabis can bring benefits such as an increased revenue for the Government due to the taxation of cannabis and it can be controlled to stop crime in this area as professional businesses would help protect its users from harm. However, there are some factors against the legalisation of cannabis, the main one being the health consequences it brings as all the effects are not known at this point.

Mental Health

A recent study has shown that the use of cannabis especially in teenagers can bring a range of mental health problems. Which is a big problem in our society with the increased pressure of social media and so the use of cannabis can bring increased risk of depression and the study has shown that use of cannabis brings a significantly higher risk of suicide attempt (Nicholls, 2019). As quoted by a Cannabis user: ‘Cannabis took over my life, it got to me to a point where I put it before my children, myself, my bills, I wish I never touched it.’ (Justice, 2018). The age of a user is also important while looking at the mental health effects of cannabis as the development from an adolescent to an adult brain is thought to end at around 25 years old. Therefore, cannabis can cause greatest harm whilst the users’ brain is in adolescence as it can affect the growth and can bring up mental health problems to the user. (Justice, 2018, p. 13)

Quality

One problem with illegal cannabis is that the substances in the cannabis are sometimes unknown and can cause further problems and illnesses as producers try and make them as cheap as possible. However, this is an argument for the legalisation of cannabis as the side effects of cannabis are minimalised by control by a government. A great example of this is Canada where cannabis has recently been legalised across the country, cannabis production is now state run and controlled to minimise health defects. For example, cannabis producers must follow Health Canada’s Good Production Practices (GPP). These include testing to ensure products don’t contain pesticides or mould, but do contain the promised levels of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol). (Conversation, 2019). With these systems in place, statistics show that cannabis related illnesses have decreased significantly 12

since the legalisation of cannabis in Canada, and cannabis can easily be controlled by the government. With similar systems in place, the legalisation of cannabis in the UK means that side effects of cannabis can be reduced significantly and for those who choose to consume cannabis, it is far healthier, with less side effects but the same utility as purchasing it illegally.

Taxation

The legalisation of cannabis would greatly boost the UK’s economy and from an economics perspective so its legalization seems like an obvious choice to make, at least to an economist.(Teacher, 2019) This is because of the tax that would be imposed following the legalisation of cannabis, which can be represented using the example of tobacco and alcohol, which are both heavily taxed due to the implications it has on the user, such as the implications that cannabis would have. On a typical pack of twenty cigarettes, the total tax burden of £6.98 accounts for 82% of the retail price (TMA, 2017) so the taxation of cigarettes accounts for a great sum of money towards the government which can be allocated to improve other sectors of our society such as transport or education for example. By increasing the price of cannabis due to taxation, may also reduce the number of consumers of cannabis as the higher price signals to consumers that cannabis is relatively more expensive to buy, incentivising them to buy less as there is a lower utility per pound spent. Overall, the legalisation of cannabis would be beneficial to the government and the economy as a tax would be able to be imposed, increasing the revenue to the government. The potential benefit to the UK Treasury has been estimated to be as high as £1 billion. (Justice, 2018, p. 4). On the other hand, despite the economic advantages of legalising cannabis, there is no price on human life and the society should be the priority so some believe that the potential damage that legalising cannabis would cause is greater than the revenue brought in to the government. There are some solutions to this such as drug awareness events, to show the potential damage that cannabis has and to restrict the amount consumed to users, to prevent a high level of damage.

Addiction

Recent data suggests that 30 percent of those who use marijuana may have some degree of marijuana use disorder. (NIH, 2019) This can cause many problems such as dependency on the drug, cravings, withdrawal symptoms and mood and sleep difficulties. (NIH, 2019).

However, as shown on the chart, cannabis is less addictive than tobacco and alcohol which are both legal. Tobacco is the most addictive substance as it has a dependency rate of 32% compared to cannabis which has a dependency rate of only 9% which is the same as caffeine, which is also legal, even to minors. This shows that addiction is a very small factor in determining weather cannabis should be legalised as it has a significantly lower dependency rate than tobacco and alcohol and despite the possibility of the symptoms of withdrawal, as mentioned previously, it is far more easy to stop using the drug compared with using alcohol and tobacco.

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Phillip Boffey, writing in The New York Times, acknowledges that marijuana is not harmless, “but, on balance, its downsides are not reasons to impose criminal penalties on its possession, particularly not in a society that permits nicotine use and celebrates drinking.�

(Boffey, 2014) and I think after my research I hold the same views as whilst there are obviously some clear reasons against the legalisation of cannabis in the UK, the main one being the problems it causes in respect of mental health, there is a vast majority of reasons for legalisation such as the tax from supplying it and the comparison with smoking and alcohol which not only are more addictive but also cause more health concerns, so with the correct rules and regulations, the legalisation, or the decriminalisation, of cannabis would be a benefit to the society in general.

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Would banning “semi-automatic assault rifles” dramatically reduce gun crime in the USA? Or is that a theory founded on fallacy? - Thomas Williams America, the country of free markets, free people and free speech, a gun crazed country in which over 40% of the populous say they either own a gun or live in a house with one.

(Pew Research Center, 2017). It is undoubtedly true, that on the whole America has a Gun loving culture in which more guns exist than people. However, in recent times, the country is divided. Following every mass shooting a common theme persists. “It seems as if each time there is a new tragedy, some in the media, some political figures and some in the public wait just long enough to find out a detail that supports their political agenda.

Then, they let loose with political blame.” (Attkisson, 2019). For many leading house Democrats (high profile members of the USA Democratic party), this agenda is for tighter regulation and increased gun control.

A common solution offered by many house Democrats such as presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, to Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey is to ban “semi-automatic assault rifles”. However, many believe that banning semi-automatic weaponry would have very little effects to gun crime on the whole. Recent mass shootings and national tragedies have damaged the social fabric of the USA such that, despite bans of any kind generally being unpopular, “so many Americans are so upset, many of them by school shootings, and rightly so, that they might be open to a ban if it promised to save lives” (Carlson, 2018)

Definitions Semi-automatic Weaponry A weapon that is “able to fire repeatedly through an automatic reloading process but requiring release and another pressure of the trigger for each successive shot a semiautomatic rifle”. (Merriam-Webster, 2019) Assault Rifle A lightweight rifle developed from the sub-machine gun, which may be set to fire automatically or semi-automatically. (Oxford, 2019) History

Luckily, we do not have to guess concerning the results (or lack there of) from banning “semi-automatic assault rifles” such as AR-15s due to the fact that there has already been a ban of such a kind, for 10 years starting in 1994. This ban, colloquially known as the “ten-year ban” is legally referred to as the “The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act or Federal Assault Weapons Ban” (USA-Federal-Government, 1994).

“Although the weapons banned by this legislation were used only rarely in gun crimes before the ban, supporters felt that these weapons posed a threat to public safety because they are capable of firing many shots rapidly. They argued that these characteristics enhance offenders’ ability to kill and wound more persons and to inflict multiple wounds on each victim, so that a decrease in their use would reduce the fatality rate of gun attacks.”

(US-D.O.J, 1999) however, this thesis was shown to be incorrect with the effects on overall 15

gun crime found to be non-existent. (US-D.O.J, 1999). Many other studies have been conducted since such as a 2014 study that found no impacts on homicide rates with an assault weapon ban (Gius, 2014) or the book published by the Oxford University Press in 2014 that also concluded that “There is no compelling evidence that [the ban] saved lives" (Beckett, 2019) (Oxford University Press, 2014). The same DOJ study referenced earlier does recognise pre-fixing its conclusion, that studies before the ban estimated that semiautomatic “assault rifles” account for only 1-8% of total gun crime in the first place and therefore the ban was unlikely to have the dramatic effects on gun crime that supporters of the legislation claimed and hoped.

