By Cecilia Jacob | Cecilia.Jacob and

Mujeeb Kanth |

Hate speech and incitement have been instrumental in atrocity crimes that have occurred in India, even prior to its independence. These atrocities include targeted killings of minorities based on religious and ethnic identity, and demonstrate persistent features of systematic, orchestrated violence that is fuelled by a Hindu nationalist ideology. This ideology is routinely promulgated at the highest levels of political leadership. This article traces both the historical and institutional character of hate speech and incitement in India to understand its repeated manifestation over time. Through case studies of recent violence, it considers the implications of new legal developments, technology and the covid-19 pandemic on the character and dynamic of hate speech, incitement and atrocity violence in India. It considers key reforms and areas for accountability on which the international community could engage the government and civil society in India on the issue of hate speech and incitement to promote atrocity prevention at the domestic level.

Global Responsibility to Protect 15 (2023) 209–245

By David Spencer

In this policy note we outline the origins of Non-Crime Hate Incidents (NCHIs), the approach by police forces to recording them and their threefold impact: (1) distracting police officers from focusing on what should be the core mission of policing to fight crime, (2) curtailing the employment prospects of individual members of the public through inappropriate disclosures of NCHIs, and (3) having a broader chilling effect on freedom of expression in our society. The origins of NCHIs can be found in the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, published in 1999, which recommended that the police formally log “racist incidents” that did not reach the threshold of being a criminal offence. Subsequently expanded to cover other types of incident, NCHIs were entrenched in policing practice through the College of Policing’s 2014 ‘Hate Crime Operational Guidance’. As a result of a successful legal challenge in 2021, R (on the application of Miller) v College of Policing, the previous Government exercised its statutory power to introduce a new Code of Practice for the recording of NCHIs in June 2023. Until this point NCHIs had no formal basis in legislation whatsoever. The Code of Practice, issued pursuant section 60 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, defines Non-Crime Hate Incidents (NCHIs) as: “an incident or alleged incident which involves or is alleged to involve an act by a person (‘the subject’) which is perceived by a person other than the subject to be motivated - wholly or partly - by hostility or prejudice towards persons with a particular characteristic.” This paper demonstrates that the protections which Parliament and the previous Government attempted to introduce through this Code of Practice have been largely ineffective. A recent Inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) shows that police forces have been willing entirely to ignore – and in fact to act contrary to – the Code of Practice. Out of 120 case files examined by HMICFRS sixteen NCHIs and fourteen hate crimes had been incorrectly recorded by police forces – an error rate of 25%. Of the 120 cases that HMICFRS reviewed, police had incorrectly recorded seven incidents on school premises. That police forces are failing to get it right is no surprise – their track record in this domain has been poor. In 2021, Merseyside Police were rightly criticised for producing a false and misleading advertising campaign which contained the slogan “BEING OFFENSIVE IS AN OFFENCE” – revealing that the officers involved were entirely wrong in their understanding of the law. A senior officer in the force subsequently withdrew the campaign and attempted to shift the blame onto the “local policing team on the Wirral”. Police forces continue to be highly opaque in their approach to NCHIs – producing little clarity over their policies or data relating to the recording of NCHIs. What data does exist shows that there is very wide variation in rates of reporting between police forces. Essex Police, records NCHIs at a rate of 21.5 NCHIs per 100 officers per annum in 2023 – a rate three times that of the Met, four times that of Greater Manchester and ten times that of West Yorkshire. The number of NCHIs recorded per 100 officers per annum is 7.2 in the Metropolitan Police, 5.72 in Greater Manchester Police and 2.4 in West Yorkshire Police. This compares to an estimated national rate in the 12 months to June 2024 of 8.9 NCHIs recorded per 100 officers. The distraction of police officers from other, more important activities is of grave concern to great swathes of the public – particularly given NCHIs do not involve allegations of criminality. In many cases Police and Crime Commissioners have been insufficiently robust in ensuring that forces have been focused on the fight against crime. In doing so it appears that PCCs are demonstrating an undue regard for an expansive understanding of police chiefs’ ‘operational independence’ – something the public will not thank them for. (continued)

London: Policy Exchange, 2024. 38p.

