In: Giovanni Aguilar , I 2018 , ' Peace Education in Colombia : A Social Constructionist Perspective ' , Doctor of Philosophy , Tilburg University , S.I. .
The signature of the Peace Agreement in Colombia poses great challenges for the post-conflict policies. One of them concerns the role of the education, especially peace education since it is critical to help future to transform social practices that sustain a culture of violence. Thus, this dissertation proposes a framework for developing peace education programs in contexts of non-formal education, from a constructionist orientation. The idea of developing peace education programs in contexts of non-formal adult education, emerges from fact that peace education in Colombia has been considered for conventional levels of education (public and private schools, college and universities), since they are commonly assumed as the only institutions that can formally achieve the mission of peace education as it has the authority, the means and the conditions to carry out this task. Although this is true, in a country like Colombia with a diversity of populations, territories, traditions and contexts, as well as the impossibility of many people to access the traditional educational system due to the armed conflict, it´s important to broaden the traditional notion of peace education and include actors that are different in age, life histories and cultural horizons. The orientation of this work was constructionism since it emphasizes the importance of a curriculum that comes out of the concrete experience and interests of people in communities, where the objective of peace education has to, in a contextualized way, respond to the relational needs of the population with which we intend to work. This way of conceiving peace education has many implications. The first one is that the focus is no longer on the content or on the curricula, itself, but on the relational process of learning. This implies that the content and process of peace education are mutually determined by the whole community and unfolds as they interact with each other; they are not determined by a linear pre-structured curriculum that determines how the classes should be. Likewise, the expertise of the teacher resides in the generation of a space for collaborative and dialogic conversations more than in the development or transmission of content. Another consequence is that the main concern is on how we build relations in the classroom and how we are accountable to each other. In this sense, relational learning is considered as the core and the keystone of peace education. I should point out that, when I refer to relational learning, I mean a way of conceiving education such that all those involved create and contribute in the construction of a safe and collaborative learning environment. According to the above, the general objective of this research was to develop a proposal of education for peace from a constructionist stance in non-formal contexts of education in Colombia. The specific Objectives were: 1) Describe the pedagogical practices used in the experiences that were developed. 2) Identify the most meaningful practices for the participants. 3) Establish the most relevant learnings of the students and identify differences and similarities between the experiences carried out. 4) To formulate criteria for the construction of programs of education for peace from a constructionist perspective, in non-formal contexts of education. This process was carried out in two different contexts, in a training center of the National Police of Colombia and in the ACR. The ACR is an institution attached to the Presidency of the Republic that is in charge of the process of reintegration. This process covers all Colombians who have been active agents of armed groups such as, FARC-EP, M 19, ELN, EPL or AUC. In this transit from illegality to legality, the ACR seeks to guarantee mechanisms and programs that provide protection from the government and that ensure a return to legality and the social and economic reincorporation of people. The methodology of this work was a systematization of experiences, which is a modality of knowledge production that emerges from popular education, which is part of Latin American critical thinking and critical research. In qualitative research, systematization is understood as a process of recovery and appropriation of a particular educational practice. This methodology offers theoretical-practical components that allow individuals to understand and explain contexts, sense, logics and problem aspects that the experience presents. The analysis of information was performed by using a categorical analysis and organization of the experiences from qualitative data. The analysis designed taking into account three categories that were: 1. Significant learnings; 2. Aspects to be improved; and 3. Best practices. They were defined as follows: 1.Significant learnings: Refers to different orders of learning (personal, theoretical, contextual) that participants identified as meaningful about the pedagogical experience. 2.Aspects to be improved: Refers to those aspects of the pedagogical experience that can be improved in future scenarios. 3.Best practices: This refers to the information obtained from different inputs where students could give an account of the practices used that were more important for them during the process. From the analysis of the systematization, I design a framework for developing peace education programs from a constructionist orientation. This framework consists of three phases: The first involves the construction of a relational context, this means, the interactive activities and processes between students and teacher that foster the coordination of multiple local realities and that foster a collaborative environment for learning. The second phase focuses in the development of a dialogical space in the form of seminar-workshops, which seeks to build a collaborative process with students, to address theoretical contents that operate in parallel with practical activities. This dialogical design seeks that those who participate ask themselves about their life histories, how they lived the Colombian armed conflict, how they want to transform in their daily lives the cycles of violence and finally, how they want to contribute to the construction of a culture of peace. This methodology adopts a modality of practical and reflective work that encourages activities, were students could generate and explore multiple descriptions and perspectives of the armed conflict, and where they could place their convictions into question, listen to alternative framings and co-create new understandings. The third phase is design to reflect on the learning achieved during the process and to think about the emerging possibilities that can be created and amplified, in the development of the construction of a vision for the future that transforms a culture of violence. Conclusions One of the greatest learnings and challenges of this work (both mine as a researcher and of my students) was the incorporation of the notion of multiple perspectives in the pedagogic space. This idea encouraged us to think that there isn't a uniform world but a multiform one in which multiple meanings converge and demand a dialogical position. Therefore, the most important focus of this work was centered on how to generate pedagogical spaces that allowed us to listen to each other, negotiate meanings, reflect and discuss without imposing a reality as absolute. Another lesson learned along this dissertation is to understand context reading as one of the skills of peace educators. This ability of context reading lies in connecting with the group, with the students and the actions taken, perceiving how these actions are received and what effects the intervention have on them. From the experience of this work, I also understood that to conceive peace education in a constructionist perspective, implies the reflection of the ways in which a multiplicity of traditions, conceptions of violence, armed conflict, and peace, coexist in the classroom. In this sense, the existence of diverse social groups, ages, political backgrounds, professions, involves at the same time a diversity of moral conceptions, of ways of being located in the world, of solving questions. In turn, this posture requires from us to be open to dialogue and conversation with the other. This situates us, as practitioners, within a relational ethic where attentiveness to the process of relating is centered, rather than adherence to some abstract, decontextualized set of principles. Dialogue, as an ethic of relationally sensitive practice, respects the diversity of locally situated beliefs and values. To this extent today I comprehend that peace, as a social construction, is a daily process that is contextually anchored and relationally performed. Today, more than ever, I know that as educators, we must assume a performative, open, dialogical and collaborative attitude. We have to listen more and talk more because only in this