Abstract: In 2019, it came to light that the Imperial War Graves Commission, the predecessor to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), had left the remains of African and South Asian WWI dead unmarked to 'revert to nature'. The documentary 'The Unremembered' struck a nerve in Britain by demonstrating that the commission had thus failed in its core commitment to equality in death and commemoration. The British government formally apologised for these failings, and the CWGC committed itself to making a comprehensive search of historical records to recover the personal details of non-Europeans who died in the service of the empire so they could be commemorated by name. Recovering the historical past is certainly a worthwhile enterprise. Yet it is naïve to be shocked by the commission's failure to grant African soldiers equality in death because they did not have equality in life. Expanding the consideration of inequality in colonial military service to include recruitment, fighting, demobilisation, death and commemoration during WWII brings the fundamental exploitation of subject soldiers into sharper focus. Inscribing the names of forgotten war dead on memorials is an easy way to right a past imperial wrong, particularly when WWI is now comfortably remote.

Abstract: The main hypothesis of the proposed project is that between 1880 and 1939 the discourses on female and male body in Jewish culture were changing. The aim of the project is to answer the question of the nature of that transition that occurred within the Jewish culture in the Polish lands, that is the territory of former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Second Republic of Poland. Because body, and especially women’s body has been an important field of reflection and control (with the laws of niddah as the most visible ones) in various versions of Jewish culture and the concept and regulations differed from those in Christianity, research in the proposed project is limited only to inner Jewish perspective. In order to answer the aforementioned question a thorough analysis and juxtaposition of the changes that occurred between 1880 and 1939 in discourses on body (female and male) in Jewish literature, press, political pamphlets, and private documents in five main languages spoken by Jews who lived in the Polish lands – Yiddish, Hebrew, Polish, German and Russian – and in visual arts (press adverts, journal covers, press graphics, photography, leaflets, pamphlets, film), which in the timeframe of the project began to play a crucial role in shaping social perception of human body, will be done. The timeframe adopted begins when industrialisation, modernisation, secularisation, women’s emancipation movements, emergence of popular culture and new political ideologies started to shape discourses on body. It ends with the outbreak of WWII which brought an entirely new paradigm on Jewish body and changed the social structure of the Polish lands. The non-obvious chronology of the project is aimed at examination the scope of changes in discourses on body provoked by WWI with a shift in gender roles, fashion, visible effects of violence on human body with mutilations, deformations and sexual abuse, and withdrawal of religious women from purifying rituals done in mikveh. As the inspiration for that project lies in my previous research projects on Polish-Jewish literature and on discourses on female body and sexuality in Polish-Jewish ego-documents, around 30% of primary sources are already collected. Thus, the proposed project develops further research on discourses on body in the Polish lands since juxtaposition and analysis of discourses on Jewish body (both male and female) in five languages (Yiddish, Hebrew, Polish, German and Russian), and four different areas of human creativity (literature, press, visual arts, and egodocuments) will expand our knowledge into new scientific fields and will show yet unknown cultural links and relationships between speakers of those languages. The analyses will be followed by a creation of text corpus of sources translated into Polish, which (re)define the notion of body and show the tension between the question of corporality and identity. The text corpus will be made with the use of Supervised Machine Learning and will serve to design a virtual map showing the flow of ideas that created the discourses on body in Jewish press in Yiddish, Hebrew, Polish, German and Russian between 1880 and 1939. The map is meant for academic and non-academic purposes. Thus, the proposed project is also transdisciplinary in its nature, as it requires research done by historians, philologists, IT specialists and art historians. The choice of hosting institution is not coincidental as the Taube Department of Jewish Studies is a home to renowned scholars of Jewish culture, while the Digital Humanities Lab at the University of Wroclaw will be able to supervise the digital component of the project. Because the proposed project attempts to answer such questions as: what were the corporal models and how they were changing within the timeframe of the project; how the ideas behind discourses on body were spreading among different social actors in the Jewish culture; what was the role of visual arts in spreading the discourses; and what was the relation between new models of corporality with various Jewish identities, the results of the analyses may not be used only by literary historians of the Jewish past, but also by historians of Jewish culture, sociologists, anthropologists, theologians, historians of Russian, German and Polish cultures; and women's history specialists.

