In 2015, the Rohingya Boat People, an ethnic Muslim minority from Myanmar, were stranded in the Andaman sea, and the event brought international attention to the Rohingya humanitarian migration crisis that has been taking place in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Rohingyas have been labelled by the United Nations as the world’s most persecuted people. The systematic political persecution of Rohingyas began in 1948 when the Union of Burma was established, and the forced migration of Rohingyas into neighbouring countries has been happening since the 1970s. Rohingyas have been persecuted because of their ethnicity, indigeneity and religion through acts of violence, labour exploitation and mass murders in Myanmar, as well as in the countries that they have sought refuge. This paper looks into the specific aspect of political persecution under the legal framework of state-actors, as this presents to be the root cause of most problems that Rohingyas counter, but also presents to be the solution for ending the persecution of Rohingyas. This paper focuses on the legal documentation of Rohingyas in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia, as most Rohingyas reside in these countries. The methodology of the paper involves the review of the States’ legal frameworks for documenting asylum seekers; analysis of the Rohingya case with the case studies of

Tamils in Sri Lanka and Jews in Nazi Germany; and finally, recommendations for most durable solutions for each state-actor: (Re)Integration or Resettlement of Rohingyas. This paper also includes interviews conducted with members of non-governmental organisations that have performed field work with Rohingyas.

Banknotes and coins are staples of economic transactions. Equally, currency creates the concept of a community as they carry symbols and text which project power.

Hong Kong provides a unique study of how currency creates power that constructs society. As a British colony in China from 1841 to 1997, the Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) was charged with projecting British authority, which created a colonial society. Although currency is not the only way to create society, its significance cannot be underestimated. Currency’s ubiquity in modern society influences society’s everyday thinking. Hence, currency is a useful tool to analyse the methods that constructed a British colonial society.

Hong Kong history is mainly elitist. Few have studied Hong Kong through a micro-historical approach and fewer have used post-colonial or post-structural theories. This provides a refreshing take on Hong Kong history, which forms part of British Imperial history. Academics in this field tend to focus on India and Malaya, but Hong Kong is just as important as it provides a glimpse of what British Imperialism became by the end of the twentieth century. Using post-colonial, post-structural theories to analyse how the HKD projects power gives a new and complete understanding of British imperialism.

The findings of these investigations are not limited to Hong Kong. Nations today, particularly in the Middle East, struggle to assert authority; currency’s capacity to convey government power needs to be recognised. The ubiquitous nature of economic transactions means currency is the ideal vehicle to project authority to the people.

One of international criminal justice’s oldest and most prominent mechanisms has been the individualised prosecution of the perpetrators of history’s greatest tragedies. However, when measured against objectives of international criminal justice, individualised prosecution begins to not only fail to accommodate these objectives but sometimes outright contradicts them.

Christoph Safferling’s International Criminal Procedure identifies objectives of international criminal justice to include ‘justice for the victims’, ‘deterrence’ and ‘accountability’. My research aims to examine the effect of individualised prosecution on these objectives by applying real-life examples and the accounts of international criminal justice experts.

I argue that the prosecutorial process can prevent holistic and accurate portrayals of victims’ experiences – an incredibly important part of many victims’ paths to reconciliation and closure. Furthermore, the objectives of ‘deterrence’ and ‘accountability’ are similarly strained through

individual prosecution as they fail to address the root causes of a conflict, which are often rooted in economic, religious or racial dynamics that have existed for years. Moreover, the international community’s reputation of bias against Africa has actually made the defiance of international law a politically advantageous move for some leaders. Lastly, the threat of prosecution can sometimes prolong a leader’s stay in power to enjoy the immunity their position affords and therefore prolong their people’s suffering under their reign.

I believe by highlighting the pitfalls of individualised prosecution, a shift could begin from framing our sentencing procedures through a lens of retribution or revenge towards one that prioritises victims’ healing and societal improvement instead.