way we will be able to perform coordinated action. Thus peace education, as a form of coordinating actions, should invite us to achieve conversations in which we experience an openness that allows us to recognize ourselves without fear, with empathy and deep listening. I also found that peace education can be directed in three senses: First, in giving priority to the relation, since relationships come before knowledge, contents and information. Only from the relational space it is possible to enhance the resources of students so as to expand the narrative borders of the conflict description, not only from the deficit but also from the always-possible alternatives of consolidating new learning. Secondly in the sense of changing the one-way communication in education where the voice of the teacher is privileged and the student's voice is undermined. To do so, allowing students to participate in decisions that are made inside the classroom is crucial. Third, in the sense of changing the inclination of Knowing, so common in the history of education, and open the way to the notion of co-constructing alternative spaces of formal and non-formal education. In this regard to generate pedagogical innovations we must be curious and connected to what is happening in the classroom as much as being very sensitive to the feedback of the students. Challenges in peace education In the elaboration of this work I found different aspects that more than difficulties I consider them as challenges for the people who work in this field. The first one refers to the dialogue that as educators we must embrace with different institutions (whether public, private or governmental), which leads us to ask ourselves, what demands are present in the institutional discourses? and, how do we understand the needs and interests of participants and institutions to which they belong. The second challenge refers to the limits of the educational or pedagogical space and the psychosocial one. In doing this work one of the difficulties with which I found myself was how in contexts of sociopolitical violence there are some topics and moments that touch delicate experiences of people. This lead us the following questions: What is the role of the teacher in peace education: people expect to be heard and valued and that they can "vent"; but, is it enough? what objectives should be addressed by a teacher working from a constructionist perspective: to carry out therapeutic activities or to discern the political role that he/she has? what are the limits? We still need to make evident, in the practice, such complexity in peace education and the emotional areas that are addressed and that many times become difficult to manage, where the teacher must have the ability to emotionally content the students. The third challenge refers to the micro political aspects of peace education. In connection with the previous reflection, becomes relevant for teachers to be aware of the political role of the activities, dialogues and reflections that we develop in the classroom. This micro political aspect is an attempt to legitimize the idea that from peace education, the challenge of promoting changes in the realities of people must be assumed. In this sense, actions are micro political if politics is understood as the updating of power, while it is an opportunity to define new realities and to promote critical reflexivity. Thus, this dissertation allows me to propose my own conception about the meaning of peace education in the context of non-formal education. It is built from actions that alter dominant micro political practices, that is to say, moving from imposition to receptive listening, from master classes to contact with people and learning by doing, from keeping for ourselves what we think to sharing with others and building a way of being in the social aspect, from living in destructive criticism to recognizing what others have to give. All of this leads to the emergence of alternative actions tending to generate a culture of peace. This understanding of peace education should invite teachers to reflect critically on how the contextual forces that are present -gender relationships, poverty situations, confrontation between political actors, socio-political violence and the belief system of the participants- shape the choices they make along the development of the program/course/class. That is to say that, peace education must be seen as an unfolding journey and not as a detailed, planned event.
[eng] International relations can be reviewed from different perspectives. One of them is through culture. In general, a lecture and an analysis of it from this specific point of view has been neglected, attracting much less attention comparing to other issues, like the political science, the international law, or the economics. The cultural perspective offers a mirror of the reality and can contribute to a better understanding of the external relations and on what is happening at other levels, usually considered as more relevant in the foreign policies and the traditional diplomacy, like politics, trade and commerce, or military issues. At the same time, this cultural perspective needs a transversal focus to offer a real insight and overview of the actual scope, due to the multifaceted feature of culture considered in its broad approach. The international presence and the role of culture within the bilateral relations is conditioned by the definition of the external cultural policies and the priorities and strategies in its bilateral relations with third countries. Sometimes the external cultural policies can have a close link with the internal cultural policies as well, being a projection of the internal priorities in the international context. The institutional structure and the competences of the different institutions can also influence in the role of culture in the bilateral relations of a specific country. Aside of that, there are other relevant factors that can be determinant in the bilateral relations, like the historical background or the bilateral political and commercial relations, among others. Culture in the context of the international relations and cooperation between Europe and Egypt includes from the institutional level, the bilateral and multilateral relations of the European Union, and its 28 Member States at an individual level as well. Otherwise, some of these European countries have had a long presence during the colonialist period, maintain historical ties, or have economic interests in Egypt. Within this framework, the different cultural policies are embedded in the external actions of the bilateral cultural relations and cooperation, where the cultural projection is a component of the public diplomacy as a form of soft power. The present research has as primary objective to get a deep inside of the bilateral relations, and the identification of some quantitative indicators and qualitative aspects of the European bilateral relations from the public sector, and makes a detailed analysis of which is the present situation of culture in the context of the international relations with a strategic country of the Arab world like Egypt. Getting an insight into the different facts, parameters and indicators allows to identify the different exogenous and endogenous factors which can have a determinant role, jointly with the explicit and implicit objectives, and other elements to consider, including priorities, strategies, instruments and activities. Actions taken into consideration are those from the European Union, and some of its Member States, which are reviewed and compared in a systematic way. This research takes as case study five of the European countries, the most populated of the European Union, and several specific fields. It starts checking the way how each individual country is presenting its external cultural policy in the official web, and followed by the cultural bilateral relations with Egypt. Then it is verified the role of the national cultural institutes, the archaeological cooperation, the higher education, the research and scientific cooperation, the presence of culture in the cooperation to development and the media. Finally it is revised the European Union's cultural presence through actions and initiatives in Egypt, and checked how the individual cultural bilateral relations of the selected countries fit together with them. The result offers a broad and comprehensive perspective of the presence of culture in international relations and cooperation in the particular case of Egypt. The analysis carried out allows concluding an insufficiently structured place of culture in the European external relations and cooperation with Egypt, the missed coordination among the different actors involved, the individual interests, and some incoherencies as well. ; [cat] Les relacions internacionals poden ser examinades des de diferents perspectives. Una d'elles es des de la cultura. En general, una lectura i un anàlisi d'aquest punt de vista específic ha estat oblidat, i ha atret molta menys atenció comparat amb altres