The proportional makeup of gun crime in the US

Figures show there were a total of more than 38,600 deaths from guns in 2016, of which 22,900 were suicides. With suicide by firearm being the most popular method of taking ones life. (BBC, 2019). However, of the remaining 14,415 homicides in 2016 (of which 71 died in mass shootings) deaths by rifle accounted for only 4% of these gun deaths with handguns in comparison being 16 times more often used. (FBI, 2017)

The political and practical issues with banning semi-automatic assault rifles

Firstly, politically there are many major issues with trying to pass a ban on semiautomatic assault rifles. One of these reasons is simply that the relationship between Americans and their guns appears to have grown tighter. According to a 2011 Gallup poll, 47 percent of American adults report that they have a gun in their home or somewhere on their property. (ABC News, 2012) Furthermore many Americans perceive owning a gun as a civil right granted through the second amendment. This right to bear arms, many believe, extends to guns of all category from a small handgun that can fit into a purse to a so called “military style” assault rifle such as an AR-15. This theory stems from deep cultural roots and a cultural belief in the ability to defend one’s family, property and liberty against a tyrannical government. Secondly, the NRA has a huge presence in D.C through making huge donations to members of both houses and through its broad membership base offering massive political pressure for guarantees to second amendment rights (ABC News, 2012). Moreover, there are huge practical issues with trying to permanently ban semi-automatic assault rifles. One way to ban these weapons is through ending production and legal importation, however there are two main issues with this. Firstly, many weapons are still in circulation and secondly, while legal importation would be banned, illegal importation, especially so through the 3,145 km of boarder shared with Mexico, would then become a more prominent step in the chain of supply (Buehn, 2009). Another way of permanently banning these weapons as well as removing them from circulation and the populous, is through the use of a gun buy back scheme, similar to that seen in Australia.

However there two are some practical issues with this. Firstly, this plan heavily relies on the honesty of the public, many of which would simply not offer their guns for sale back to the government. Secondly a gun buy back scheme would be a huge administrative task which would consume an extraordinary quantity of labour-hours as well as being a huge economic burden. (Parliment of Australia, 2016)

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The outcomes relating to the level of gun crime in the USA.

Due to the 1994 “Ten Year Ban” and the conclusive DOJ study evaluating its affects, we do have a solid understanding of the likely effects of such a ban on overall gun crime in the USA. These effects being extremely minimal. Furthermore, this would also mean that while guns are being taken away from law abiding citizens, those that are, statistically most likely to commit crimes; those that do not possess their weapons legally in the first place, will have an even greater advantage over their potential victims. (Scott, 2019) .

These outcomes, in the opinion of many are far from favourable.

While I am sure it is not in doubt that America has her problems, especially so relating to gun crime. Due to the political and practical obstacles in the way of tangible legislation and the overwhelming data suggesting that banning “semi-automatic assault rifles” does not have an effect on gun crime. I believe that the focus of the debate needs to shift onto more realistic and successful methods of approach to combating this issue in the USA. Many believe that positive results could be seen through multiple courses of action such as more regulation in the second-hand market particularity in gun shows or more comprehensive background checks at the point of purchase. However, one thing is clear from evaluating the 1994 “Ten Year Ban”, this conclusion being that banning semi-automatic weaponry is an unpopular, ineffective and impractical policy that would realistically have an extremely minimal effect on gun crime and the overall quantity of gun deaths in the USA.

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The Geo-Economics of Global Trade - James Harrabin Geo-economics is a tool used by states to further geopolitical power. The term was coined

by Edward Luttwak, who was a consulate to the US Department of State, as well as the national security council and is best described by Vusal Gasimli in his book ’GeoEconomics’: Economics, politics and geography have influenced each other throughout the history of humanity. Geographical placement determines the existence of natural resources, territory, distance, climate and other important factors in economic development. In other words, geography is a determining factor in the environment surrounding economics.

Today, geo-economics can arguably be seen as more important than traditional geopolitical tools and military power. The most commonly used geo-economic tool are economic sanctions. Tariffs, quotas and other protectionism policies all wield geo-economic power, especially for larger economies, such as the US, China or EU, yet control over global trade routes can give smaller countries power.

In the same way Russia has military interests in the Bosporus River, as it gives access to the Mediterranean Sea, large economics have geo-economic interests in the major trade routes. The Choropleth shows that much of the globes trade is concentrated around several bottlenecks: The Suez and Panama Canal, The Persian Gulf and the Maritime Silk Road (connecting Europe, the Arabian Peninsula and China). Control over who accesses these passages depends on the how the passages are classed. Territorial waters (12 nautical miles from the coastline) allow all foreign vessels innocent passage, according the 1982 UN Convection on the law of the Sea. Internal waterways (where a states sovereign territory exists on both sides of the passage) give complete control over the passage, and thus the state can choose which vessels are allowed passage.

Today, most products are not produced where they are sold, requiring them to be transported. The cost of transportation has consistently lowered over the course of history, due to economies of scale and containerization. Cost is driven by competition and trade bottlenecks have competition. Consider a shipment going from Guangzhou, China to New York. This route is 22,000km via the Panama Canal, 21,500km via the Panama Canal or 16,500km shipping to the US West Coast and on a train across the US. The Panama Canal charges $90 per container, so for the largest Panamax ships (designed especially for the Panama Canal) this can equate to $1,170,000 when fully loaded. Meanwhile the Suez Canal charges lower tolls, meaning it can be cheaper to take this route. The train, however, can save up to a week in time, which is more important for certain products.

This shows how competition is driving countries to reduce tariffs, costs and barriers to trade, affecting the cost of products. This is to increase the amount of trade flowing through a particular passage, not only so that the country increases its revenue, but also to increase their geo-economic power, giving them greater lobby on the global stage. In an increasingly interdependent and interconnected world, preventing trade from reaching its destination, through trade blockades, could collapse economies and governments. As the North Eastern and Western passages emerge between the melting ice, eight countries are fighting to gain sovereignty. This then enables them to declare whether these waters are internal waterways or territorial waters, giving them greater geo-economic power. One could now argue control of global trade wields more power than a strong military. We all depend on global trade, yet those who ultimately control it, often lie far from the governments we elect.

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The Future of Global Trade

There are three major factors which are likely to affect global trade in the future. The first is cost. As identified above, cost is the primary factor in deciding how a company will transport goods. Through the course of history, the cost and speed of transport has consistently reduced for all modes of transport and with further technological advances, it is likely that it will reduce further. This means that we can expect more products to be transported by air and over land, as these methods are faster and more direct. Further, technological advances, especially in robotics are moving manufacturing away from the developing world and back to more advanced countries. The prime example of this is the Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada. This factory has the ability to produce 35 gigawatt-hours of battery cells per year and 50 gigawatt-hours of battery packs per year, or equivalent to supplying the batteries for 500,000 Tesla cars per year. Despite this, the factory employees just 6000 employees, many of whom work in product development. It is likely that more firms will follow suit in bringing production closer to development offices, which will change the geography of global trade.

Secondly, oil can be argued to have had the biggest geopolitical impact in history.

From Winston Churchill buying a controlling stake in the Anglo Persian oil company, the forerunner of BP, Germany’s attempts to secure the Baku oil fields in WWII, Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait or last September’s missile attack on Saudi oil facilities, oil has been a source of conflict throughout the 20th century. Yet now, as the world looks towards more renewable sources of energy, a power shift is occurring. Demand for batteries and solar cells is likely to increase. Currently these are predominantly produced by private firms, thus giving them strategic power. Despite this, currently, fossil fuels are still substantially cheaper and so in higher demand. The US’ discovery of plentiful shale gas deposits will enable them to export, further reducing the power given to OPEC and Iran who control the Persian Gulf passage.