The Emotions of LGBT Rights and Reforms:

Repairing Law

By Senthorun Sunil Raj

Emotions are central to the pursuit, organisation, and contestation of LGBT rights in law. The Emotions of LGBT Rights and Reforms: Repairing Law analyses emotions that shape conflicts of rights that emerge between different minoritised groups across law reforms directed at better supporting LGBT people. This book examines law reform debates about religious exceptions to anti-discrimination laws, legal recognition of trans people, bans on “conversion therapy,” and sex and LGBT education in schools from jurisdictions like the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. Drawing from socio-legal theories, this book develops the concept of “emotional grammar” to show how emotions structure law reform pursuits (by threading Hansard, legislation, case law, law reform consultations, statutory guidance) and explains why addressing this emotional grammar is important for scholars, lawyers, judges, legislators, and activists seeking to navigate conflicts over LGBT rights and reforms that aim to repair the inequalities faced by LGBT people.

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2025.

Edited by Tony Roberts and Tanja Bosch

Since the so-called Arab Spring, citizens of African countries have continued to use digital tools in creative ways to ensure that marginalised voices are heard, and to demand for the rights they are entitled to in law: to freely associate, to form opinions, and to express them online without fear of violence or arrest. The authors of this compelling open access volume have brought to life this dramatic struggle for the digital realm between citizens and governments; documenting in vivid detail how citizens are using mobile and internet tools in powerful viral global campaigns to hold governments accountable and force policy change. With contributions from scholars across the continent, Digital Citizenship in Africa illustrates how citizens have been using VPNs, encryption, and privacy-protecting browsers to resist limits on their rights to privacy and political speech. This book dramatically expands our understanding of the vast and growing arsenal of tech tools, tactics, and techniques now being deployed by repressive governments to limit the ability of citizens to safely and openly express opposition to government and corporate actions. AI-enabled surveillance, covertly deployed disinformation, and internet shutdowns are documented in ten countries, concluding with recommendations on how to curb government and corporate power, and how to re-invigorate digital citizenship across Africa. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

London: Zed Books, 2023. 256p.

By H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells’s A Short History of the World is a sweeping and ambitious narrative that compresses the entire story of humanity into a single, accessible volume. Written in clear, engaging prose, Wells aimed to make the great arc of world history comprehensible to a general audience, without requiring specialized knowledge.

The book opens with the origins of the Earth, tracing the formation of the planet and the earliest appearance of life, before moving to the evolution of humankind. Wells then explores the emergence of civilizations across Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China, carefully weaving together political, religious, and cultural developments into a unified story. His coverage spans the ancient empires, classical Greece and Rome, the rise of Christianity and Islam, the medieval period, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment.

In the later chapters, Wells addresses the industrial age, scientific discoveries, and the sweeping social and political transformations of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Writing just after the First World War, he gives particular attention to the global impact of modern warfare and the urgent need for new international structures to avoid future catastrophe.

Unlike a traditional textbook, Wells’s work reflects his perspective as both a novelist and a futurist. He is concerned not only with recounting events but also with tracing the moral and intellectual progress of humankind. His narrative frequently comments on human unity, the dangers of nationalism, and the promise of scientific and social cooperation.

A Short History of the World became one of Wells’s most widely read nonfiction works and remains notable as an early 20th-century attempt at a "world history for everyone," blending science, history, and philosophy. Though some interpretations and factual details have since been superseded by later scholarship, the book stands as a landmark in popular historical writing.

Read-Me.Org Inc. New York-Philadelphia-Australia. 2025. 354p..

