What do a Nairobi courtroom, a Washington server rack, and a Malabo cabinet room have in common? In each, the body meant to check power still needed that power’s permission to act. This issue unpacks July’s judicial boycotts, the abrupt suspension of Anthropic’s newest AI models, and a president grading his own ministers, asking one question: who’s really holding the pen? Read more in this month’s Paradigm Shift!