temes com són els temes polítics, el dret internacional o els econòmics. La perspectiva cultural ofereix un mirall on es reflexa la realitat, que pot contribuir a un millor enteniment de les relacions exteriors i sobre el que succeeix a altres nivells, normalment considerats com a més rellevants dins de la política exterior i la diplomàcia tradicional, com són els temes polítics, comercials o militars. Al mateix temps, aquesta perspectiva cultural necessita una mirada transversal per poder oferir una mirada profunda i al mateix temps global de la actual abast del tema, ja que abraça diferents àmbits de la cultura, que en aquest cas és considerada en la seva aproximació més amplia. La presència internacional i el rol de la cultura a les relacions bilaterals està condicionada per la definició de les polítiques culturals exteriors i de les prioritats i estratègies en les seves relacions bilaterals amb països tercers. De vegades les polítiques culturals externes poden tenir un vincle estret amb les polítiques culturals internes, sent una projecció de les prioritats internes en el context internacional. L'estructura institucional i les competències de les diferents institucions poden també tenir una influència en el rol de la cultura en les relacions bilaterals d'un país concret. A part d'això, hi ha altres factors rellevants que poden ser determinants de les relacions bilaterals, com són els antecedents històrics o les relacions bilaterals polítiques i comercials, entre d'altres. La cultura en el context de les relacions internacionals i la cooperació entre Europa i Egipte inclou des del punt institucional les relacions bilaterals i multilaterals de la Unió Europea, així com les dels seus 28 estats membres a nivell individual. Per altre banda, alguns d'aquests països europeus han tingut una llarga presència durant el període colonial, mantenen vincles històrics, o tenen interessos econòmics a Egipte. En aquest marc, les diferents polítiques culturals estan encaixades en les accions exteriors de les relacions culturals bilaterals i de la cooperació, on la projecció cultural és un component de la diplomàcia pública com a forma de soft power. La recerca té com a principal objectiu aprofundir sobre les relacions bilaterals, i la identificació d'alguns dels indicadors quantitatius i aspectes qualitatius de les relacions bilaterals des del sector públic, i fer un anàlisis detallat sobre quina és la situació present de la cultura en el context de les relacions internacional amb un país estratègic del món àrab com és Egipte. Aquest aprofundiment en els diferents factors, paràmetres i indicadors permet identificar els diferents factors exògens i endògens que poden ser determinants, juntament amb els objectius explícits i implícits, i altres aspectes que s'han de considerar, com les prioritats, estratègies, instruments, i activitats. Les accions que es prenen en consideració són les de la Unió Europea, i d'alguns dels seus estats membres, que són revisades i comparades d'una manera sistemàtica. Aquest treball agafa com a estudi de cas a Egipte, i també analitza a cinc països europeus, els cinc més poblats de la Unió Europea, i alguns dels camps culturals específics. Com a marc general es comença per veure la manera com cada un d'aquests països individuals presenta la seva política cultural exterior a les pàgines webs oficials, i es continua amb les relacions culturals bilaterals amb Egipte. Després es verifica el rol dels instituts nacionals de cultura, la cooperació arqueològica, l'educació universitària, la investigació i la cooperació científica, la presencia de la cultura a la cooperació al desenvolupament, i els media. Finalment es revisa la presencia cultural de la Unió Europea mitjançant les accions i les iniciatives a Egipte, i com les relacions culturals bilaterals individuals dels països seleccionats hi encaixen. El resultat ofereix una perspectiva àmplia i comprensiva de la presencia de la cultura a les relacions internacionals i la cooperació en aquest cas particular d'Egipte. L'anàlisi que s'ha portat a terme permet concloure que la cultura té un lloc insuficientment estructurat a les relacions exteriors europees amb Egipte, l'absència de coordinació entre els diferents actors involucrats, els interessos individuals, així com algunes incoherències. ; [spa] Las relaciones internacionales pueden ser examinadas desde diferentes perspectivas, una de ellas es desde la cultura. En general una lectura y un análisis desde este específico punto de vista ha sido dejado de lado, atrayendo mucha menos atención en comparación con otros temas, como las ciencias políticas, el derecho internacional, o la economía. La perspectiva cultural ofrece un espejo donde se refleja la realidad, y que puede contribuir a una mejor compresión de las relaciones exteriores y sobre lo que sucede a otros niveles normalmente considerados como más relevantes en las relaciones exteriores y la diplomacia tradicional, como son los temas políticos, de comercio internacional o los temas militares. Al mismo tiempo esta perspectiva cultural necesita un enfoque transversal para ofrecer una visión detallada y al mismo tiempo global para conocer su alcance real, debido al carácter multidisciplinar de la cultura, considerada en su amplia aproximación. La presencia internacional y el rol de la cultura en las relaciones bilaterales están condicionados por la definición de las políticas culturales exteriores, además de las prioridades y estrategias en las relaciones bilaterales con países terceros. Por otro lado, frecuentemente las políticas culturales exteriores pueden tener vínculos estrechos con las políticas culturales a nivel nacional, siendo una proyección de las prioridades internas en el contexto internacional. La estructura institucional y las competencias de las diferentes instituciones públicas también pueden influenciar en el rol de la cultura en las relaciones bilaterales de un determinado país. Además de ello, también hay otros factores relevantes que pueden determinar las relaciones bilaterales, como los antecedentes históricos o las relaciones bilaterales políticas y comerciales, entre otras. La cultura en el contexto de las relaciones internacionales y la cooperación entre Europa y Egipto incluye, a nivel institucional, las relaciones bilaterales y multilaterales de la Unión Europea, así como sus 28 estados miembros a nivel individual. Además de ello, algunos de estos países europeos han tenido un larga presencia durante el periodo colonial, mantienen lazos históricos, o tienen intereses económicos en Egipto. Dentro de este marco las diferentes políticas culturales se encuentran incluidas en las acciones exteriores de las relaciones culturales bilaterales y la cooperación, donde la proyección cultural es uno de los componentes de la diplomacia pública como una forma de soft power. La presente investigación tiene como principal objetivo profundizar en las relaciones bilaterales y la identificación de indicadores centrados en diversos aspectos cuantitativos y cualitativos de las relaciones bilaterales europeas desde el sector público, y analiza en detalle sobre cuál es la situación presente de la cultural en el contexto de las relaciones internacionales con un país estratégico del mundo árabe como es Egipto. Esta profundización de los diferentes factores, parámetros y indicadores permite identificar los diferentes factores exógenos y endógenos que tienen un rol determinante, juntamente con los objetivos explícito se implícitos, y otros elementos que se deben considerar como son las prioridades, las estrategias, instrumentos y actividades culturales. Las acciones consideradas son las de la Unión Europea y las de algunos de sus estados miembros, la cuales son revisadas y comparadas de forma sistemática. Esta investigación se centra en el estudio de case de cinco países europeos, los cinco estados miembros de la Unión Europea más poblados, y en diferentes campos específicos. Se inicia supervisando la forma como cada país individualmente presenta su política cultural exterior en sus páginas web oficiales, seguido por una revisión de las relaciones culturales bilaterales con Egipto. Luego en diferentes capítulos se verifica el rol de los centros culturales nacionales, la cooperación arqueológica, la educación universitaria, la investigación y la cooperación científica, la presencia de la cultura en la cooperación al desarrollo, y los media. Finalmente se analiza la presencia cultural de la Unión Europea en Egipto a través de diferentes acciones e iniciativas, y como las relaciones culturales bilaterales de los países europeos seleccionados encajan con ellas. El resultado obtenido ofrece una amplia y comprensiva perspectiva sobre cuál es la presencia de la cultura en las relaciones internacionales y la cooperación en el caso particular de Egipto. El análisis llevado a cabo permite concluir un lugar insuficientemente estructurado de la cultura en las relaciones exteriores europeas con Egipto, la falta de coordinación entre los diferentes actores involucrados, los intereses individuales, así como algunas incoherencias.