By Prof. Uichol Kim, Ph.D

Recent researches indicate that naional and personal wealth and happiness are not always posiively correlated. It is true that people who are rich and who live in economically developed naions (e.g., Finland, France, and Singapore) reported being happy, and people who are living in relaively poor countries reported being unhappy (e.g., Cambodia, Kenya, and Poland). However, many people in economically developed naions reported being relaively unhappy (e.g., Japan, Norway, and United States) and people who live in poor countries reported being happy (e.g., Bhutan, China, and Indonesia). These results indicate inancial resources may be necessary for happiness but are not suicient to make people happy, healthy and have a high quality of life.

UDAYANA UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2011, 468p.

By Zorica Kuburić, Ljiljana Ćumura, Ana Zotova

Када кажемо (некад љутито) детету: „Смири се већ једном, буди миран!“ - шта хожемо да кажемо? Кажемо и себи и детету оно што је немогуће. Мира нема, нити ће га бити јер га нема најпре у човеку, а онда и у људском друштву. А мир нам је ипак неопходан. Опет велим, нигде нема мира. Крећу се непрекидно атоми, ћели- је, неурони у људском мозгу, галаксије у космосу. Живот је вечити не- мир, али какав? Деструктиван и/или конструктиван? Бог такође не мирује, Он стално ствара, значи да је у сталном покрету, видљивом и невидљивом. Па ипак се у Библији каже да је је- дан дан у току стварања Бог наменио и себи и нама – миран дан, дан одмора. Сва жива бића једном се уморе, траже тај један дан у недељи – за предах, за сакупљање нове енергије, за нови немир.

204p.

Edited by Stefanie Ullmann and Marcus Tomalin

This volume looks at the forms and functions of counterspeech as well as what determines its effectiveness and success from multidisciplinary perspectives. Counterspeech is in line with international human rights and freedom of speech, and it can be a much more powerful tool against dangerous and toxic speech than blocking and censorship. In the face of online hate speech and disinformation, counterspeech is a tremendously important and timely topic. The book uniquely brings together expertise from a variety of disciplines. It explores linguistic, ethical and legal aspects of counterspeech, looks at the functions and effectiveness of counterspeech from anthropological, practical and sociological perspectives and addresses the question of how we can use modern technological advances to make counterspeech a more instantaneous and efficient option to respond to harmful language online. The greatest benefit of counterspeech lies in the ability to reach bystanders and prevent them from becoming perpetrators themselves. This volume is an excellent opportunity to spread the word about counterspeech, its potential, importance, and future endeavors. This anthology is a great resource for scholars and students of linguistics, philosophy of language, media and communication studies, digital humanities, natural language processing, international human rights law, anthropology and sociology, and interdisciplinary research methods. It is also a valuable source of information for practitioners and anyone who wants to speak up against harmful speech.

Oxford; New York: Routledge, 2023. 225p.

Edited by Nelson Ribeiro and Barbie Zelizer

A critical and timely collection that argues for the centrality of propaganda in discussions about the contemporary media landscape and its informational ecosystems. This book explores how “propaganda,” a foundational concept within media and communication studies, has recently been replaced by alternative terms (disinformation, misinformation, and fake news) that fail to capture the continuities and disruptions of ongoing strategic attempts to (mis)guide public opinion. Edited by Nelson Ribeiro and Barbie Zelizer, the collection highlights how these concepts must be understood as part of a long legacy of propaganda and not just as new phenomena that have emerged in the context of the digital media environment. Chapters explore the strategies and effects of propaganda through a variety of globally diverse case studies, featuring both democracies and autocratic regimes, and highlight how only by understanding propagandistic forms and strategies can we fully begin to understand how public opinion is being molded today by those who resort to deception and falsehood to gain or keep hold of power. An important resource for students and scholars of media and communication studies and those who are studying and/or researching media and propaganda, media and power, disinformation, fake news, and political communication.

Oxford, UK: New York: Routledge, 2025. 214p.

