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Abstract
According to a popular theory, the Hōjō family of Odawara were hopelessly old-fashioned in their approach to firearms technology compared to their contemporaries in sixteenth century Japan. The third daimyo Hōjō Ujiyasu (1515–1571) has been singled out for particular criticism because he allegedly preferred to train his samurai by making them chase dogs, and as a result the Hōjō found themselves "staring down the barrel" when Toyotomi Hideyoshi advanced upon them in 1590. This article argues that this negative impression derives from a well-established Hōjō principle of frugality that was exaggerated by later accounts in gunkimono ("war tales"), whose authors did not see firearms as suitable material for their heroic narratives. By contrast, more reliable primary sources—letters, written orders, troop muster lists and garrison inventories—demonstrate that the Hōjō were no laggards in the development and deployment of firearms. Instead an investigation of the Hōjō's embrace of the harquebus provides an excellent historical and technological case study. The finer details of their experience—as revealed by archaeological investigation and a unique eyewitness account of the effects of gunfire from a Hōjō fortress—also provide unique insights into the complex processes that were involved. Their defeat in 1590 was not due to being old-fashioned but to the application of military force on an overwhelming scale that none could have resisted.

This article traces one aspect of Britain's approach to the political economy of energy conservation. It focuses on the forecasting work of Royal Dutch Shell and the deliberations of the Heath government. In the late 1960s, the oil major Shell predicted that oil-producing states would impose an embargo on oil-consuming states. Energy conservation policies would be necessary. In tracing the reception of Shell's 'crisis' scenario and its proposed resolution, this article details how these ideas were received by Edward Heath's Conservative government, particularly its 'think-tank', the Central Policy Review Staff. In the short term, interventionist policies were proposed so as to demonstrate Britain's ability to operate without ever-increasing oil consumption, while in the long term the idea was that the energy-saving capacities of a freely-operating market could address the problem. The article recounts the confusion these proposed conservation policies provoked, and how the second idea gradually coalesced and ultimately outlasted the Heath government, providing one justification for the eventual privatisation of Britain's formerly nationalised energy industries.

This article is motivated by the CEO of the largest investor in the world wanting in 2018 "A new model for corporate governance" and that "companies must benefit all their stakeholders". Firms that benefit all their stakeholders become what Ostrom described in her 2009 Nobel Prize speech as a "Common Pool Resource". Ostrom identified how "polycentric governance" allowed competing interests, without markets or State, to self-govern life-sustaining resources without denying them for everyone. Key contributions of the article are to identify how: (a) To apply system science to extend and enhance the Ostrom self-governing design insights to corporate entities, (b) Polycentric governance releases and exploits the ability of individuals to possess contrary behaviour to self-regulation, improve risk management, adaption and innovation while enriching democracy denied in societies governed by hierarchies and markets, and (c) A self-funding tax incentive for shareholders to adopt polycentric governance that endows stakeholders with equity to privatise welfare with a universal taxable wellbeing income that funds the tax incentive. This promotes population reduction, less economic inequality and local ownership and control to counter environmental degradations and build sustainable circular bioregional economies for eternity. Polycentric governance is illustrated in sporting and civic organisations with business examples proving its competitiveness and resiliency. The size and costs of governments are reduced to further enrich democracy. Shareholder/stakeholder primacy is maintained for citizens electing politicians who introduce eternal universal benefits for humanity.

Election violence varies significantly within countries, yet how and why are undertheorized. Although existing scholarship has shown how national-level economic, institutional, and contextual factors increase a country's risk for violence during elections, these studies cannot explain why elites organize election violence in some localities but not others. An analysis of gubernatorial elections in Nigeria reveals the conditions under which elites recruit popular social-movement actors for pre-election violence. Gubernatorial elections are intensely competitive when agreements between governors and local ruling party elites over the distribution of state patronage break down. To oust their rivals and consolidate power, elites recruit popular reformist groups for pre-election violence and voter mobilization. Conversely, when local ruling-party elites are aligned over how state patronage is to be distributed, the election outcome is agreed to well in advance. In this scenario, there is little incentive to enlist social movement actors for violence. Case studies of the Ijaw Youth Council and Boko Haram provide empirical support for the argument. The theory and evidence help explain subnational variation in election violence as well as the relationship between intraparty politics and violence during elections, and speak to broader questions about political order and violence.