In the context of economic reform and social unrest, the government of Saudi Arabia must undergo systemic legislative transformation to accommodate the evolution from a rentier economy to a productive one. Of the new policies affecting corporations and citizens alike, few are more significant on a grassroots level than the debut of taxation systems.

Notorious for its opaque oligarchy, Saudi’s current levels of state secrecy does little more than breed contempt and distrust between the government and the people; the pervasiveness of this sentiment is made obvious through an online survey conducted in line with this research project on a sample of Saudi citizens in 2017. There are very few studies focusing on government transparency in Saudi; most tend to focus on transparency in the private sector, which is more relevant to regulation policy than transparency policy.

This project explores and critiques different methods of governmental transparency, such as the publication of a national census, digitisation, educational media campaigns and ergonomic public procedure. It particularly looks into various delivery methods of information to a public unfamiliar with the nature of political and economic dialogue, and compares different policy plans implemented by governments around the world and assesses their compatibility with the Saudi community.

The research is theoretically based on various theses on open government, particularly theories that focus on the role of media and technology such as the work of Beth Simone Noveck and Paul Henman, both of whom focus on the integration of technology in governance and how that affects public perception.

This study has critical implications on the process through which ‘Vision 2030’ – the legislative document introduced in 2016 outlining a set of economic, social, and political goals the Saudi government wants to achieve by 2030 (including but not limited to taxation policy) – is planned and executed, and will shape the now symbiotic relationship between the Saudi government and its people.

Humans must eat. Knowing how our food is produced is thus vital. However, current literature provides a piecemeal understanding at best. Broad, unified narratives of what is happening in the food industry are not easily found. The first contribution of this paper is to collate relevant literature from a variety of areas of knowledge – including economics, natural science and environmental activism – pertaining to global trends in the food industry. One main issue highlighted was that increasing concentration ratios, integration of the supply chain and mergers lead to social welfare loss. Another crucial aspect: that agricultural pesticide use is linked to human health and environmental degradation.

Through an original narrative linking both aspects, the paper highlights the importance of research in this area and the wide gap that remains to be filled. An empirical case study is chosen to exemplify these issues. Glyphosate is the most used pesticide in the world. It is sold almost exclusively by Monsanto, one of the ‘Big Six’ of the food industry. The paper is based on a US county-based panel dataset collated during the process, including a newly created variable tracking Monsanto presence. The method combines fixed and mixed effects models for robustness. Findings of this preliminary analysis show that Monsanto presence is associated with accelerated pesticide use. Effects of pesticide use on welfare, in particular health, are unclear.

In the conclusion, results are linked to the wider context of the food industry and the literature in order to derive potential environmental implications. No similar studies within the field have been found thus far.

The city-states of northern Italy and their dynastic rulers found themselves in precarious positions during the sixteenth century, caught both geographically and in loyalty between the great European powers. To maintain their sovereignty, these Dukedoms relied on marriage alliances, diplomacy and propaganda to accentuate their own power and status. Banquets became a great tool for all of these methods, and Italy led the way in turning these feasts into elaborate spectacles. Symbolism, both subtle and overt, was used alongside pageantry and decadence to bolster the reputations of the ruler and the state, using the food itself, as well as decor and entertainment.

The Este of Ferrara were forefront in using banquets to convince the dominant states that they were their equals in power and prestige. A book by their chief steward, Cristoforo di Messisbugo, describes these events in detail. For this study, one typical Este banquet was examined, referencing prior general analysis by historians of food, Renaissance art and the Este family. We can see that in addition to the sheer ostentatiousness of the event, the individual elements were chosen to carefully and subtly emphasise the Este’s strength, wealth and sophistication to their important guests.

This investigation into non-military methods of preserving sovereignty allows us to understand how the city-states’ independence was sustained during the politically unstable and fractious Renaissance. These techniques spread through Europe, aiding in the dissemination of Renaissance art and etiquette, and influenced more famous court culture such as that of Louis XIV of France.