The final major factor likely to influence global trade is China. In 2018 China exported $2.5tn worth of goods (see the graph, right), or 13.5% of global exports. The majority of these went to the US and Europe, placing strategic value on the Suez and Panama Canal. However, as Chinese standards of living rise with incomes, imports have increased (as shown in the graph). Further, higher wages are reducing the economic advantages to Chinese manufacturing.

Consequently, it is likely to assume China will demand more imports from South East Asia and Africa in the future, where manufacturing is starting to relocate to. This will place greater significance on the South China Sea trade route.

As a result of increasing wages, the Chinese government have invested to try and reduce the cost of transport, reducing the prices of Chinese goods. One example of this is the ‘belt and road initiative’, which is a $1.4tn global trade network. The network includes the Gwadar Port, Pakistan, giving the China’s landlocked western region of Xinjiang ocean access, the China-Myanmar oil pipeline, which has provided Beijing with its first overland access to Middle East crude that skips the Malacca Straits choke point, the Chinese

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controlled Greek port of Piraeus, which serves as a maritime gateway to Central Europe alongside a planned Belgrade-to-Budapest high-speed rail link. These projects, however, represent a small amount of funding compared to the diagram above, which shows Chinese official aid projects globally. These investments have increased China’s power, through the ability to withhold funding, as well as increasing their geo-economic power via the new Silk Road.

The proposed Nicaragua Canal is another example of Chinese efforts to increase geoeconomic power. While the French still controlled the Panama Canal in the early 20th century, the US explored attempts to create this passageway, but this became defunct when they purchased rights for the Panama Canal in 1904. The project resurfaced in June 2013, when Nicaragua’s National Assembly granted a 50-year lease for Wang Jing (a Chinese billionaire) to finance and manage the construction of a Nicaragua Canal.

Whilst some major works have taken place, in 2015, media reports suggested the project would be delayed and possibly cancelled because of financing problems. Officially, the HKND Group, who had been granted the lease, stated that financing would come from debt and equity sales and a potential initial public offering, however it is likely that there was further backing from the Chinese government. The passage would inevitably allow all Chinese vessels lower fees to access Europe and the US east coast, thus lowering the cost of production for Chinese manufacturing. Currently, the HKND group states work is ongoing, however there is no evidence of this, so it is likely that the Nicaragua canal will not be completed soon.

Figure 2: Nicaragua Canal

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Why has Africa not benefited from globalisation to the same extent as other countries? - Jeff Xi Globalisation for the last three decades has generated intense debates, public demonstrations, and heated street protests. Globalisation is a term which has been used to describe and explain many worldwide phenomena. It has been given positive connotations by those who advocate greater economic integration across national borders, while it has been fiercely criticized by those who see it as a threat to social connections and as the advancement of unrestrained capitalism, which undermines the Welfare State. Many would argue the ‘golden age’ of globalisation is over. Today’s trade tensions has been under way since the financial crisis in 2008-09. International investment, trade, bank loans and supply chains have all been shrinking or stagnating relative to world GDP. Globalisation has given way to a new era of sluggishness.

Since its very first introduction three decades ago, globalisation has evolved into a complex phenomenon, for which in today’s world involve many different factors in the economic, social, and cultural spheres. Rapid improvement in transportation and communication technology and the liberalisation of trade restrictions and foreign investment have been the major factors that has enabled the globalisation process. The explosive improvement in transportation technology has played a critical role in faster distribution of goods across long distances at lower costs. Immense improvements in containerisation has allowed radically lowered cargo transport charges. For example, over the last 25 years, sea transport unit costs have decreased by over 70%, while air-freight costs have fallen by 3 to 4% year-on-year. The result has been a boost in trade flows, as transport costs are now less likely to cancel out the gains. International migration has increased due to globalisation; Since 2005, the number of travelers crossing international borders each year has risen by around half, to 1.2 billion. The basis of globalisation is foreign trade movement of goods and people are vital for globalisation. Information and communication technology have also played a major role in globalisation, as the number of people using the internet has increased from 900,000 to more than 3 billion. Accordingly, the internet gives all firms, both domestic and TNCs alike, easier access to foreign markets. Liberalisation of foreign trade and investment policy has speeded up the globalisation process. Another crucial factor that boosted if not enabled globalisation is the reduction and removals of trade barriers, carried out by the WTO (World Trade Organisation), as well as the construction of new trade blocs such as the European Union (EU).

Globalisation is no longer a new concept to the world, but Africa is yet to benefit from the effects of globalisation. The continent has been blessed with the natural advantage of having large reserves of oil, but it is still plagued with criminality, corruption, and autocracy. Africa as a continent is one of the biggest exporters in the world, with a GDP of more than 6.814 trillion dollars in 2018. Despite all the apparent wealth and resources, its poverty rate is at an astonishingly high 41%; the income inequality becoming a huge issue in most African countries. Apart from brief spurts of growth in the recent decades, this integration into the global economy does not seem to have led to sustained development.

As the of Secretary of the UN have once said, ‘globalisation is not a tide that lifts all boats.’ He argued that even those who benefit from globalisation feel threatened by it.

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The location of Africa is a major factor that has limited potential benefits from globalisation. There are no close potential developed countries that can support and trade with Africa, whereas China is close to Japan and South Korea. The major economies can pump investments into the country, boosting the economy immensely. Africa also has a long history of colonisation. The Sub Saharan African nations were kept under iron colonial control until 50 years ago. They were split up into countries based on boundaries drawn by the colonial powers, and these separations often produced multi-racial, extremely volatile populations. With these pre-made strains in their history and culture combined with the fact that their economies were run for the benefit of their colonisers until very recently, the African countries have been at a serious disadvantage. Many African countries are perhaps politically not ‘aligned’ with the major economies like America, and therefore deducing the goods exchange rate. This left some African countries with very little economical support, though indicators show that Most countries have moved ahead with trade and exchange liberalisation, eliminating multiple exchange rates and nontariff barriers.

However, the problem for Africa could be much more fundamental. Africa’s integration into the global economy might not have been the most ideal; Africa is stuck in a trench of low-value-added goods, bringing in little income into Africa, notably cheap agricultural commodities and minerals, which leaves it extremely exposed to international price fluctuations, attracting few investors and technology inflows, and having almost none backward linkages to the rest of the world economy.

Despite the seemingly positive effects of globalisation, would Africa really benefit from it? It is important to recognize that while globalisation, trade and international integration tend to increase the overall economical income, the distribution of the income may be very uneven. Some workers, particularly those in industries that are less able to compete and whose skills have become less relevant can find it difficult to adjust. While trade is almost always advantageous for a country’s economy, not everyone within that economy will be benefiting from it. This is especially the case where there are no policies to cushion the negative consequences of trade and to ease adjustment. Low-income workers in emerging markets, for example, may find it more difficult to adapt given the less financial resources available to deal with adverse economic shocks. The adjustment process tends to erode gains from trade. Africa needs to learn to diversify its exports, in order to make a safer and more stable economy and organize a new integration into the global economy, so to attract new investments. Trade blocs such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) can boost trade within Africa, its goal is to establish a single market for goods and services across 54 countries, allowing the free movement of business travelers and investments, and create a continental customs union to streamline trade - and attract long-term investment.

Intra-Africa trade has been historically low. Intra-African exports were 16.6% of total exports in 2017, compared with 68% in Europe and 59% in Asia, pointing to untapped potential. It will be a challenge to make way for easy and quick facilitation of people and goods in Africa because there is so much fragmentation, with economies at widely varying stages of development. While the reality is there will most likely be winners and losers, the role of the African Union will be to ensure shared prosperity on the continent, creating supportive policies, eliminating monopolies, and stamping out uncompetitive behaviour.