Few species are as central to Norwegian society and culture as the potato and the Atlantic salmon. Yet these industries face considerable threats to production by pests, namely potato late blight (Phytophthora infestans) and sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis). Current pest-control strategies, such as the use of fungicides and mechanical delousing methods, endanger the sectors' sustainability. Breeding for increased host resistance against these pests offers a strong preventative strategy to ensure future potato and Atlantic salmon production, in a sustainable way. Nevertheless, traditional breeding methods and GMO technology do not offer durable solutions for improved resistance. New breeding technologies like genome editing using CRISPR/Cas9 offer a unique, rapid solution to introduce much-needed resistance in these species. CRISPR technology revolutionises how we can target specific genes to strengthen host resistance. In potato, we explored how CRISPR may improve resistance by introducing race-specific (qualitative) and non-race-specific (quantitative) genes as well as by knocking out susceptibility genes. We further investigated how CRISPR may enable pyramiding of resistance and susceptibility genes to achieve durability against P. infestans. Research in Atlantic salmon shows that sea lice resistance can be explained by genetics but that it is a highly polygenic trait, with many genes having minor effects. CRISPR can be deployed as a way to study gene function to identify the causative DNA sequences underlying sea lice resistance. Once discovered, CRISPR can be used to promote certain alleles having the largest effects on resistance (PAGE method), or by harnessing genetic biodiversity from a closely related species (introgression-by-editing), or even by introducing small, novel insertions or mutations in the target genes. We found, however, that if the aim is to release an organism for cultivation and consumption, the type of changes to the DNA determines how that organism will navigate the legal framework. The Gene Technology Act determines that organisms edited using CRISPR are defined as GMO and must undergo the appropriate assessments for deliberate release. Part of that assessment investigates the organism's contribution to sustainability, a criterion maintained in the Norwegian Biotechnology Advisory Board's proposal for a tiered regulatory system. A potato demonstrating strong partial to complete resistance against late blight, with minor changes to its DNA might significantly reduce, possibly even eliminate, fungicide use, thereby providing food that positively impacts environmental health and sustainability. Farming of Atlantic salmon with improved resistance not only improves fish welfare and possibly the necessity for delousing, but it may also reduce the concentrating effect of infestations at farm sites and the resultant impacts on wild salmon populations. This thesis shows that with less risky genome edits, done with a sustainable purpose may pave the way for release approval under the Gene Technology Act, securing sustainable food production in Norway. We cannot, however, disrupt the status quo unless policymakers and regulators can strike a fine balance between regulating the risk and fostering technological innovation. ; Få arter er like sentrale i det norske samfunnets matvaner som potet og laks. Samtidig står produksjonen av disse matvarene overfor betydelige trusler fra sykdommer og skadedyr, henholdsvis potettørråte (Phytophthora infestans) og lakselus (Lepeophtheirus salmonis). Bekjempelsesstrategier, som bruk av soppdrepende midler og mekaniske avlusingsmetoder, setter søkelys på bærekraften i produksjonen. Avl for økt resistens mot disse skadegjørerne er nødvendig i en forebyggende strategi for å sikre fremtidig bærekraftig potet- og lakseproduksjon. Tradisjonelle avlsmetoder og GMO-teknologi gir ikke nødvendigvis umiddelbare løsninger for forbedret resistens. Nye avlsteknologier slik som genomredigering ved bruk av CRISPR/Cas9 kan tilby raskere løsninger for å introdusere resistens mot skadedyr hos disse artene. CRISPR-teknologi revolusjonerer hvordan vi kan målrette spesifikke gener for å styrke resistens mot skadegjørere. For potet har vi sett på mulighetene for hvordan CRISPR kan øke resistensen mot tørråte ved å introdusere sorts-spesifikke (kvalitative) og ikke-sorts-spesifikke (kvantitative) gener, samt ved å slå ut mottakelighetsgener som bidrar til økt angrep. Videre har vi sett på hvordan CRISPR kan muliggjøre 'pyramidisering' av resistens- og mottakelighetsgener, slik at resistensen kan vare lenge og virke mot flere raser av soppen P. infestans. Forskning på atlantisk laks viser at luseresistens kan forklares med genetikk, men at det er en svært polygenisk egenskap, med mange gener som hver har mindre effekt. CRISPR kan brukes for å studere genfunksjon og for å identifisere de underliggende DNA-sekvensene som kan gi resistens mot lakselus. Hvis slike gener oppdages, kan dette brukes til å fremme spesifikke alleler med påvist størst effekt på resistens (PAGE-metoden), eller ved å utnytte genetisk biologisk mangfold fra en nært beslektet art (introgresjon ved redigering), eller til og med ved å introdusere små, nye geninnsettinger eller mutasjoner. Hvis målet er utsetting for produksjon, bestemmer typen endringer i DNA hvordan organismen vil kunne navigere i det juridiske rammeverket. Genteknologiloven av 1993, som er underlagt EØS-avtalen, innebærer at organismer redigert ved bruk av CRISPR er definert som GMO og dermed blir de gjenstand for de samme vurderingene og godkjenning for utsetting for vi har i dag ved konvensjonell GMO. Neste del av vurderingene i denne oppgaven er å diskutere organismenes mulige bidrag til bærekraft, et kriterium som er opprettholdt i Bioteknologirådets forslag til revisjon av Genteknologiloven som innebærer et trinnvis reguleringssystem, med ulik grad av risikovurdering i konsekvensutredningen. En potet som viser sterk til fullstendig resistens mot tørråte, med få endringer i DNA, kan redusere og muligens til og med eliminere, bruken av soppdrepende midler, som i dagens landbruk står for halvparten av all bruk av soppmidler i Norge. Den vil derved bidra til mat med en positiv innvirkning på miljø, helse, og bærekraft. Oppdrett av laks med økt luseresistens forbedrer fiskevelferden og sannsynligvis redusere antall avlusinger. Den vil også kunne redusere konsentrasjonseffekten av luseangrep på oppdrettslokaliteter og dermed redusere luseangrep på villaksbestandene. Denne masteroppgaven diskuterer hvorvidt mindre risikable genom-redigeringer som utføres med formål om bærekraftig matproduksjon i Norge, kan eller bør bli godkjent for utsetting i henhold til genteknologiloven. Diskusjonen spiller inn til den politiske og forvaltningsmessige debatten om balansen mellom å regulere risiko for helse og miljø og å fremme teknologisk innovasjon. ; Greenlight project funded by the Research Council of Norway (project number 294796) ; M-PV