Contemporary Ukrainian state and society pass through complicated and contradictory period of transformation of socio-economic, political, spiritual and moral relations. The youth, as subject and object of policy, social and cultural relations, mirrors the features of Ukrainian political system's evolution and cultural evolution in its vital activity. The youth is an important part of Ukrainian society, the medium of its intellectual potential, a main factor of socio-economic progress. Process of state building largely depends on capability of youth to be an active creative power.Nevertheless, it should be noted, that significant part of youth has no reliable political and socio-cultural reference points, civic consciousness isn't formed, spiritual and moral ideals are lost, increasingly the youth regards with negative to socially useful activities and becomes most separated from society and state than previous generations.Meantime effective socialization of youth is a necessary condition for a constant development of Ukrainian political system, largely depictures the future of the country. Perspective of society's further development primarily depend on the features of formation of the political culture of youth, its political values, socio-political orientation, political choice, attitude to power.In this regard, necessity of studying processes, what spread across youth subculture, political analysis of youth subcultural differentiation, production technologies and mechanisms for prevention deviant behaviour and crises among young people, appears.The socio-economic and spiritual development of Ukraine is impossible without concentration on resolving the problems of the youth as future of our country, a guarantor of social and economic progress, because an immutable truth is that further development mostly depend on providing young generations with decent conditions for life. In despite of declared realization of this truth, a majority of countries in the world starts new millennium with a significant burden of unsolved problems of youth, most of them, for a example, imparity of youth, unemployment, marginalization of young people, propagation of illegal social practices and asocial manifestations among young people, youth health problems and some marital and family problems etc., now shows tendency to intensification.Under conditions of deep economic and demographic crisis, crisis of culture and ideology, of post-Soviet countries, including Ukraine, youth problems in different areas of life become more specific, they entail hard and prolonged consequences, therefore, they need be analyzed deeply and regulated, realistic and balanced youth policy must be developed.The term "youth" is treated diversely in many branches of science - philosophy, sociology, political science, pedagogy, psychology etc. Its generalized version is suggested in encyclopedias and determines the youth as a separate socio-demographic group that differs in a complex of age characteristics, features of social status, that are determined by social system, culture, regularity of socialization, education in terms of a particular society.The youth, within the meaning of current age ranges of youth in Ukraine (according to national legislation an age range of youth is 15 - 34 years), makes up the significant part of the population of Ukraine. Now the youth contingent in Ukraine is demographically heterogeneous, because the youth unites in itself groups of rather a broad age range – from teenagers (15-17 years), post teenagers (18-19 years old) to much more experienced in age and socially persons and adults, that are over 30 years old (30-34 years).It should be considered that the youth is socially heterogeneous. Yong workers, villagers, students, political leaders, representatives of the business community, migrants, young specialists, marginal people with different degree of success adapt to market economy, frequently orient themselves on contradictory political and spiritual values.The position of youth political culture, as well as society generally, is largely fragmented. The separate groups of the youth differ from each other in the interest to policy, level of inclusion in the political life, orientations on different ideological and political currents of modern Ukraine. All this differences haven't characterized as acute antagonism and haven't led to excessive politicization yet.The young people significantly differ from older generations, because they almost got rid of illusions that somebody can solve their own problems. They are individualistic and pragmatic, relate to the modern authority rather neutrally and don't connect any positive changes with it.The young generation perceives the policy and the authority as entity that cause neither admiration, nor especially acute negative emotions. First of all, it proves in removal of a large number of the youth from political life. In some measure apathy of youth, first of all, appears because the reforms that take place in Ukraine impact on the youth most painfully, and because of absence of understanding policy towards youth as an independent socio-demographic group, also because the youth, on the one hand, doesn't see necessity to change something cardinally in environment, but, on the other hand, doesn't consider political activity as something important, it finds most perspective methods and forms of self-fulfillment. As a result – total alienation of the youth from the authority, that can be transformed into active rejection at any time.Today state only declares principles of political culture of participation and public culture. During period of formation of the youth generation it is necessary to examine the situation, to explore the depth and sharpness of social problems, to establish monitoring of youth life.Modern problems such as crisis of relationship of generations, impairment of vital parameters, formation of specific youth subculture and counterculture etc., demonstrate that all structures of socialization together – family, environment and even education, become not enough to solve the problems of society when new generations come on and it is not enough to solve the problems of youth, that takes on its historical subjectivity.Liberal views of youth are often formed under the influence of education, cultural environment, family socialization, but are not the result of a «rational» choice. State youth policy, as an innovative Institute, has it own particularities and the main one of them is that it is specialized and was built on innovative forms of activity. These forms are associated with deep process of knowledge and management. They need political will and great resources to be realized. The payment for that are guaranteed results of activity, without what society can't exist and develop no longer.As a result of new situation, what appeared because political activity in labor and educational groups had been prohibited, the policy moved on from industrial and academic areas to the sphere of free time of youth and led new youth organizations on the competition with traditional structures of free time. The youth structures could gain neither recognition, nor authority on broad stratums of the rising generation.The perspective of further development of society connects, first of all, with features of the formation of political culture of youth, its political values, a socio-political orientation, political choice and attitude towards the authority.The formation of consciousness of the category of population is strategically important for the state, because working politically active forces will be replaced exactly by today's youth. Now it is hard to manipulate the young people, they are very sensitive and note everything that takes place in society. May be, some part of them go to policy in order to make money, but for the most of them is important to realize their own opinions.The current political situation in Ukraine makes the youth think about a lot of questions: how can I, young man, decide something and affect the situation in the country (the region); how much does my vote weigh in elections etc. One of the most important factors that can push these people into active public deeds is confidence of an opportunity that something can be changed by their choice and decision.The modern politicians come to understanding that the slogans are ineffective and the youth can't be conquered with appeals on TV. The new generation is more independent than previous one and, the most important of this, that it has a choice. The votes of youth will not be cast without any reason – someone must work with it. The experience of last decades proves that only when countries pay much attention on work with youth they will success in policy and economy. A sustainable progress is demonstrated by societies that have looked over the system of traditional opinions about new generation and it importance for political and socio-economical development (for example, Germany, Sweden).In Ukraine a program of state and public actions in this sphere and mechanisms of solving these problems is determined by modern national policy. The especial attention should be paid to solving problems of youth self-realization and formation of young citizens.There is 367 003 persons (30,67 percent of all population of the region) of young people from 14 to 35 years old in Mykolaiv, including citizens - 251 712 persons and villagers - 115 291 persons. The youth needs permanent protection and help of state. However to give support to the youth doesn't mean to solve all its problems. First of all, it means to give the youth an opportunity to solve problems by itself.The Regional Program "The Youth of Mykolaiv Region" on 2011-2015 years becomes a strategic document. The conception determines directions of relationship's development between the state and the youth at the regional level. The most optimal way and method of solution are:to develop the scientifically argumentative strategy of implementation of public policy towards the youth of region;to popularize efficiency, availability and creation of extensive network of youth social infrastructure, a directing on activity that will satisfy needs and create the necessary conditions for effective socialization of young people;to promote youth occupation by introduction the system of career-guidance, creation the conditions for secondary employment, provision with fist job, stimulation to make business, outspread of youth information field concerning existing professions and demand for them; to promote youth employment and youth entrepreneurship by expansion of employment, professional training of youth, giving an opportunity to realize youth projects;to involve the youth in realization of social programs and projects of state youth policy that are directed on solving problems according to Program;to create a complex system of social protection for representatives in special categories of youth community, to render social assistance and support for the youth that is in crisis;to create conditions for providing social assistance and modeling healthy lifestyle among all groups of youth in Mykolaiv;to encourage the creative self-realization and total evolution of youth, to support the youth initiatives and activities at different spheres of life, to implement incentives in order to improve the cultural level of youth;to implement the mechanism how to inform youth community by mass media and Internet-resource;to implement measures to create conditions for youth loans;to promote the youth integration towards world and European community, the exchange of experience and joint activities of the youth at the regional and the national levels;to promote spiritual and physical development of young people in Mykolaiv region, a high patriotic consciousness, a national pride, a formation and development of motivation that is directed to preparation for doing public and constitutional duty in order to protect the national interests of Ukraine.Now it is possible to use young people in realization of youth police by enlisting them in youth and children public organizations. These organizations are one of the most important social institutes that promote a formation of civil society. The public organizations have exclusive opportunities for political socialization of youth, because they are not only a key-note subject of youth policy that affects its formation and realization, but also are good staff reserve for the public authorities and local government. The social movement is the force that can't be ignored and should not be ignored.So, it is important to create legal and other conditions for cooperation of the authority, youth public organizations and active representatives of this part of population. The principal revolution in youth attitude to policy will take place only when it feels itself a real member of process of transformation and development in Ukrainian society. ; Статья посвящена исследованию особенностей формирования политической куль-туры молодежи, ее политических ценностей, социально-политических ориентиров в период трансформации украинского общества, анализируется роль государства в формировании и реализации современной молодежной политики. ; Статтю присвячено дослідженню особливостей формування політичної культури молоді, її політичних цінностей, соціально-політичних орієнтирів у період трансформації українського суспільства, проаналізовано роль держави у формуванні та реалізації сучасної молодіжної політики.