For Africa, globalisation would be a process that creates winners and losers, and thus leads to greater inequality. Africa is not yet ready to take on globalisation’s negative effects, much less benefit from the profits of globalisation.

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Africa should aim to ensure economic security, establishing the right framework for economic activity that addresses the sense of uncertainty that still plagues economic decisionmaking in most of Africa. The direction and orientation of future policy must be firm.

This requires the creation of a strong national capacity for policy design, operation and monitoring. National authorities should spare no efforts to tackle corruption and inefficiency, and to enhance accountability in government, reducing the amounts of rent from other countries, as this would set Africa further back on its road to economic development.

Finally, the African governments should seek the advice and support from the civil society.

There are many challenges for Africa on the road of globalisation to development, and the hurdles can only be overcome if the regional governments in Africa evolve to become effective, meanwhile providing mutual support for others in their efforts to reform. This can also be a backstop to counter the negative effects of globalisation. Africa should seek to push through reforms in the areas of the legal and regulatory frameworks, financial sector reformation, labour and investment improvement, and exchange and trade liberalisation that seek to reach international standards as quickly as possible.

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In an ambiguous state. The role of ambivalence and mimicry in the recognition of a Palestinian State. - Ms. C. E. Potts Introduction

Since the decolonisation period beginning in the 1920’s, the international system has witnessed a proliferation and a subsequent normalisation of peoples demanding the right to choose their own political status; their right to self-determination. This right of selfdetermination has become such a powerful principle that it has been enshrined in Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations (UN). Yet whilst a cornerstone ethos, the reality of self-determination has been experienced variably and unequally by different entities over time (UNPO, 2017). The study of such entities which seek this right to self-determination, but face difficulties in its realisation, is a nascent, growing body of scholarly work. Much of this literature employs these contested, anomalous geopolitical entities as a lens to further explore, critique and subvert traditional geopolitical discourses, such as sovereignty, statehood, recognition and legitimacy (Jeffrey et al., 2015).

In particular, this essay addresses a lacuna in research surrounding non-state diplomacy outlined by McConnell et al. (2012). In their paper, McConnell et al. (2012) investigate the diplomatic practices of unofficial diplomacies to secure legitimacy, using Bhabha’s (1984) concept of colonial mimicry as a theoretical tool. Their focus on diplomacy enables them to examine and challenge discourses of recognition, legitimacy and sovereignty. They find that diplomatic mimicry emulates and reproduces, yet simultaneously threatens the “gold standard” (p.805) of traditional state diplomacy, by blurring and unsettling the distinction between the ‘real’ and the ‘mimic’. This essay seeks to utilise this poststructural and performative framework of investigation to explore the mimicry of the State of Palestine. It empirically examines the mimetic, hybrid practices and structures of Palestine which have evolved over time as a strategy to gain international recognition and self-determination, and exposes its ambivalent position within the international system. Through this process, this essay provides a postcolonial critique of the western-centric concept of statehood, transgressing and overcoming its binary characterisation. As a product of past and present colonialism (Thompson, 2003), Palestine’s evolution from Ottoman Empire to statu nascendi (a forming state) provides a powerful lens for reconceptualising such norms and discourses.

Empire to statu nascendi

The territorial space of Israel and the Occupied Territories (OT’s) was once a part of the Ottoman Empire before its collapse during WW1. After the war, the resulting territories were split up between the Allied powers under the framework of the League of Nations, founded in 1920 (Thompson, 2003). The League created the mandate system in which an Allied power would have sovereignty over an occupied territory until it was deemed capable of governing itself. In 1923, Palestine was placed under British Mandate and was given the highest classification: it was almost ready for independence (Maguire and Thompson, 2017). This period also coincided with a surge of Zionist interest in Palestine, who sought to create their Jewish State within this territory, as a neo-European state

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in the Middle East, bringing ‘civilizing benefits’ to the region (Karsh, 1994). The 1917 Balfour Declaration announced British support for a Jewish State in Palestine, evidencing Britain’s compromised position, as it also promised independence to the Palestinians. As a solution, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) proposed the Partition Plan in 1947, in which the Palestinian inhabitants would receive 45% of the land, and the Jews would obtain 55%.

The Arab countries rejected this offer, yet in 1949, Israel declared itself a sovereign state and received UN membership.

Following the failed Partition Plan and the end of the mandate system in Palestine/Israel, a series of conflicts began between Israel and the surrounding Arab states.

These conflicts culminated in the Six Day War of 1967, in which Israel gained control of the West Bank (WB), Gaza Strip (GS), East Jerusalem, the Sinai Desert and the Golan Heights. During and as a result of this conflict, millions of Palestinian refugees fled the territory (Efrat, 2006). Since the Six Day War, the last 50 years have witnessed a series of failed peace talks between Israel and Palestine, several non-violent and violent resistance movements, as well as out-right conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people. Today, Israel occupies the WB and GS. This occupation, combined with the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in the WB, and a ‘security fence’ surrounding the WB- which UNHCR Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination labels a “racial segregation and apartheid” (2012, p.6)- limits the Palestinian’s capability of self-determination. Whilst Palestine has seen an increasing level of international recognition and support over the last half a century, the Palestinian people seem to be no closer to achieving their goal of self-determination.

The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), the foreign representative body of the Palestinian people and the primary body of Palestinian nationalism was founded in 1964.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) forms the administrative organisation of the Palestinian people, this Fatah-led internationally supported government nominally governs the WB and GS. However, in 2006 Hamas won the PNA elections and subsequent conflict between Fatah and Hamas has meant that Hamas is illegitimately in control of GS whilst Fatah governs WB. The PLO and PNA seek self-determination of the OT’s with East Jerusalem as the capital (BBC, 2017). They wish to stop and remove illegal Israeli settlements, secure safe return of Palestinian refugees, an end to Israeli violence, and to have international recognition and legitimacy of a sovereign, independent Palestinian State (Mansour, 2018).

A Palestinian State?

In 1988, the PLO unilaterally declared a State of Palestine and by February 1989, 89 countries had formally recognized it. In 2011, President Mahmoud Abbas applied to become a full member state of the UN. This application was rejected due to a US veto, yet in 2012, the UN ‘upgraded’ the PLO to become a permanent non-member observer state.

Currently, 137 states officially recognise the State of Palestine, with notable exceptions of the US, Israel and many European Union (EU) states. Clearly, the statehood of Palestine is a controversial and ambivalent phenomenon, with variable spatial and temporal recognition. A key objective of the PLO is to be a fully recognised state, as they believe that it will empower them to achieve self-determination and have more leverage in peace talks (palmissionuk, 2019b). This ambivalence has led to a great deal of debate within international law as to whether Palestine legally qualifies as a state and also whether ‘legality’ even matters.

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The 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States has been the predominant instrument used to define the criteria of statehood. The convention originally highlighted four aspects that would constitute a state, with a fifth added later: 1. Permanent population 2. Defined territory 3. Government 4. Capacity to enter into relations with the other states 5. Independence Whilst these criteria make up a majority of discussions around statehood, many challenge this framework and critique it for its narrow perspective. Akram (2014), for example, contends that Namibia was declared and internationally recognised as a state before it had achieved independence, as it was still under occupation by South Africa. Quigley (2010) also argues that simply the act of majority recognition by other states, makes an entity constitute a state without needing to meet these criteria (it is for this reason that Quigley confirms Palestinian statehood). Postcolonial scholars also tend to critique this restricted notion of statehood, arguing instead for ‘Degrees of Statehood’ (Clapham, 1998). It is hence clear that what makes a state is a contested subject, which adds further confusion to the categorisation of Palestine.

