Joseph Gregory Yu 余尚賢
DPhil, MSc (Oxon), MA (St Andrews)

In the late stages of the Roman Republic (46 to 44 B.C.), the capital of Rome faced a significant challenge in maintaining food security, which refers to stable access to sufficient, safe, staple foods at affordable costs for its urban populations. Grain imports from different key regions, such as Sicily, Egypt, and North Africa was of vital importance to Rome. However, it had also exposed the weaknesses within their supply system known as Cura Annonae (management of food su

Between 1799 and 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte’s domestic policies fundamentally reshaped France, cementing the socioeconomic dominance of the bourgeoisie that the Revolution had initiated. Through sweeping legal, financial, and administrative reforms, which culminated in the Civil Code of 1804 (France & Spence 1824), Napoleon stabilized the French economy, protected private property, and created a meritocratic social hierarchy. Following decades of revolution and war, France in t

Between 1485 and 1570, Tudor England faced persistent unrest such as the Yorkshire Rising and Amicable Grant rebellion. Driven by political factionalism among elites, religious change, and socio-economic grievances, the unrests plagued all Tudor monarchs and mark a crucial transition to later conciliar power struggles. By evaluating the relative importance of factors in causing the initial outbreak and subsequently acting as catalysts for further unrests, this essay argues th

The global wave of decolonisation arrived in Kenya in 1963, when, after decades of violent conflict and long-term social-economic pressure, the former British colony finally achieved independence after over four decades of imperial rule. On the one hand, as argued by historians such as Elkins and Anderson, the Mau Mau rebellion (1952-60), started by the Kikuyu Tribe, could be seen as the primary catalyst for independence because it exposed the brutality and unsustainability o

It can be said that major sporting “mega events” now represent the different meanings and strategies of soft power (Al-Dosari, p.1). Soft power is a concept developed by Joseph Nye (1990, 2011), which refers to the ability of a state to influence others through attraction, culture and image rather than coercion or military force. He distinguishes between hard power (military and economic coercion), soft power (attraction and persuasion), and what he later calls “smart power”,

In evaluating Muslim women’s practices in religion, such as wearing veils and gender segregation, western feminists often see them as oppressive and passive in nature. As a result, rather than being understood as meaningful agents, Muslim women are often seen as victims of patriarchal domination. Nevertheless, this understanding omits women’s lived experiences and their own interpretation of devotion, piety and selfhood. Through the cases of women’s mosque movements in Cairo

Museums are important anthropological sites as they play a powerful role in shaping identity of people through constructing knowledge and representing materials culture. Especially in postcolonial contexts, the ways in which museums classify, describe and display objects can reinforce particular worldviews. Museum displays are therefore far from neutral; they are embedded in historical and political power relations. As western museums continue to decolonise, objects acquired

On 16th February 1918, led by Jonas Basanavičius, the Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence and declared independence. The First World War severely weakened the traditional European Empires: Germany was mired in economic recessions and low morale, Russia plagued with internal instability amid repeated military failures. However, their ill fate was good news to individual nations such as Lithuania, which were controlled within these vast, multiethnic empires. Enc

The Nazi occupation of Europe during World War II was far from Uniform. It reflected complex interactions between ideology and pragmatism. While all occupied territories were exploited for Germany’s war effort, the methods, rationale and intensity varied significantly between Western and Eastern Europe. Nazi occupation policy rested on two pillars, racial supremacy and territorial expansion. Through the cases of Poland and France, this essay investigates the dual logic of Naz

Witnessing two Cold Wars and Detente, the Berlin Wall, a symbol of Cold War division, fell on 9th November 1989 after East German authorities lost border control and were forced to allow mass crossings. The Wall was initially built in 1961, solidifying the separation of East and West Berlin into separate ideological and political entities. The fall of the Berlin Wall could be attributed to long term, structural issues of the German Democratic Republic (GDR/ East Germany), as

In politics, compliance and complicity are crucial concepts to evaluate accountability, ethical governance, and the enforcement of just laws. In this paper, I explore the question: when is compliance complicity? To better answer this question, I define compliance as the act of conforming to rules, standards, laws, or requirements set by a higher authority in politics (Leisering, 2024). Complicity, on the other hand, is the act of being involved with others in wrongdoing (Gill

Freedom is a concept as elusive as it is fundamental - a prism through which the human experience is endlessly refracted. Far from being a concept confined to the liberal democratic tradition, freedom can be interpreted through multiple lenses. The two dominant philosophical frameworks - positive and negative freedom - offer contrasting but complementary insights. While positive freedom, often manifested in rules and regulations, encompasses the conditions and capacities that

In an era of democratic anxiety and populist resurgence, the question of whether the "lettered" or "unlettered" best protects democracy has become newly urgent. David Hume, writing in the 18the century, famously praised the "wisdom of unlettered men" (1896: 611), suggesting that ordinary citizens - guided by lived experience and moral instinct - could show more political prudence than detached intellectual elites. Yet, in the modern world, distrust of both expertise and emoti

Democracy is about guiding policies with the opinion of the majority of the population. It can be concluded as methods that let the people themselves decide issues through election of individuals who are capable to carry out the will of the people (Schumpeter 1943: 250). However, there can be instances where the power of the majority leads to negative outcomes, thus consituting what can be termed as 'too much', or excessive democracy. The discussion is particularly relevcant

Diversity has become one of the defining concepts of our time, widely embraced in corporate boardrooms, university campuses, and political rhetoric. From multicultural festivals to diversity and inclusion training in workplaces, the term seems both ubiquitous and broadly positive. Yet behind this enthusiastic celebration lies a more complex question: is diversity merely fashionable, or is it fundamentally valuable? This essay will explore what is meant by diversity, examine t

On 27 January 1967, the United States’ ambitious Apollo programme suffered its first and most devastating tragedy when a fire broke out inside the Apollo 1 command module during a routine ground test at Cape Kennedy, Florida. Astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee were killed within seconds. Although the mission never flew, the Apollo 1 disaster became a defining moment in the history of space exploration, exposing systemic weaknesses within NASA and

92 years ago today, on 26 January 1934, Europe witnessed a diplomatic event that startled chancelleries from London to Moscow. Germany and Poland, long cast as hereditary enemies, signed a Non-Aggression Pact pledging ten years of peace. For a continent conditioned by border disputes and ideological rancor, this was, as one observer quipped, “an invitation to the waltz” no one expected. Yet the dance was real, and its choreography reveals much about the fragility of interwar

It has been eighty years since the Nuremberg trials opened in November 1945, the first international tribunal to prosecute state leaders for aggressive war crimes, and crimes against humanity. At the time, Chief Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson declared that “civilization cannot tolerate [these crimes] being ignored because it cannot survive their being repeated” (Jackson, 1945/ 2019 §2). The proceedings could thus be seen as a moment of moral renewal rather than vengeance. Yet,

This study examines the impact of Quizlet flashcards on knowledge retention & retrieval practices among underperforming Yr10 history student

Recently, political polarization has emerged as a defining characteristic of democratic societies. This article reviews relevant literature.