Abstract: Vetting is a function which can affect a large number of people in a very significant respect. Vetting accordingly raises in a defined and microcosmic form the two conflicting interests which operate to some extent with regard to the whole functioning of the Service – the interests of the State and the interests of the private individual. 1 Juvenal’s maxim about guarding the guardians has a particular aptness. 2

Abstract: Background The intertwining nature of gender-based violence (GBV) and violence perpetrated against women and girls (VAWG), as well as sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), underlines the urgent need for the health sector to enhance the coordination of services to improve health outcomes. Importantly, GBV and VAWG are intricately linked to a spectrum of SRHR challenges, ranging from unintended pregnancies to severe maternal, gynecological, and mental health outcomes. Cumulative GBV had a more significant effect on abortion risk than associated variables. Recognizing the interplay between GBV, VAWG, and SRHR highlights the necessity for a comprehensive health sector response. A systematic review of the health sector response to GBV, VAWG, and SRHR will be conducted to understand the extent and array of health facility–based coordinated responses to GBV, VAWG, and SRHR; lessons learned; and successes and challenges in the Commonwealth and selected African countries. Objective We aim to understand the context of GBV, VAWG, and SRHR by conducting a comprehensive review of health sector responses in different national, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts, and we aim to share best practices, experiences, and lessons learned. Methods A mixed methods systematic review will be conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocol (PRISMA-P) guidelines. The population, intervention, comparison, and outcome framework will be applied to screen and select relevant sources guided by the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The review will include relevant research papers published in the last 15 years and conducted in the 24 Commonwealth and 7 selected African countries. Electronic databases to be searched will include PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, EBSCOhost, Web of Science, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane, CINAHL, Index Medicus for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, and POPline. Results Ethics approval will be waived as the study will use data in the public domain. The project has been commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat (2022-2025). The database search, data screening, and data extraction process for the review will be completed by September 2025. A manuscript will be submitted to a peer-reviewed international journal by November 2025. The initial online database searches, citations of eligible studies, and Microsoft Copilot identified 38,200 studies focusing on GBV, VAWG, and SRHR interventions. To date, 60 studies have been found eligible for inclusion in the review. The majority of these studies were conducted in eastern Africa (n=34), South Africa (n=14), and Asia (n=13). Evidence generated from this review will be made available through journal publications, seminars and workshops with key stakeholders, ministries of health, and local and international conferences. Conclusions The study will generate evidence to inform recommendations on addressing and mitigating the effects of GBV and VAWG on SRHR outcomes and coordinated services in the health sectors of Commonwealth and selected African countries. Trial Registration PROSPERO CRD42024520594; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42024520594 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/67571

Abstract: The National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Programme for Evidence to Inform Disability Action grant from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

Abstract: Especially as regards Commonwealth restrictions, Ireland's immigration policy has been seen as (surreptitiously) dependent on UK policy. Although the Common Travel Area imposed serious limits, Irish discretion was in fact significant and restrictive. In 1948–9 the United Kingdom secured Ireland's public commitment to extend reciprocal citizenship rights to all the Commonwealth, notwithstanding its secession, but Ireland avoided this vis-à-vis the ‘new’ Commonwealth and left its aliens exemption law deliberately opaque. Whilst broadly mirroring the UK Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, Ireland retained apartheid South Africa as partially privileged and only comprehensively exempted British citizens born within the United Kingdom. From 1973, the United Kingdom largely abandoned any privileged treatment but, in entirely removing this in 1975 and selectively imposing visas from 1976, Ireland went beyond even this. These divergences reflected that, compared to the United Kingdom, it had left an increasingly diverse Commonwealth in 1949 and had a stronger homogenous nationalism.

Abstract: The article examines the changes in national strategic planning that have emerged in Australia's foreign policy in the context of growing strategic rivalry between the United States and China within the Indo-Pacific. While maintaining a leading position in the South Pacific, Canberra, on the one hand, has been affected by Beijing's extensive expansion into its neighboring region,while on the other, became a part of Washington's Indo-Pacific Strategy, in practicefacing the dilemma of balancing between the two powers. Despite increasing external pressure, Australia has traditionally sought to avoid taking sides, striving to maintain a balance between national interests and maintaining an open dialogue with all parties interested in cooperation. However, due toincreasedcontradictions between the US and China and a series of domestic changes that occurred in the second half of the 2010s, Canberra has demonstrated a shift from its deep-rooted balancing policy, taking long-term risks for the country's future.