Japan is known to the world as a developed country, and many tourists come to Japan from around the world. But inside Japan, while industry is growing, most of the lives of farmers are not good. Prefectures (that are far from cities like Tokyo and Osaka) of Japan are almost wholly dependent on agriculture. My town, Miyazaki, is one such example. In my study, I discuss the problems affecting such places and suggest how to solve them, using examples of Miyazaki. One problem is the population of farmers. Agricultural work is harder than an office job: In summer, farmers have to work under the in the blazing heat all day. However, the salary is the same or less than an office job. In addition, income from agriculture is uncertain. It is subject to the weather and the market. If a typhoon comes, the crops may die. If it is too hot or too cold, the crops may die. If people want a certain crop, other crops are not sold. As a result, people move to desk work. I think if farmers can know the needs of customers and change the shape of production to meet these needs, this would make a difference. The sixth industry connects productions and needs: Agriculture plus industry plus service. This system increases the efficiency of production as farmers can change their production to meet consumer needs cheaply. The wholesale market sells between farmers or factories and the retail market. Retailers buy produce from farmers or factories and sell this on to market. Thus wholesalers research what people want and sell it efficiently. Like the wholesaler, we should research the needs of the customer and change production to meet these needs.

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality and brand loyalty on the purchase intention of the Samsung Smartphone on college students in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Brawijaya Malang. The samples in this research are the people who have ever used a Samsung Smartphone. The sampling technique is a convenience sampling with 120 respondents. This study used Partial Linear Square (PLS) analysis technique to analyse the data. The result of this study revealed that the variables of brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, and brand loyalty provide good value to their product and had a significant effect, proven by the Partially Test. This research can be used to know the most dominant variable that influences the purchase intention. The variables that have significant value can be used as an advantages. From the results in this study, brand loyalty had a dominant effect to the purchase intention.

Keywords: Brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty and purchase intention

One of the biggest challenges the UK faces after the Brexit vote, is the foreign banks’ threat to leave the UK and move their bases to Frankfurt or Dublin. This could bring down job opportunities and economic growth, and involves a complex legal process. For example, HSBC and UBS have already announced that they want to pull out about 2000 jobs from London. By interviewing members of the legal department of foreign banks, this project intends to evaluate the number of job opportunities that would be lost.

The study also analyses the trade relationship and prospects of the bank with the UK after its relocation, the cost and legal procedures involved, and the financial loss to the UK and the banks. Although there is a chance that many foreign banks may not be willing to leave London, there is a big possibility that the lack of free trade with other EU nations would force them to move to another city.

At the end of this project, there will be more clarity about the reality of the impact of Brexit in the banking sector, thereby reducing speculation. There would also be suggestions of possible solutions to recover lost jobs, monetary loss and any strained relations with the rest of the EU. The project also aims to provide alternative options, such as the Canadian Style Trade deal to prevent the foreign banks from leaving the United Kingdom. This study would be a lucid source for further research in this area.

Risk preferences are a central element of decision-making under uncertainty. They influence what activities an individual decides to take part in, or how much money they invest or save. While classical economic theory assumes individuals to weigh potential wins and losses equally under

uncertainty, prospect theory proposes the notion of ‘loss aversion’, namely the case when potential losses play a more important role in the degree of risk aversion than potential gains. According to this theory, individuals might perceive identical situations as more risky than what is predicted by classical assumptions, and could, for example, refuse to make a beneficial investment.

This paper studies the effect of unexpected variations in income (for example, due to natural disaster or theft) on the risk preferences of cotton farmers in rural Pakistan. Using econometric analysis, it tests both whether income has an effect on risk preferences at all, and whether these preferences correspond to classical theory or to prospect theory. The degree of risk aversion is elicited through a questionnaire where farmers are asked to choose between different scenarios they might be willing to take part in (receiving an uncertain price when selling a product in the market or planting a new variety of cotton).

The results of this study are useful for guiding development policy that involves undertaking risk (microfinance loans, agricultural decisions, government subsidies), as well as in helping understand the preferences of a specific group: low-income individuals.