Utilising the Montevideo Convention, it remains unclear whether Palestine fits the criteria of statehood. Crawford (1990) underlines the Israeli occupation as a marker that Palestine is not independent and therefore, does not fit the conditions. He also states that whilst the PNA has some influence in the OT’s, it does not have full sovereignty, which therefore means they do not have a sufficient government to meet condition four. Stephan (2006) furthers this argument by highlighting the corruption and lack of internal legitimacy of the PNA, due to the Fatah-Hamas conflict. The OT’s also don’t have officially agreed borders, and they are under continual infringement by Israeli settlements (Maguire and Thompson, 2017). However, Thompson (2003) contends that these issues are all as a result of the continuing colonialism within Palestine, and that it is Israel’s actions, not Palestine’s, that are fundamentally holding them back from meeting the Montevideo criteria. The PLO have shown significant capacity of entering into relations with other states, and despite the large diaspora, the OT’s have a steady population (Akram, 2014).

Despite this uncertain position vis-à-vis statehood, there is little doubt within academia and the international system of Palestine’s right to statehood in terms of self-determination (Crawford, 1990). Since the 1975 UNSC Resolution 32336 which recognised the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty, Palestine’s right to statehood has been ratified.

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Mimic Man: Performance and Recognition

Acts of recognition from state actors are important occurrences for contested states, particularly for Palestine (palmissionuk, 2019a). Theoretically, a state does not have to be recognised to be a state, but it does confer legitimacy onto that actor. Without widespread recognition, foreign relations and contribution to international organisations becomes problematic. McConnell (2012), explains how sovereign states perform discourses of recognition to affirm their own position of power. Simultaneously, these acts of performance work to exclude non-sovereign others, such as contested states. Such unrecognised actors present a threat to the hegemony and balance of the inter-state system. However, full exclusion of unrecognised states rarely occurs (Bryden, 2004), and Ker-Lindsay (2015) examines the extent to which states can engage with unrecognised entities without conferring official recognition. Ker-Lindsay argues that state actors have a wide room for manoeuvre when it comes to diplomatic engagement with unrecognised states, as indirect or implied acts of recognition do not confer recognition if the intent to recognise is absent. Despite this, both McConnell (2016) and Ker-Lindsay (2015) discuss symbols of recognition, such as flags, titles and meeting places, that some state actors try to avoid when engaging with non-states, to ensure recognition isn’t implied. It is interesting to note, that whilst the Montevideo Convention may be the official basis for legal recognition, the act of recognition is still fundamentally a political decision, undertaken by the sovereign state (Silverberg, 1998).

As previously mentioned, Palestine’s position within the inter-state system is uncertain- a majority of states recognise the State of Palestine, yet key actors have prevented it from achieving the full consequences of widespread recognition. However, it is obvious that this contested state has come a long way within the international arena since the very beginnings of Israeli occupation when it was considered to be an act of hostility against Israel to even mention the existence of Palestine (Anders, 2015).

This growth in recognition and legitimacy has a lot to do with Palestine’s changing governmental and diplomatic practices. When the Partition Plan was rejected in 1947, it was a group of Arab countries that made this decision, not a Palestinian government.

Silverberg (1998) argues that what existed in the territory of Palestine before British occupation, did not resemble the western ideal of a state. Following the orientalist tradition, Palestine did not have external legitimacy, because its cultural and political make-up was considered ‘weak’, and ‘uncivilised’. Yet over time, the Palestinian people have adopted the trappings of statehood; they have performed and reflected the discourses surrounding sovereignty to meet the normative standards (Caspersen, 2015), such that they have become a hybrid actor.

The concept of mimicry, as a strategy employed by the colonised to resist and adapt to the power of the coloniser, are accredited to the postcolonial scholar, Homi Bhabha.

Bhabha described mimicry as the desire within the coloniser for a “reformed, recognisable, Other” (1984, p.126). In this case, it is the western-centric state system that demands entities to perform the discourses that is has produced, in the form of Westphalian sovereignty (Silverberg, 1998). Yet whilst Bhabha describes how the colonised wishes to become an authentic, identical entity, he describes mimicry as a metonym: a form of resemblance that differs, “almost the same, but not quite” (p.126). These mimetic actions create hybrid entities, a multiculturalism which intertwines the colonised with the coloniser, the original with repetition. The institutionalised statecraft which has taken place in Palestine reflects this process of mimicry. The creation of the PLO in 1964, was the first sign of a Pales27

tinian form of governance loosely resembling the western ideal. Throughout the 1970s, the PLO resembled a terrorist, resistance government-in-exile in Tunis, which demanded the destruction of Israel. In 1972, the PLO famously murdered 11 Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich as a performance of resistance. Despite this militant character, the PLO was gradually given legitimacy in the international sphere. In 1965, the Special Political Committee of the UN allowed the PLO to attend meetings of the Committee and present a statement (palestineun, 2018). In 1974, the UNGA allowed the PLO to sit in sessions as an observer, and in 1981, the Asian Group of the UN gave the PLO full membership.

The attendance of such sessions and events signify the PLO’s hybridity as it engaged in the formalised state system, attesting to its growing legitimacy.

During the first Intifada in 1988, when attention around the conflict was high, the PLO unilaterally declared the independence of the State of Palestine. This declaration was the first time the PLO recognised the State of Israel’s right to exist, as it claimed independence within the 1967 borders. It was clear that these moves were signalling a change in Palestinian leadership, as Abbas said to Yasser Arafat at the PLO’s Central Committee, October 1993 “it is now time to take off the uniforms of the revolution and put on the business suits of the nascent Palestinian state” (Silverberg, 1998, p.31). This line itself emblemizes the mimicry that the leaders recognized needed to be undertaken; they now needed to look and act like state leaders, in order for them to be recognized as such. Following the Oslo Accords in 1994, the PNA was created, forming the institutional character of a state with legislative and executive functions. Whilst the PNA only concerned matters of civil affairs and internal security, it was made to be a democratic body, and mirrored many of the duties of a ‘conventional’ government. By creating such an institution that mimicked the structure of other states, and matched western ideals of a democratic government, Palestine garnered greater external and internal legitimacy (Caspersen, 2015).

However, securing the trappings of statehood did not secure Palestine’s recognition; the EU only endorsed the idea of a Palestinian state in 1999, and the US agreed only in 2002.

This highlights the ambivalence of Palestine; its right to self-determination was unquestioned by this point and it had many features of a western state, yet it wasn’t accepted by western powers- almost the same, but not quite.

Membership of the UN is often seen as the ultimate marker of statehood. Palestine’s characteristic ambivalence as an entity is displayed evidently in its relations to the UN. Despite its non-membership status, Palestine enjoys a unique position as being only one of two permanent observer states, and having six delegates rather than the usual two (UNA-UK, 2018). Furthermore, in 2011 UNESCO permitted Palestine to join as a full member. Other symbolic signs of recognition have also increased the legitimacy of Palestine: in 2012, at the request of Abbas, the UN updated all mentions of ‘Palestine’ in its Blue Book to “State of Palestine”, and in 2015 the UNGA voted to fly the flags of permanent observer states outside the UN headquarters. These symbolic signs of statehood are incredibly important (Ker-Lindsay, 2015). Figure 1, which is taken from Palestine’s UN website, demonstrates the significance which Palestine attributes to such symbolic markers of legitimacy. Palestine has formed itself to fit the UN principles of statehood to the point that its national flag flies outside the UN’s doors, yet it is not quite a full member.

Whilst Anders (2015), notes that all EU member countries agree on Palestine’s right to statehood, they disagree on whether recognition should be granted before or after the success of peace talks with Israel. This ambivalence towards recognising a Palestinian State at EU level is also found even within individual state approaches.

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In 2015, the Italian parliament adopted two motions in relation to Palestine: one promotes the recognition of a Palestinian state, but the other conditions this recognition on the basis of peace talks and an end to the Fatah-Hamas conflict (Stavridis et al., 2016).