Abstract: This study examines the political relations between the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Iberia (Eastern Georgia). It explores the Roman Empire's policies and attitudes toward its peripheries, particularly the Kingdom of Iberia, as well as Iberia's aspirations to integrate into the imperial framework. The research highlights the formation of a Roman imperial network, reflecting the alignment of interests and interactions between these two political entities. The relationship between the Roman Empire and Iberia is analysed using two Roman imperial sources: Res Gestae Divi Augusti and the inscription of Vespasian, along with Caesars Titus and Domitian. Through the interpretation of these materials, the study aims to model the dynamics of this relationship.

Abstract: Formed at the end of one war, only for it to be transformed into a fighting force by the start of another war, the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) stationed in southern Honshu – in close proximity to Korea – was an important component of the Allied Occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1952. BCOF's diverse, multifunctional, and multinational force administered Japan's surrender, demilitarization, and democratization. At the outbreak of war on the Korean peninsula in June 1950, Commonwealth naval and air forces were almost immediately deployed to fight alongside US forces in Korea from their bases in Japan. Ground forces from Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada were then committed to fight alongside South Korean and US forces from September 1950 onwards, in what became the British Commonwealth Force Korea (BCFK). Utilizing interviews with veterans and their families, the following article will reveal the importance of the Commonwealth's use of BCOF's military bases, barracks, maintenance workshops, and its extensive network of health, welfare, and recreational facilities, to argue that Japan effectively served as BCFK's 'forward base' and 'labour pool' during the Korean War, providing the strategic and infrastructural foundations of the understudied Commonwealth contribution to the 'emergency' in Korea.

Abstract: <p><span>The article examines scientific research conducted by foreign scientists, scientists from the Commonwealth of Independent States and Uzbek scientists on personnel management in industrial enterprises. The research methodology is presented. The types of factors influencing the effectiveness of personnel management are studied. The study examined the specifics of such factors as information and know-how, financial and material resources, human resources, internal communications and relationships. The features of personnel management in America and Japan are studied. Currently, many Western companies are working in three main areas of human resource management: full automation of production processes, improvement of forms and methods of business management, as well as training and advanced training of personnel. The content of physical, technical and technological, socio-economic, socio-psychological, territorial-contextual and innovative factors influencing personnel management is indicated.</span> </p>

Abstract: The archipelago of English-speaking nations across the world is bound by a colonial and a martial past. Few deny that Britain's attempt to create a Commonwealth of states as facsimiles of its liberal democracy produced widespread suffering and inequities that persist today, but for the UK and its closest English-speaking allies, that era set the stage for what is, today, a powerful and operational transnational security partnership of 'Anglosphere' states that commenced as the Five Eyes, and now has produced a new stage of security alliance: the Australia, United Kingdom, United States alliance (AUKUS). Within this well-established Anglosphere alliance – as well as the practical, proven effectiveness of the Five Eyes and other joint military interoperability arrangements – AUKUS represents a seemingly feasible, if hotly debated, initiative. This chapter explores both the political past and immediate future of the AUKUS alliance, setting out the key drivers of collaboration that bring these states together as well the putative threats it seeks to resist.

Abstract: Several climate-based court challenges to Australian Commonwealth government actions, particularly fossil fuel development approvals, have failed. This was in part because they lacked a strong statutory basis and hence the courts declined to find new ‘implied’ duties or responsibilities of the Commonwealth and its Ministers. This article proposes that the largely overlooked Section 100 of the Australian Constitution could form the statutory basis of a challenge to Commonwealth government environmental approvals of export-­oriented fossil fuel extraction projects. Section 100 protects Australian State residents’ ‘right … to the reasonable use of the waters of rivers’ from abridgement by Commonwealth laws governing ‘trade or commerce’, made under Section 51(i) of the Constitution. Section 100 may prevent the Commonwealth from approving export-oriented fossil fuel extraction under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) or the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth) because the High Court of Australia has previously held that these laws rely upon Section 51(i) for their constitutionality, and because the climate warming effects of exported fossil fuels’ Scope 3 emissions and the consequential drying effects on Australia’s rivers would abridge the ‘reasonable use’ of their waters. It is argued that, by virtue of its grounding in the Constitution, this case would overcome many of the Commonwealth’s previous arguments in climate-based cases, including that courts should not set government policy; that Australia’s contributions to global warming are small and subject to market substitution; that exported (Scope 3) emissions are not Australia’s responsibility; and that the harm caused by future climate change is too indeterminate for courts to rule upon. Some implications for future Commonwealth policy are considered.