By Carmine Conte

Migration Policy Group (MPG) has released a groundbreaking report that exposes the pervasive, yet often overlooked, forms of racism embedded within the structures of society across eight EU member states: Czechia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and Sweden. This research was conducted thanks to the Robert Bosch Stiftung’s support. The report reveals how structural and institutional racism systematically disadvantages specific communities, operating within social, economic, and political institutions.

Unlike overt acts of racial violence, structural racism is entrenched in sectors like housing, education, healthcare, employment, policing, and justice. It manifests through seemingly neutral policies and practices that disproportionately impact racial and ethnic groups, perpetuating inequality and marginalisation.

“Addressing structural and institutional racism is crucial for creating a more just and equitable society,” said Isabelle Chopin, Director of MPG. “This requires concerted efforts at both national and European levels to dismantle the systems that sustain racial inequality.”

MPG, a leading advocate for racial equality since the 1990s, has significantly influenced European policy, including the adoption of the Racial and Employment Equality Directives in 2000. The organisation has also provided extensive training and published significant research on racial discrimination.

The new report, part of a broader project led by MPG, offers a comparative analysis of structural racism in the eight examined countries. Despite the absence of explicit legal definitions, EU law mandates protection against racial discrimination. However, many national legal frameworks adopt a “colour-blind” approach, complicating efforts to address systemic issues.

The report highlights how structural racism disproportionately affects Roma, Black people, Muslims, and, in Sweden, the Sámi population. It also underscores challenges such as racial profiling, excessive use of force by law enforcement, and the underreporting of racism against Asians and antisemitism.

Structural racism is particularly evident in the justice system, healthcare, education, employment, and housing, with far-reaching impacts on the lives of racialised groups. The report also points to more subtle forms of racism, including online hate speech, prejudice, and denial of access to services.

While the EU’s Anti-racism Action Plan 2020-2025 acknowledges structural racism, the report notes that most countries still view racism as isolated incidents rather than a systemic problem.

MPG calls for urgent action at both national and European levels to dismantle the structures that perpetuate racial inequality and to empower historically marginalised communities.

Brussels: Migration Policy Group, 2024. 103p.

By Robert A. Pape

Many urgent questions face college campuses in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza, which kicked-off numerous student-led pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protests, intimidation, and violence. In response, the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago (CPOST) conducted a study of the national campus environment. Based on two national surveys of 5,000 college students from over 600 four-year academic institutions, with an additional 5,000 American adults as a comparison set, which were fielded from mid-December 2023 to mid-January 2024, and with the benefit of a previous baseline survey of 8,000 American adults fielded in Spring of 2023, this study provides the most extensive survey evidence today about the extent of campus fears and changes in antisemitism after October 7. This study is also among the few efforts to disentangle different meanings of antisemitism and compare antisemitism and Islamophobia among respondents.

The overarching finding is that campus fears related to the current Israel-Palestinian conflict are more intense among certain groups and widespread across the student body than previously known. As a consequence of the conflict, numerous students are fearful because of their support of one side or the other:

56% of Jewish college students felt in personal danger

52% of Muslim college students felt in personal danger

16% of other college students felt in personal danger

This equates to 2 to 3 million college students.

The findings also show that Jewish and Muslim students report fearing for their physical safety, and other students fear being caught in the crossfire. Many are additionally concerned about academic discrimination and loss of professional opportunities.

Different perceptions of intent are likely contributing to these fears. 66% of Jewish college students understand the pro-Palestinian protest chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” to mean the expulsion and genocide of Israeli Jews, while only 14% of Muslim students understand the chant that way; of Jewish students who understand the phrase this way, 62% report feeling afraid. About 10% of college students would permit student groups to call for genocide against Jews, and 13% of college students say that when Jews are attacked, it is because they deserve it. When these same questions are asked about Muslims, we find the same percentages: 10% and 13%.

Campus fears are occurring in a national climate of increasing antisemitism: violent antisemitism has increased 13% nationally since Spring 2023, when CPOST conducted its previous probe of antisemitism.