By endorsing both motions, the Italian government reinforces its hesitant position vis-àvis Palestine, giving Italy much leg room in deciding when and if to recognise the State of Palestine. McConnell et al. (2012) consider the ways in which geopolitical anomalies react to such responses from state actors concerning their legitimacy, and find that for micropatrias (“self-declared parodic nations” (p.1)) any form of contact, or even no contact, can be constituted as recognition. This is a useful concept to apply here, as it draws parallels to Palestine’s and Israel’s conflicting responses to Italy’s motions. Both parties thanked the Italian government for entirely opposite reasons: Israel perceived refusal to recognise a Palestinian State, whilst Palestine saw acknowledgement of statehood despite a lack of official diplomatic recognition. This uncertain act of (non)recognition exposes the political nature of decisions concerning granting recognition and highlights the reluctance often involved in widening the exclusive circle of statehood. Yet Italy’s response did not place Palestine on either side of the ‘inside’/‘outside’ binary of statehood, rather it placed Palestine in a fuzzy in-between space, attesting to Bouris and Fernandez-Molina’s (2018) “betwixt and in-between” (p.309) characterisation of contested states.

Resemblance and Menace

By employing Bhabha’s mimicry as a postcolonial tool to empirically investigate Palestine’s diplomatic actions, normative concepts and discourses of the hegemonic ideologies of statehood can be deconstructed and destabilised. Mimicry and the ambivalence it produces disrupts the authority of the state system; a double vision of “resemblance and menace” (p.127). Palestine’s progression towards an archetypal state, via the use of hybrid strategies, reveals the malleability of the inter-state system, in concurrence with Silverberg (1998). The notion of a static, fixed set of states is thus challenged, as the performative actions of contested states garner them recognition and legitimacy. Via creating institutions resembling democratic governments, embassies and joining international organisations, Palestine has carved a place for itself within the international sphere, unsettling this image of a permanent, hegemonic system.

Through challenging these notions of statehood, Palestine’s ambivalent position of statu nascendi also disputes the fixed binary between those ‘outside’ and those ‘inside’ the state system. This finding matches McConnell et al.’s (2012) assessment of TGiE, and finds agreement with Sidaway (2003) who contends that it is the ‘excesses’ of these postcolonial actors which separate them from the western ideal. This ‘excess’ has been typically understood as a weakness, illustrating the inherent hierarchies present in the international system, as recognised by Agnew (2005). The very fact that entities desire to emulate a western discourse of statehood reveals this power imbalance, yet the subversive power of mimicry simultaneously threatens the coloniser. Sidaway (2003) contends that there is a need to move away from such fixed understandings of statehood which rely on the singular ‘pure’ reference of the western model. Maurer’s term ‘sovereigntynostalgia’ (2001, p.495 cited in Sidaway, 2003) explains that this ideal has always been a wishful imagination rather than a reality. Palestine’s ambivalent position within the grey areas of statehood contribute to this theory, arguing for an expansion of the notion of statehood, finding evidence for Clapham’s (1998) argument to consider ‘Degrees of Statehood’.

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It is therefore clear that the dominant notions of statehood and recognition are insufficient as they do not match the lived realities of international actors. The hybridity and ambivalence of Palestine exposes the messy and fragmented nature of the hegemonic state system. This emphasises the need to reconceptualise normative understandings of it, through applying contextual framings that appreciates a graduated, spectrum of statehood and recognition.

A Horse with Black and White Stripes is a Zebra

In 1993, Netanyahu berated the then president of Israel for acknowledging the existence of a Palestinian state indirectly within the Declaration of Principles. He used the analogy of a zebra to explain that by talking to and about Palestine as if it were a state within the declaration, this essentially conferred legitimacy and recognition of statehood. Quigley (2011), has appropriated this analogy to make his key argument: Palestine is a state, because it looks and acts like one, in the same way that because a horse with black and white stripes looks like a zebra, it therefore is a zebra. Yet here it is possible to further adopt and distort this metaphor, employing the lens of mimicry. A horse is a horse, even if it has black and white stripes painted in the finest detail; it may look like a zebra, it may even be possible to train it to act like a zebra, it could also live among zebras, but it will always be different. This metaphor symbolises the mimetic and hybrid strategies of Palestine, and its position of ambivalence, which have been investigated.

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Conversations Between an Atheist and a Theist - Thomas Uglow First and foremost, it is worth determining who or what “God” really is. This is to forestall an inevitable retort to any Atheist theories proposed – that “the God that this article concerns is not one I believe in either”. This article does not concern an old man with a long white beard in the sky. That old man is as irrelevant as his beard is long in this Article. I’m talking of a God ideology, a God’s ideology, a supernatural being, an invisible force or energy, and all other things the word “God” may encompass.

Picture yourself as a human 5200 years ago, on the earth, in a very early form of a civilisation. Now, imagine the unexplained natural phenomena you would have witnessed back then. Lightning storms, Monsoons, perhaps even a solar eclipse or two. How would you go about trying to explain these happenings? You may have one or two ideas, but overall, they would most likely have been false and scientifically incorrect. This is when a God ideology comes in handy. A God, and particularly a God’s emotions can explain why certain rarities occur to us. For example, when somebody becomes sick due to an illness, it can be explained by the fact that he has done something to anger his God in some way, and his God has caused him to fall sick as a punishment. However, we can now say, due to our vast scientific advancements over those 5200 years, that God is not the reason behind many happenings we once thought he/she was.

The main argument against a God is that he is becoming less and less relevant in explaining the inner workings of the Earth, and the Universe, and so it seems like he is becoming less likely as we progress scientifically. We have science that answers the difficult questions nobody ever thought we would know the answers to. There may be questions now that we don’t ever expect to know the answers to, but it’s better to attempt those questions that to try fit a God ideology into the answer box. The idea of a God is convenient for people, as he/she is the universal answer to any tough question, but although it may be easier, it certainly isn’t always the right answer. For many years, people were content believing that all the planets revolved around the earth, as that was how God had designed the solar system. Until Copernicus suggested Heliocentrism, which we now know to be the truth. Science explains the world far better than a God ever could, and so now, it is God that needs explaining.

On the other hand, let’s consider how unlikely it is that human beings should have come into existence in the first place. Take the Earth for example. Its size is perfect. The Earth’s size and corresponding gravity holds a thin layer of mostly nitrogen and oxygen gases, only extending about 50 miles above the Earth’s surface. If Earth were smaller, an atmosphere would be impossible, like the planet Mercury. If Earth were larger, its atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, like Jupiter. Earth is one of the only planets equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life. But now we must ponder the unlikeliness of evolution leading to intelligent life (humans) on that planet. We must consider the phenomenally delicate combination of meiotic variations and genetic mutations that would lead over billions of years to a human being born. The combined chances of this happening are frighteningly small. Millions, if not Quadrillions to one. The chances that you personally should exist on Earth are 6 10−2.7×10 . Surely, the only explanation for the occurrence of the human species is that a God put us here.

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The odds are too small for it to happen without guidance from an omniscient being.

However, to this argument, an atheist could say that, it’s quite likely that intelligent life should form somewhere in the universe. In the milky way alone, there are 4 × 1010 planets like earth that could potentially contain intelligent life, and that is only in our galaxy.

When the Maths is done, it seems silly to think that we could be the only intelligent life in the universe, as there are so many planets for intelligent life to sprout, and so perhaps, we are not as special as we originally thought.

There exists a concept, called the Anthropic principle, and it states that in our case, the universe must be the way it is, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to question our own existence, as we wouldn’t exist. This means that a creator is not necessary, but the argument somewhat falls apart if the creator was intentionally trying to create life. The Anthropic principle attempts to discredit the argument from design and beauty, however the logic is somewhat circular, unless one accepts the multiverse theory.