Abstract: <p>This paper explores the strategic use of federal funds by state and local governments for climate resilience projects, focusing on sustainable infrastructure and clean energy investments. It specifically examines the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 on the commonwealth of Virginia, including its role in promoting clean energy adoption through tax incentives and grants. The paper also investigates the effects of renewable energy shifts, such as solar, wind, and hydropower, on local infrastructure, economic development, and public health.</p> <p> </p>

Abstract: India and Canada share strong bilateral relations in trade, education, and vibrant cultural exchange. The sizable Indian diaspora in Canada, rooted in shared democratic values and Commonwealth ties, has helped sustain a cooperative relationship. However, the emergence of the Khalistan movement—radicalized during the violent unrest in Punjab in the 1980s—has significantly strained bilateral ties, particularly during Prime Minister Trudeau’s tenure. Previous governments have contributed to turbulence at multiple levels, complicating diplomatic engagements between the two countries. The evolving dynamics of the Khalistan movement reflect divergent national priorities, which have increasingly shaped bilateral interactions. This paper attempts to trace the historical roots of the separatist ideology advocating for a sovereign Punjab in India. It also examines the movement’s contemporary manifestations within Canada’s multicultural framework, which have placed additional strain on its relationship with India. The study analyses how Canada’s commitment to free speech and political activism has enabled pro-Khalistan sentiments to thrive among segments of the Indian diaspora. India, in contrast, views such activities as threats to its sovereignty and national security, with pro-Khalistan actors often labelled as extremists or even terrorists. The paper argues that the Khalistan issue presents a formidable challenge to India-Canada relations. At the same time, it emphasizes opportunities for constructive dialogue, stronger economic cooperation, cultural exchange, and mutual respect for sovereignty. The study also offers recommendations for easing tensions, balancing domestic political pressures with the broader goal of strengthening bilateral ties.

Abstract: Especially as regards Commonwealth restrictions, Ireland's immigration policy has been seen as (surreptitiously) dependent on UK policy. Although the Common Travel Area imposed serious limits, Irish discretion was in fact significant and restrictive. In 1948–9 the United Kingdom secured Ireland's public commitment to extend reciprocal citizenship rights to all the Commonwealth, notwithstanding its secession, but Ireland avoided this vis-à-vis the ‘new’ Commonwealth and left its aliens exemption law deliberately opaque. Whilst broadly mirroring the UK Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, Ireland retained apartheid South Africa as partially privileged and only comprehensively exempted British citizens born within the United Kingdom. From 1973, the United Kingdom largely abandoned any privileged treatment but, in entirely removing this in 1975 and selectively imposing visas from 1976, Ireland went beyond even this. These divergences reflected that, compared to the United Kingdom, it had left an increasingly diverse Commonwealth in 1949 and had a stronger homogenous nationalism.

Abstract: Abstract This chapter questions the very concept of a closed identity for inhabitants of the Byzantine empire, defined by the use of a common Greek language (koine). It explores how the different levels of Greek language which coexisted in the empire, from written Atticism to spoken vernacular languages, created various layers of identity among its inhabitants, identities that were defined by regional and social factors. The speakers of the Hellenic languages constituted some kind of commonwealth inside the wider ‘Byzantine Commonwealth’ that united all the Orthodox nations and peoples around a multilingual empire. They never thought to create an alternative political or official identity to the ‘Roman’ one, but when the empire collapsed in 1204 and the ‘Romanness’ of the various polities on imperial soil became contested, regional identities started to emerge.

Abstract: Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R (on the application of Abbasi) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Secretary of State for the Home Department [2002] EWCA Civ 1598, before the Court of Appeal. This case concerned, among other things, whether foreign policy decisions made by the executive under the prerogative power could ever constitute justiciable matters arguable before the courts. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from the authors, Thomas Webb and Jeremy Letwin.