The findings are concerning. College students of various backgrounds feel personally unsafe on college campuses, and there is a disturbing trend toward greater acceptance of violence, even calls for genocide, than befits the mission of the university to enable all students to flourish.

This study provides extensive information to help university and national leaders better understand and navigate the most intense challenges facing the higher education community and the country today.

In particular, the findings are an opportunity to re-center the national discussion around students and away from politics. The findings show strong support for calming actions, such as major public statements by university and national leaders that would condemn violence of any kind against any group of people. Every leader in a position of power, including protest organizers, should thus find ways to send the message, repeatedly and convincingly, that violence is never justified. They should also clarify policies on permissible political action on campus by students toward students and mechanisms and obligations to report and respond to incidents and inform campus communities about the different perceptions of intent associated with protest phrases that are encouraging campus fears. These steps will not solve everything, but reducing fears for some can have cascading calming effects for many.

Chicago: University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST) 2024. 446p.

By Polona Car, Beatrix Immenkamp

Differences between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) over the regulation of online platforms have taken on a new dimension under the Trump administration. Senior members of the US administration have strongly criticised the EU for 'limiting free speech' and have called the EU's content moderation law 'incompatible with America's free speech tradition'. Much of the debate is informed by misconceptions and misunderstandings. The differences between the US and EU hate speech regimes are striking, largely for historical reasons. The First Amendment to the US Constitution provides almost absolute protection to freedom of expression. By contrast, European and EU law curtails the right to freedom of expression. Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which applies to all EU Member States, states that freedom of expressions 'carries with it duties and responsibilities'. In a democratic society, restrictions may be imposed in the interest, among others, 'of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others'. EU legislation criminalises hate speech that publicly incites to violence or hatred and targets a set of protected characteristics: race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin. Even though legislation in EU Member States varies widely, many have extended protection from hate speech to additional characteristics. In light of the exponential growth of the internet and the use of social media, the debate about hate speech has essentially become about regulating social media companies. The focus has been on the question of whether and to what extent service providers are responsible for removing hate speech published on social media platforms. The US has opted not to impose any obligation on social media companies to remove content created by third parties, merely granting them the right to restrict access to certain material deemed to be 'obscene' or 'otherwise objectionable'. By contrast, the EU has adopted regulation that obliges companies to remove offensive content created by third parties, including hate speech, once it is brought to their attention. Social media companies also self-regulate, by adopting community guidelines that allow users to flag hate speech and ask for its removal.

Brussels: EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service, 2025. 10p.

Edited by Scherto Gill

Collective efforts to address the legacies of slavery and colonialism tend to orient solely towards dealing with material compensation, such as reducing economic disparity, and levelling access to public services. However, communities directly impacted by the dehumanizing legacies have insisted on a broader reckoning—one that recognizes all dimensions of the harms, including the spiritual injury and the relevant psychosocial trauma inflicted across the generations. They remind us that harms of structural injustice extend beyond the material, the physical and the psychological, also entangling the moral, relational, and spiritual fabric of human life. Understanding harms of inhumanity brings to light the layers of damage and is key to identifying interdisciplinary approaches to collective healing, social transformation and the well-being of all.

This book emerges from the ongoing intellectual dialogue as part of the UNESCO Collective Healing Initiative. The Initiative focuses on healing the wounds of inhumanity, co-creating just societies and enhancing the flourishing of current and future generations.

Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2025, 530p.

Larry Diamond, Edward B. Foley, and Richard H. Pildes, editors

In the midst of the political ugliness that has become part of our everyday reality, are there steps that can be taken to counter polarization and extremism—practical steps that are acceptable across the political spectrum? To answer that question, starting from the premise that the way our political processes are designed inevitably creates incentives for certain styles of politics and candidates, the Task Force on American Electoral Reform spent two years exploring alternative ideas for reforming key aspects of the US electoral process. The results of their work are presented in this essential book.

Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2025. 347p.