The atheist could argue that a God cannot be proved, as there is no solid evidence for him/her. The theist could argue that the universe and the earth are so orderly and structured that they must have been designed. Only an omniscient being could have designed something so wonderful. The atheist might then say that modern science has showed us that many of the things in nature that were believed to have been designed are just products of extremely slow processes as evolution. Believe it or not, but your oldest ancestor is not Adam or Eve (using Christianity as an example) but is a small strand of DNA in a primeval soup of random chemicals in a humid and warm atmosphere. An experiment known as the Miller-Urey experiment simulated the conditions thought to be present on the early Earth (water, methane, ammonia, lightning), and in the resulting solution were found more than half of the amino acids which we know of today. These amino acids would go on to build incredibly complex organisms along with the help of thousands of other molecules over billions of years. The point is that a God is not required to make a human, you only need a few basic chemicals, some lightning, and a few billion years.

There is also the question of the cause of the universe. People of faith would argue that since everything needs a cause, so does the universe. The atheist would then ask what caused God, and what caused the cause, and so on. If God doesn’t need a cause, why would the universe? But why would God cause the creation of the universe anyway?

What would be his/her reasoning behind creating such a thing, would it benefit him? Or perhaps is it that something other than God created the universe.

The theist could argue that evidence for a God lies within Ancient texts, like The Bible, The Quran, or The Torah. These texts claim to be realistic accounts of the past, and thus since these historical writings also claim that a God exists, then we can only assume that he/she does. The atheist could respond with the question: “Then why does God not appear to us anymore like he/she did in the past?”. These documents were written thousands of years ago, and they were most likely translated and re-translated many times, which led to a substantial accumulation of errors and mistranslations over time. Mistranslations are rarely ever good news. When DNA is incorrectly translated into mRNA it’s usually not the best. However, in the words of Dawkins: the scholars of the Septuagint can claim to have started something significant when they mistranslated the Hebrew word for “young woman” into the Greek word for “virgin”, producing the sentence: “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. . . ”.

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Albeit these texts contain good life lessons and morals to live by, they certainly don’t stand for much historical or factual basis. Therefore, we cannot claim that a God exists based upon ancient writings.

The question of the existence of a God is extremely difficult to answer and would take far longer than a single article to get close to the bottom of. As it stands, the universe is still largely a mystery to us, and for now, we cannot be sure whether a God does or doesn’t exist, since there are still many questions which science cannot yet answer. As Humans become more scientifically adept, and once we know more about the universe, it is likely that the answer will become clearer to us and perhaps the question will finally be answered.

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COVID-19 and its effects on the UK economy - Mahir Mujtaba “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2”, more commonly know as the COVID19 or coronavirus, is an infectious respiratory disease which is part of the coronavirus family.

In recent weeks, this disease has been a cause of global panic, with the world health organisation declaring a state of emergency. This has been caused due to its infection nature and also as this specific disease has never been seen before. There is currently no know vaccine to treat people infected by COVID-19. Like other coronaviruses of its kind, COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease (an infectious disease transmitted from animals to humans), and thus, this is how it is thought the virus came to affect humans.

The virus itself was first identified in December 2019 when a mysterious new illness emerged in Wuhan, China. The source of this outbreak has since been believed to be a “wet market” in the city of Wuhan (The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market). Wet markets are traditionally places that sell dead and live animals out in the open’. Due to the close proximity of live and dead animals as well as the lack of hygiene standards, as a result, the market posed an increased risk of the zoonotic disease jumping from animals to humans.

It is yet to be identified the animal which caused this outbreak, however, scientists have their suspicion that bats were the original host of COVID-19, just like SARS coronavirus.

Although bats we not actually sold at this market in Wuhan, it is thought they infected livestock with the disease, such as chickens. This is not the first case bats were recorded to have such a deadly disease, it had also been discovered they were hosts to a number of other diseases such as Ebola, HIV and rabies. Despite this, there are many different animals which are yet to be discovered to have maybe transferred the disease to humans.

Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. Despite this, in some cases those infected may be asymptomatic, meaning that no visible symptoms are presented.

The virus itself can be transmitted in a number of ways; this includes the exchange of bodily fluids. In addition to this people can also get the disease through direct contact with an infected individual’s mucus or saliva on surfaces or in the air. According to scientists, coughs and sneezes can travel several feet and stay suspended in the air for up to 10 minutes. As a result, this is a prime way to transmit the disease. It is still unknow however, how long the virus can survive outside a host organism, this could range from a few hours to months like in other viruses. Recent data from the WHO (World Health Organisation) has revealed that the average number of people infected by an individual suffering from COVID-19 is from 1.4 to 2.5 which is very similar to that of the Ebola virus.

Since it was first discovered in 2019, there has been a huge spike in the increase of those suffering from the virus. As of March 2020, there have been 92,798 confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 3,164 people have died and 48,469 have recovered. This death toll has well surpassed that of SARS and MERS (other types of coronaviruses). Despite this it has been indicated by preliminary findings that the virus appears to be less fatal than SARS .

Although scientists have lots of new information on COVID-19, it is too early and there is also too little information to compare exactly how deadly the virus is compared to other diseases such as the flu, which in recent newspaper articles has been said to be more deadly than the ‘coronavirus’.

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According to scientists, the predicted death rate of the COVID-19 for the virus is around the 1% region. However, despite this prediction, there are a number of different factors which may affect an individual’s survival chance. This includes the age, sex, health state and the health system the individual is in. The Chinese centre for disease control and prevention have recently released statistics showing that the majority of those who died from COVID-19 were elderly and suffered in almost all cases a pre-existing health condition. Despite the 2.3% of all confirmed cases dying in China, the fatality rate of those 80 years or older was much greater than that at 14.8%. This shows that by having a weaker immune system or pre-existing condition, the chance of fatality is much higher.

International governments as a whole have been very effective in slowing down the spread of the virus to minimise the number of deaths until a vaccine is developed. This has been seen recently in the quarantining of the passengers of the diamond princess cruise.

This method was used as those infected only show visible symptoms of the illness after 14 days, and thus by quarantining were able to both determine those infected and also reduce the spread of the disease. In addition to this, civilians have taken matters into their own hands. This has been seen in China, where many fearing they may contract the virus have been wearing masks to protect themselves. In Wuhan as well, citizens have developed their own greeting to reduce direct contact and thus the spread of the disease.

Despite these precautions it is unknown how many more people will become victim to this terrible disease and how long it will take for a vaccine to be developed, though scientists have predicted at the least a year. This problem may escalate and by then may be a pandemic as new and mysterious cases of the disease appear across the globe.

Economic effect of COVID-19

In recent weeks around $6 trillion dollars in wealth was erased from the stock market last week due to a escalate in fear of COVID-19 inflicting damage on the global economy.

In particular individuals feared that efforts to contain the virus would slow down or even halt economic growth and also cut profits from different corporations. This caused a mass sell-off of stocks When all this occurred, the SP 500 suffered its worst week since the financial crisis. Despite this huge decrease, not many people where effected due to the fact that not many individuals own stock.

Although this may not have impacted the global economy that greatly, there are a number effects economists will predict will occur due to the virus. Some examples of these economic issues include recession, unemployment as well as inflation.

Due to the virus the production of goods and services produced in China are predicted to decrease and thus also the supply. This is known as a supply side shock. As a result, shortages will occur as the demand of the product well exceeds that of the supply. Firms want to eliminate these shortages by getting rid of those less willing and able to buy the product, and in the process selecting the buyers most willing and able to purchase the goods. Consequently, a raise in the price of the product occurs for this desired effect to occur. As a result of this supply side shock, this causes an increase in the cost of production for UK firms receiving imports from China and thus decreasing profit margins for the firms as they have to endure higher costs to produce.