*This series is the result of an adaptation of a paper presented as part of a seminar on "Theories and Research in International Relations" at Hebrew University, July 2012. Commentaries are welcome to daniel.wajner@mail.huji.ac.il Click here to read Part II of the series In the first article of this series we have introduced the debates on the ontology of power, while in the second one we have presented the main epistemological approaches of the different paradigms. In this third and final article we will deal with methodological schemes for Power Analysis in IR, while indicating areas for possible innovation using the "Arab Spring" cases as illustrations. Power, Outcomes, and what brings them togetherAs we have seen in the last part, the contribution made by Barnett and Duvall with his taxonomy of four dimensions of power is very helpful as theoretical framework; nevertheless, it is still weak to implement as a methodological tool - it is very difficult to distinguish in a real case what is originated through the structure or the actor, as well as to measure if the specificity is direct or diffuse.But the same could be expressed about the majority of the mentioned schemes. In fact, Dahl itself warned about the difficulties of combining variables to compare power relations and argued that it depends on the requirements of the research.1 This complexity is even larger when normative factors are included; for example, despite the proposal of Nye of measuring soft power through polls and focus groups, he also cautioned about the limits of the intangible variables.2 Hurt addresses certain ways of skipping the difficulties in measuring the power of legitimacy, such as examining: the rates of compliance, the reasons given for compliance and for non-compliance, the support given by the centers of Power and the need for legitimacy argument (akin to a counterfactual technique).3 But, once again, no combined power relations framework is presented.In addition, Lukes argues that power depends on the "significance" of the outcomes, namely, in the capacity of affecting the interests of the agents. He refers to two methods: by changing incentives structures (indoctrination) and by influencing interests (subject freedom). However, Lukes confesses that the main question remains open: how to use certain power to shape certain preferences?4In conclusion, in these approaches no power relation mechanism explains, in a measurable way, how material and normative resources are combined to shape power and influence decisions. Therefore, I would like to subsequently suggest a very simple framework that may allow us to implement the knowledge mentioned hitherto to study specific cases in IR.In line with the majority of the authors, in order to make power measurable I consider that we have to divide it in two variables: material power (or simply Power) and legitimation power (or legitimacy). In international politics, the power of an actor is expressed by its military (backed-by-economical) resources, and for the scheme it would receive "high" or "low" values. The legitimacy of the actors, which is based on their capacity to be perceived as norms-compliers and to build consensus around them5, would receive also "high" or "low" values.A power analysis based on the combination of those two variables, as it is shown below in illustration I, leads us to the taxonomy of four types of cases, each one ascribed to an "outcome". It is important to clarify that, for this paper, the outcomes would reflect the domestic situation of the main agent (the State) given an international system; it is a sort of outside-in analysis if we take into account Gourevitch´s second image reversed.6 Further work has to be done to adapt this scheme so as to explain the conduct of the State vis-à-vis other States as well as to include the domestic sphere of legitimacy.The first actor, which has high power and high legitimacy, could describe his situation as "stable"; that means, the actor would overcome the domestic and external challenges without internal changes and high international costs.The second actor, having high power but low legitimacy, is considered to be in a "changeable" situation. Although this actor is capable of overcoming internal and external challenges, due to the fact that it lacks of support from the other actors he could suffer from high international costs and possibly domestic changes.Illustration I – Taxonomy of Power-Legitimacy outcomesPOWERLEGITIMACYHigh PowerLow Power High Legitimacy "STABLE" "PROTECTABLE" Low Legitimacy "CHANGEABLE" "REVOLUTIONABLE" To the third actor, which has low power but high legitimacy, his situation is defined as "protectable". Due to his incapacity to overcome alone the internal and external challenges, this actor may count on the support of other actors to reduce the possibility of domestic changes; otherwise he will suffer from it.The fourth actor, with low power and low legitimacy, is placed in a "revolutionable" situation; that means, this actor is candidate to suffer from internal changes and high international costs at the time he would face challenges.Testing the Power Analysis framework with the "Arab Spring"The phenomenon known as the "Arab Spring", composed of dozens of countries in which massive protests were held, constitutes an outstanding test for the theory. A large quantity of those cases happened in a very short range of time, with all the variety of domestic conditions, reactions from the regime and from the world, as well as different outcomes. This makes those events ideal for the present examination; even though it is just a "sample" of a more deeply study.7Although no State of those that suffered uprisings is considered in a "stable" situation at all, Saudi Arabia and Jordan could be mentioned as good examples of Arab countries that combined high power (relatively, of course) and high legitimacy. Their regimes faced the uprisings from the beginning (mid-January 2011), but were capable of overcoming the internal challenges through a combination of repression and reforms, without suffering changes in their regime and being supported by the international community.Egypt is probably the best representation of a country whose regime kept high power at the moment of facing domestic challenges but received low legitimacy from the world; this "changeable" situation caused drastic changes at the top of the leadership (including the president, ministers, etc), albeit not of the whole regime (still leaded by the Military Council). Syria seems to be in a similar situation; while the power of the regime is still high, the legitimacy is not low enough to bring to major changes due to the sustained support of Russia, China and Iran. As a result, Syria constitutes today an excellent test for the power of legitimacy (and norms) in international politics.Between those countries that