By Joshua Burraway

What does it mean to exist outside the normative temporality of life, of housed living, and, ultimately, of selfhood? Becoming Somebody Else takes up this question, offering a window into the fragmented and chaotic lives of people experiencing homelessness in urban London as they drink and drug themselves into blackout in post-austerity Britain. A state of being where time, body, agency, and self collapse into a memoryless abyss, the blackout is a prism into how human beings make and unmake their selfhood in the wake of social suffering and personal trauma. Attending to the words and histories of several individuals, Joshua Burraway knits together structural, psychological, and phenomenological approaches to understand the ways in which memory, agency, and selfhood are sites of struggle and belonging, and in doing so, suggests new ways of thinking about addiction, homelessness, and therapeutic possibility.

Chicago: HAU Books, 2025. 329p.

By Philip Hans Franses

The econometric analysis of economic and business time series is a major field of research and application. The last few decades have witnessed an increasing interest in both theoretical and empirical developments in constructing time series models and in their important application in forecasting. In Time Series Models for Business and Economic Forecasting, Philip Franses examines recent developments in time series analysis. The early parts of the book focus on the typical features of time series data in business and economics. Part III is concerned with the discussion of some important concepts in time series analysis, the discussion focuses on the techniques which can be readily applied in practice. Parts IV-VIII suggest different modeling methods and model structures. Part IX extends the concepts in chapter three to multivariate time series. Part X examines common aspects across time series.

Cambridge University Press, Oct 15, 1998, 280 pages

By Michael Banton

On the fourteenth of August 1862, Abraham Lincoln summoned to the White House a group of black Americans to explain to them his despair about the future of black people in the United States and his interest in schemes for sending them back to Africa. He began: ’You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence.”

Avalon Publishing, 1978, 194 pages

By Christian Gourieroux, Alain Monfort

In this book Christian Gourieroux and Alain Monfort provide an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of modern time series econometrics. They have succeeded in synthesising in an organised and integrated way a broad and diverse literature. While the book does not assume a deep knowledge of economics, one of its most attractive features is the close attention it pays to economic models and phenomena throughout. The coverage represents a major reference tool for graduate students, researchers and applied economists. The book is divided into four sections. Section one gives a detailed treatment of classical seasonal adjustment or smoothing methods. Section two provides a thorough coverage of various mathematical tools. Section three is the heart of the book, and is devoted to a range of important topics including causality, exogeneity shocks, multipliers, cointegration and fractionally integrated models. The final section describes the main contribution of filtering and smoothing theory to time series econometric problems.

Cambridge University Press, 1997, 668 pages

By Guy Rundle

Known for his wild wit and irreverent commentary, Guy Rundle is one of Australia's most virtuosic minds. Practice distils his best writing on politics, culture, class and more. In it, Rundle roves the campaign trails of Obama, Palin and Trump; rides the Amtrak around a desolate America; bails up Bob Katter and Pauline Hanson; and excavates the deeper meanings of True Detective and Joy Division. Insightful and hilarious, Practice reveals Rundle as among Australia's sharpest and most entertaining minds, with a genuinely awe-inducing range and an utterly inimitable voice. There is only one Guy Rundle.

Black Incorporated, 2019, 369 pages

By Arnold A. Rogow and Harold D. Lasswell

When Lord Acton observed without qualification that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely/’ he found words for one of the deepest convictions of modem liberals and democrats. Based on broad and unstated sentiments, the Acton aphorism instantly took on something of the quality of a law or of a fundamental axiom of mathematics. Everywhere there was a feeling that in the mechanics of achieving power men and institutions acquired some malignancy and the greater the power the greater the degree of malignancy. “Power . . . corrupts . . seemed to be the trickle of truth brilliantly squeezed out of a mountain of agreement, sentiment, and experience. Tire aphorism was immediately incorporated into the doctrinal exercises of the professional philosophers of democratic and liberal outlook. But it went much further. It appealed to the common sense of the citizen at large and became a mandatory article of faith in the public declarations of men of democratic action.

prentice-hall, INC. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1963, 141p.