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Furthermore, there is a fall in the quantity of short run aggregate supply (SRAS) as the profits are not adequate to incentive firms to supply goods. Shortages are then created due to aggregate demand being greater than SRAS. This time UK firms must increase prices to get rid of the shortages. This increases the general price level. This is known as inflation which is very problematic for the economy. In particular cost-push inflation occurs as firms increase prices to protect their profit margins against the increasing cost of production.

In addition, as a result of the decrease in supply, there is a consequent decrease in output, which is known as a recession. This is catastrophic for an economy and can lead to real human suffering due to standard of living falling as incomes decrease. This decrease in output can be even more problematic due to the fact the demand for labour is derived from the demand for goods and services. Because of this relationship as well as the fall in supply, less labour is demanded by firms, and thus demand-deficient unemployment is created as there is a lack of demand. This can problematic for the government in a number of ways as more money must be spent on benefits by increasing national debt or taxation as well as decreasing the economies productivity.

Thus, as well as posing a serious health threat, COVID-19 also presents number of serious potential economic problems which could be fatal to economies across the world.

Because of this more effort must be put in by countries across the globe to present a working vaccine for the virus before it causes serious economic issues and increases further human suffering.

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A Civic Space - Ms. J. E. Rhyins Consider where you’re most likely to bump into a friend, see a new piece of art, or perhaps meet someone new. Most likely, it will not be in your room.

Radley’s 300-acre site affords us space for both inward reflection and collective association. Friendships and conversation form naturally both in nature and indoors. Our year-round sportsmen create a plethora of social networks. In the coffee shop and the Science Lecture Theatre we hold events and share on subjects we are passionate about.

These are public spaces, used by everyone, but also serve the more important purpose of being civic. These are places that set the stage for our day, as Radleians, as students and teachers, and as friends.

Aristotle, one of history’s greatest philosophers, and a perennial student said that “Excellence is never an accident”. Wisdom is cultivated between people. He continued “It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” Where we communicate is just as important as how. And often moving through these spaces can help us think things through differently and more effectively - ‘Solvitur ambulando’, or solve it by walking, as the Romans said.

These civic spaces are choices, positing thought in different ways. And they are communally maintained. Much like London’s St. James’s Park, or Blackwell’s bookstore in Oxford, somehow everyone who visits has similar activities in mind. We chat, think, and play accordingly. But none of these codes are written down. They are maintained through the social contract of respect and integrity.

Since your return from Leave-Away, you may have noticed renovations to a 50sq meter section of Queen’s Court. Located on the second floor, between Geography and Maths, before you enter the SLT, there sits a space wide enough to hold twenty-five people. This is known because a Shell Geography lesson took place there in October. Later that month the three American teaching fellows, myself, Sam Perdomo, and Justin Dorland, met with Dons from Geography, Physics, and Design, to consider how we might designate a new type of space at Radley. One that is both Public and Civic.

This Civic Space for Environmental Conversation is collaborative, sprung from ideas from your teachers, peers, and the people who keep Radley functioning logistically, maintenance. Various departments, Geography, Art, Design, Physics, alongside the fledging Environmental Society The CliMates, and the Estates team have all influenced what you see taking shape now.

I ask that you suspend judgment on the carpeting design (100% recycled) and colour scheme of the new paint job, to ask what you think a space like this could be for you.

Radleians have arranged speakers, arranged debates, mock elections, book talks, and the like. But what if you came across something in your studies (or, for Dons, an outside opportunity) that you really felt passionate about and wanted to share in a way that required fewer formalities? Something that does not need to be booked in advance and is slightly off the beaten path. As a new Civic space, its aim is discursive, to be a place to foster relationships and ideas. Nothing is static: our community’s moral character and collective aspirations refine throughout the day in the alternate spaces we chose to inhabit.

"Choice not chance, chooses your destiny".

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Some Interesting Mathematical Puzzles - Tobias Southwell 1. The area of HOCD is 15. Find the shaded area ABCD is a square DFHG is a rectangle, with O being the midpoint of HG O is the centre of the circle (of which half is drawn)

2. Show that in the square show below, side length 20, A = 80

3. Show that in the regular polygon show below, side length 1, k = ϕ Hence, find the exact value of sin 3π 10

4. Show that sin x = x

Y

cos

n≥1

x 2n

Hint: Use the Double Angle formula Q is the product to n For example 10 Y

r = 10!

r=1

5. Find

Z

sin2 x cos4 xdx

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Some Interesting Mathematical Puzzles - Solutions 1. We know that the shaded area (A) will be equal to the area of aquare ABCD plus the area of rectangle DFGH minus twice the intersection (15) A = x2 + 2lh − 30

(1)

1 (hl + xa) = 15 2 hl + xa = 30

(2)

From the triangles:

and r2 = x2 + a2

r2 = x2 + (x − a)2 x2 + a2 = 2x2 + a2 − 2ax x2 = 2ax x a= 2

so using (1) and (2) A = 60 − 30 = 30

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2. Letting a corner of the square be the origin we can map the lines in the square as f (x) = 2x h(x) = 2(x − 10) 1 g(x) = − x + 10 2 Equating f (x) and g(x) we find the first point of intersection P1 (4, 8) Similarly, equating h(x) and g(x) we find P2 (12, 4) We know that A will be the side length of the square squared thus A = (4 − 12)2 + (8 − 4)2 = 80

3. Using Ptolemy’s Theorem BE · CD + BC · ED = BD · CE k + 1 = k2 This quadratic should be familiar √ 1± 5 k= 2 Since k > 0

√ 1+ 5 =ϕ k= 2 We know that the sum of the interior angles in a pentagon add to 3π. Since it is a 3π regular pentagon, we find that the interior angle, 2θ, is equal to 3π 5 and so θ = 10 Using trigonometry, we find that sin

3π ϕ = 10 2

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4. Using the double angle formula sin x = 2 cos

x x x x x sin = 22 cos cos 2 sin 2 2 2 2 2 2

and so on sin x = 2n sin lim sin x = 2n (

n→∞

n x x Y cos r n 2 r=1 2

n Y x x 3 + O(x )) cos r n 2 2 r=1

Y

sin x = x

cos

n≥1

5.

Z

J=

sin2 x cos4 xdx =

Z

x 2n

cos4 xdx −

Z

cos6 xdx

Using the cos reduction formula (derivation below) Z

In =

cosn xdx =

1 n−1 sin x cosn−1 x + In−2 n n

5 1 1 J = I4 − I6 = I4 − ( sin x cos5 x + I4 ) = (I4 − sin x cos5 x) 6 6 6 Z Z 1 3 3 1 I4 = sin x cos3 x + cos2 xdx = sin x cos3 x + 1 + cos 2xdx 4 4 4 8 3 1 1 I4 = sin x cos3 x + (x + sin 2x) + c 4 8 2 1 x 1 1 J= sin x cos3 x + + sin 2x − sin x cos5 x + k 24 16 32 6 cos x reduction formula Z

cosn xdx =

Z

sin2 x cosn−2 xdx = sin x cosn−1 x + (n − 1)(In−2 − In )

In =

Z

cosn−1 x cos xdx

Integrate by parts In = sin x cosn−1 x + (n − 1) Rearranging give us nIn = sin x cosn−1 x + (n − 1)In−2 and so In =

1 n−1 sin x cosn−1 x + In−2 n n

There are a number of ways to go about these problems. If you have stumbled across an interesting one then send it in and it could be put in the next issue.

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Thank you for reading this edition of Serpentes.

If you wish to submit an article for the next issue please send it to: muez.khan2015@radley.org.uk

The Editorial Team for next year will be: Ben Zhang Thomas Williams James Harrabin Mahir Mujtaba