experienced a combination of low power and high legitimacy, experiencing a "protectable" situation, it is possible to mention Bahrain. Despite its regime was not capable of overcoming the internal revolts alone, it counted with the support of most of the Arab countries in the repression, and the Western approval of the "regional intervention" leaded by Gulf countries around the GCC. Yemen was in a comparable position, but at the end of 2011 the legitimacy of its regime was reduced when the region and the world understood the necessity to remove the President to maintain the remaining, in what was denominated later "the Yemenite option".Finally, Libya constitutes the case in which the regime was in a "revolutionable" situation, owing to its low Power to contain the rapid domestic rebellion and its low legitimacy after the first days of tremendous repression. The international costs were so high that included a military intervention leaded by NATO (with the endorsement of the Arab League), that led to the total collapse of the regime. It is possible to say that Tunisia was in an analogous situation while it did not need for a civil war and an external intervention to consummate finally a revolution (i.e., the complete removal of the existing regime).ConclusionsThroughout the paper we were able to observe that the ontological, epistemological and methodological discussions about the complex concept of Power maintain their relevance in the main schools of IR, and in some cases even constitute an essential part of their latest developments.At the same time, the inter-paradigmatic efforts of the last decades are demanding new power analysis approaches; that means, theoretical schemes that would embed a combination of the different factors at stake (material and non-material, resources and interactions, agents and structures) to specific cases of study.Deeper examinations of the "Arab Spring" cases need to be implemented so as to confirm the presented findings, as it was previously said. However, these small samples could possibly reveal that the implementation of a framework that combines both material and non-material resources is possible and, even more, desirable, to a better understanding of the devices of power in IR. 1 Robert A. Dahl, "The concept of Power", p.2142 Joseph S. Nye, Soft Power- The Means to Success in World Politics. p.63 Ian Hurt, "Legitimacy and Authority in International Politics". International Organization 53 No2 (Spring 1999), 390-3914 Stephen Lukes, "Power and the Battle for Hearts and Minds", p.4925 This short definition is based on concepts presented in Ian Clark, "Legitimacy in International Society" (London: Oxford University Press, 2005). It includes components both from the structure and the agent.6 Peter Gourevitch, "The second image reversed – the international sources of domestic politics" International Organization 32 No4, (Autumn 1978), 881-911.7 An investigation is "under construction", called "The Arab League and its legitimation role in the Arab Spring". It focuses on the power of the Arab League to yield legitimacy (or not) in six different cases. Bibliography Bachrach, Peter and Baratz, Morton S. "Two Faces of Power". The American Political Science Review 56 No4, (December 1962), 947-952 Baldwin, David A. Paradoxes of Power (NYC: Basil Blackwell, 1989). Barnett, Michael and Duvall, Raymond. "Power in International Politics", International Organization 59, No1 (Winter 2005), 39-75 Berenskoetter, Felix and Williams, Michael J. Power in World Politics. (NYC: Routledge, 2007) Bourdieu, Pierre. Language & Symbolic Power (NYC : Polity Press, 2001) Carr, Edward H., The Twenty Years' Crisis,1919-1939 (NYC: Harper Torchbooks, 1964) Clark, Ian. "Legitimacy in International Society" (NYC: Oxford University Press, 2005) Claude, Inis L., Power and International Relations (New York: Random House, 1962). Dahl, Robert A. "The concept of Power", Behavioral Science 2 No3, (July 1957), 201-215 Haas, Ernst B. When Knowledge is Power (University of California Press, 1990). Finnemore, Martha and Sikkink, Kathryn "International Norm Dynamics and Political Change," International Organization 52, No. 4 (Autumn 1998), 887-917. Foucalt, Michael. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-77 (Brighton: Havester, 1980) Franck, Thomas M., "The Power of Legitimacy and the Legitimacy of Power: International Law in an Age of Power Disequilibrium." American Journal International 88 (2006), 88-106 Gourevitch, Peter. "The second image reversed – the international sources of domestic politics" International Organization 32 No4, (Autumn 1978), 881-911. Guzzini, Stefano, "The Concept of Power: A Constructivist Analysis" Millennium 33 No3, 2005, 495-521. Guzzini, Stefano, "Structural power: the limits of neorealist power analysis", International Organization 47, No3 (Summer 1993), 443-478. Hurt, Ian, "Legitimacy and Authority in International Politics". International Organization 53 No2 (Spring 1999), 379-408 Ikenberry, John and Kupchan, Charles A. "Socialization and hegemonic power", International Organization 44, No3 (Summer 1990), 283-315. Keohane, Robert O. and Nye, Joseph S., Power and Interdependence, 2nd edition (New York: Harper Collins, 1989) Krasner, Stephen D. "Regimes and the Limits of Realism: Regimes as Autonomous Variables", International Organization 36 (Spring 1982), 497-510 Lukes, Stephen. "Power and the Battle for Hearts and Minds", Millennium 33 No3, (2005), 477-493 Mearsheimer, John. The Tragedy of Great power Politics (NYC: Norton, 2001) Morgenthau, Hans J., Politics among Nations, 4th edition (NYC: Knopf, 1967). Nye, Joseph S. Soft Power- The Means to Success in World Politics (NYC: PublicAffairs, 2004) Putnam, Robert. "Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games," International Organization 42, No3, (1988), 427-460 Risse, Thomas. "Let's Argue! Communicative Action in World Politics," International Organization 54 No1 (Winter 2000), 1-40. Schmidt, Brian C. "Competing Realist Conceptions of Power", Millennium 33 No3, 523-549 Walt, Stephen. The Origins of Alliances (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1987) Waltz, Kenneth. Theory of International Politics. (NYC: McGraw-Hill, 1979) Weber, Max. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. (California: University of Berkeley, 1978. Edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich). Wendt, Alexander. "Anarchy is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics," International Organization 46 (1992), 391-425. Wendt, Alexander. "The Agent-Structure Problem in International Relations Theory", International Organization 41/3 (1987), 335-370. Fabian Daniel Wajner is a Research and Teaching Assistant at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Department of International Relations) and a Fellow of the Liweranth Center for Latin America Studies.
Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: General Definition and Justification of Issues and Objectives: The publication of the Modigliani and Miller (MM) capital structure irrelevance theorem in 1958 and the subsequent preference of purely debt financing due to tax advantages in 1963, was in contradiction to traditional approaches which suggested an optimal capital structure. Meanwhile the theories of MM are academically accepted and out of competition with other approaches, since the underlying assumptions, especially the existence of perfect capital markets, is considered as unreal. However, in every economic boom, when access to capital becomes easier, financial markets seem to come close to the conditions of perfect markets, characterised by high competition and prosperity. It is found that the western economic order is marked by asset bubbles that resulted in over one hundred crises over the last three decades and which bring companies back to reality with a hard landing. Access to capital becomes extremely restricted and uncertainty dominates as the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 showed. Although signs were evident in 2007, the change from prosperity to depression can come overnight, where free market policy shows its true face, with unpredictable damages deeply wounding in the economy, and seeming to paralyse even the most experienced economists. Since liquidity becomes a scarce resource and consumption declines, free cash flows that were previously available to finance an amply corporate structure, dividends and bonuses, are likely to fall. As debt, if any, must still be paid back – often to worse conditions than before – corporations might run out of liquidity, as has happened to major US companies during the last twelve months. Also, investments that ought to ensure future profits are likely to be reduced or to come to a still stand, sending firms and the economy in a downward spiral. However, as experienced and predicted by Copeland and Greenspan, systematic organisations which are considered as 'too-big-to-fail' are offered bail-outs at the cost of society. This work aims to investigate the impact of the capital structure on the profitability of large capitalised US companies. It does not, therefore, aim to test existing theories, nor does it try to find a model to predict one or another capital structure, since numerous attempts have previously been made that have so far struggled to capture the full complexity of the real world. Rather, it focuses on correlations between capital structure and profitability and major profitability-associated measures that can have an impact on a firm's survival, i.e. liquidity, dividends, investments and the impact of an industry-related target gearing ratio as a potential systematic risk. Thus, this work is supposed to contribute to the understanding of how resistant companies are to financial distress, and it provides evidence on the extent to which vulnerability can be reduced to prevent major systemic crises by means of their capital structure adjustments through the awareness of shareholders and corporate governors. Research Questions and Methodology: The basis of this research project is a selection of secondary performance data over the period from 2004 to 2008 of firms listed in the Standard Poor's 500 index (SP 500) in January 2004. The index represents the 500 largest capitalised US companies among ten sectors that reflect the whole US market. The combination of the US market and the SP 500 companies, who have access to the widest range of financial sources, is expected to give a highly reliable result to find empirical evidence for the following research questions. Question 1. According to the MM theorem and the pecking order theory that relies on information asymmetry between insiders and investors, leverage should not depend on the industry a firm is in. However, evidence suggests that firms in different industries operate with different capital structures. Thus, the first hypothesis (H1) is to verify whether industry-specific leverage exists. Question 2. Since revenues are likely to decrease in an economic downturn, this reduces a firm's ability to meet debt payments, which is expected to have a negative impact on profitability. The second and central hypothesis (H2) is, therefore, that a negative correlation between gearing ratio and profitability exists, i.e. higher geared firms are less profitable. As this research question is the centre of attention, it merits a deeper investigation than all other hypotheses, especially for the years 2007 and 2008. Question 3. Most of the companies are affected by financial distress, not because they are not unprofitable, but because they have no liquidity. If cash inflows decline, firms are likely to be unable to finance current expenses, including the interests on debt. Hence, the third hypothesis (H3) is the existence of a correlation between gearing ratio and liquidity. Higher geared firms are supposed to have lower cash positions, especially in 2008. Question 4. Investments in RD are crucial for survival and competitiveness of firms within some industries. Since higher geared firms must concentrate more to the avoidance of financial distress, they may tend to reduce expenses in long-term RD projects that have no immediate effects. The aim of the fourth hypothesis (H4) is to prove whether a correlation between gearing ratio and RD expenditure exists, especially in 2008, that is expected to have a negative influence on future profits. Question 5. Highly geared companies are encouraged to pay out higher dividends by transferring wealth from bondholders to shareholders, although managers should have an incentive to reduce them if liquidity becomes a scarce resource. The fifth hypothesis (H5) is, therefore, to find evidence of the existence of a correlation between gearing ratio and dividend policy, especially in 2008. Overview and Organisation of Chapters: This dissertation is organised into seven sections, each with a brief statement at the beginning and the end of the issues previously and subsequently discussed. Although this might seem repetitious, it enables the reader to go through in multiple sessions. The following few paragraphs give an outline of the next six sections. After the introduction and definition of the above stated research questions, section 2 attempts to review the existing literature on capital structure with a discussion of the main theories, after which a more detailed focus on the fields in respect of the research questions is provided. Section 3 discusses and justifies the methodology used to answer the research questions, which refers to data sampling and data collection, the treatment of missing values, the variables defined and applied hypothesis testing methods. Section 4 outlines the key findings in respect of the hypotheses initially stated, which are then analysed and discussed. Where appropriate, the results found are related to the most relevant findings discussed in the literature review. Section 5 recalls the research objectives and findings previously obtained. After that, it concludes with the underlying assumptions required for the implications drawn from those findings, which are part of the next section. Section 6 attempts to identify management implications and recommendations to solve the issues. Based on the results revealed from the sample, it aims to identify measures in reducing vulnerability and systematic risk in order to achieve sustainable economic growth without adverse effects for society. Section 7 points to the achievement of the objectives of this study, its strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately it gives insights to the personal development drawn from the execution of this research project with reference to difficulties faced.Inhaltsverzeichnis:Table of Contents: Abbreviations4 Acknowledgements5 Abstract6 1.Introduction7 1.1GENERAL DEFINITION AND JUSTIFICATION OF ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES7 1.2RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODOLOGY9 1.3OVERVIEW AND ORGANISATION OF CHAPTERS10 2.Existing Theories and their Predictions12 2.1EXISTING THEORIES12 2.1.1The Trade-Off Theory14 2.1.2The Pecking Order Theory18 2.2PREDICTIONS OF EXISTING THEORIES21 2.2.1Capital Structure and Industry21 2.2.2Capital Structure and Profitability24 2.2.3Capital Structure and Liquidity27 2.2.4Capital Structure, RD and Tangible Assets28 2.2.5Capital Structure and Dividend Policy30 2.3A FINAL COMMENT32 3.Methodology34 3.1DATA SAMPLING34 3.2DATA COLLECTION35 3.2.1Missing Values and Adjustments36 3.3VARIABLES AND THEIR DEFINITIONS37 3.3.1Leverage and Gearing37 3.3.2Profits and Return39 3.4HYPOTHESES AND HYPOTHESES TESTING39 3.4.1H1: Capital Structure and Industry40 3.4.2H2: Capital Structure and Profitability41 3.4.3H3, H4 and H5: Capital Structure, Liquidity, RD and Dividend Policy42 4.Findings and Analysis44 4.1H1: THE IMPACT OF INDUSTRY ON CAPITAL STRUCTURE AND ASSOCIATED VARIABLES44 4.2H2: THE EXISTENCE OF A CORRELATION BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND ROCE54 4.3H3: THE EXISTENCE OF A CORRELATION BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND LIQUIDITY59 4.4H4: THE EXISTENCE OF A CORRELATION BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND RD62 4.5H5: THE EXISTENCE OF A CORRELATION BETWEEN LEVERAGE AND DIVIDENDS66 5.Conclusions71 5.1CAPITAL STRUCTURE71 5.2PROFITABILITY72 5.3LIQUIDITY72 5.4INVESTMENTS73 5.5DIVIDENDS74 6.Recommendations76 7.Reflections80 7.1OBJECTIVES80 7.2STRENGTHS81 7.3WEAKNESSES AND LIMITATIONS81 7.4PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT83 Bibliography84 Appendix ASP 500 industries, January 2004 and June 200991 Appendix BMissing values of dead firms, based on balance-sheet records92 Appendix CSignificant year-by-year correlations of core factors with Gearing 293 Appendix DIndependent t-test of delisted and non-delisted firms94 Appendix EIndependent t-test of the ten lowest and highest geared firms95 Appendix FIndependent t-test of the ten less and most profitable firms105 Appendix GMann-Whitney test of the ten lowest and highest geared firms115Textprobe:Text Sample: Chapter 2.2.5, Capital Structure and Dividend Policy: Shareholders expect a return on their investments, either in the form of an increase in share prices or through dividends for placing equity at the disposal of a business. Since some organisations, such as pension funds and charities, periodically require revenues, dividends might be preferred that also reduces transaction costs. This reality might be overseen in the simplified MM argument of 1961, according to which, dividend policy does not matter in perfect markets. Dividend announcements, due to information that they contain, influence stock prices and thus the market value of a firm which has an impact on equity issues, according to the pecking order. This concept was approved by Asquith and Mullins on a sample of 168 publicly listed US companies from 1964 to 1980, who began to pay dividends. Also Baskin argues that '[d]ividends provide signals both to current and future earnings' and found that higher dividend payments in 1965 resulted in considerably higher debt levels in 1972. He (ibid.:31) observed that the level of dividend payouts is rather stable, since '[s]erial correlation after twelve years is 0.714 and amounts to about 50% explained variance'. In contrast, Antoniou et al. find a negative correlation of gearing and dividend payments for US firms only, while Lintner argues that dividends depend on profits and successful investment strategies that allow a stable compensation for shareholders. Also Rozeff argues that more investment opportunities lead to lower dividend payout ratios that, however, do not reduce agency costs, which are offset by higher transaction costs for debt issuance. Thus, according to the pecking order theory, dividends contain information about the future that makes dividend policy a 'sticky' subject, 'while capital spending varies over the business cycle' that increases debt levels. According to Baskin, 'the need to adhere to stable dividend policy appears to be much stronger than those motivating adherence to some statically defined optimal capital structure." In a severe downturn, however, where profits and financial resources shrink, it is worth questioning whether a firm should stick with dividend policy or would be better selling undervalued assets to generate liquidity. An observation made by Graham is that 'dividend-paying firms issue debt more conservatively than do non-dividend-paying firms, even though they presumably have less severe informational problems.' This implies higher leverage for non-dividend-payers as is confirmed by Frank and Goyal. Thus, firms who pay dividends do not only have less interests to pay, but would also be able to reduce dividend payments in bad times and thus are able to avoid financial distress, while for them it is easier to continue investments. Another explanation is that non-dividend-payers have more growth opportunities, requiring new investments that are leveraged with external debt, while mature firms do not always have the possibility to invest in profitable projects. Baskin states that 'an increase in equity issues necessarily results in greater dividends, and greater dividends in turn give rise to a larger burden of personal taxation.' As a result, investors would prefer lower dividends in favour of faster growing share prices. While young firms with large growth potential do not have these problems with free cash flows, rational investors of mature firms expect dividends to avoid over-investment. Also large firms, who generally pay higher dividends, tend to expand more slowly than small ones, as observed by Baskin, which implies higher dividend payouts.
This Technical Note was prepared in the context of a joint World Bank-IMF Financial Sector Assessment Program mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina during October-November 2014. Bosnia's capital markets are currently small, but they have the potential to play a more important role in the country's future.
Agriculture in Tanzania accounts for 28 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs 80 percent of its labor force. The sector is also an important source of export revenues. The data and findings presented in this report provide a summary of the performance of the agriculture sector in Tanzania using a set of indicators covering six areas. These are: 1) access to and availability of certified seed; 2) availability of and access to fertilizer; 3) access to farm machinery, particularly tractor hire services for land preparation; 4) access to agricultural and agro-enterprise finance; 5) the cost and efficiency of transporting agricultural commodities; and 6) measures of policy certainty and uncertainty as perceived by private investors and the effects these have on the enabling environment for producers and agribusinesses. The Agribusiness Indicators (ABI) team conducted interviews with Government agencies, private firms (fertilizer importers, seed companies, tractor importers and distributors, transporters), commercial banks, farmer-based organizations, donors, and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The ABI program is pilot testing an initial set of indicators on the ease (or difficulty) of operating agribusinesses in African countries. The indicators are used to assess whether the countries have an enabling environment that is conducive to agribusiness investment, competitiveness, and ultimately agriculture-led growth.
The Indonesia economic quarterly reports on and synthesizes the past three months' key developments in Indonesia's economy. It places them in a longer-term and global context, and assesses the implications of these developments and other changes in policy for the outlook for Indonesia's economic and social welfare. Its coverage ranges from the macro economy to financial markets to indicators of human welfare and development. It is intended for a wide audience, including policy makers, business leaders, financial market participants, and the community of analysts and professionals engaged in Indonesia's evolving economy. Economic developments over the past quarter bear some strong similarities with the situation seen in the first half of 2008. Most notably, rises in domestic and international commodity prices have again brought with them a variety of risks, both positive and negative, at the macroeconomic and household level. While oil prices increased sharply with political developments in the Middle East and North Africa, strong price rises have been seen across global commodities. Non-energy commodities, including food, were up 30 percent in the six months to February 2011, similar to the increases seen in the first half of 2008. The experiences of other countries through the 2008 food price crisis suggest a range of potential policies which can provide well-targeted protection for vulnerable households and maintain and create incentives for producers to help limit future price volatility.
The Philippines economy posted robust growth in early 2010, in part due to large one-off factors. As did many countries in the region, the Philippines benefited from a strong rebound in global trade. Manufacturing and investment activity expanded briskly as a result. Private consumption continued to expand, as consumer confidence improved. Growth also benefited from election-related spending. Expansionary (and now pro-cyclical) fiscal policy continued to support growth. Despite a withdrawal of liquidity-enhancing measures and a stronger peso, a closing output gap meant that monetary policy remained accommodative. A World Bank study of Philippines migration pattern during the global recession reveals that deployment of overseas foreign workers (OFWs) actually accelerated during the crisis. Partly this reflected the fact that the top OFW destinations were not as affected as the rest of the world. The most affected OFWs were males, production workers (especially construction workers) and new hires. By contrast, females, services workers, seafarers and rehires proved resilient to the crisis or even benefited from it. Globally, less tolerance towards weak public finances is expected, raising the need to introduce a credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plan for the Philippines. Running a pro-cyclical fiscal policy with relatively high debt and limited fiscal space-as undertaken in the first-half of 2010-raises risks and should be reverted. Credibility towards such a goal could be achieved, for example, by designing a comprehensive multi-year reform package. As the output gap closes, the accommodative monetary policy introduced in 2008 would need to be gradually unwound, starting by reaching a broadly neutral stance in 2010. An increase in policy rates currently negative or slightly positive could achieve such a goal.
This joint working paper lays out a rationale and strategic framework for improving food security and managing food-price shocks in the Arab countries. The paper does not provide country specific policy and project recommendations. Such recommendations will follow from the country by country application of the framework, taking into account each country's political and cultural preferences, resource endowments, and risk tolerance. In 2007 and the first half of 2008, a sharp rise in agricultural commodity and food prices triggered grave concerns about food security, malnutrition and increased poverty throughout the world. While the threat of a prolonged food-price shock receded with falling energy and commodity prices and a weakening global economy in the second half of 2008, many factors underlying the volatility in food prices appear here to stay and will require careful management if the world is to avoid future food-price shocks. This paper suggests three critical strategies that, together, can serve as pillars to help offset future vulnerability to price shocks: a) strengthen safety nets, provide people with better access to family planning services, and promote education; b) enhance the food supply provided by domestic agriculture and improve rural livelihoods by addressing lagging productivity growth through increased investment in research and development; and c) reduce exposure to market volatility by improving supply chain efficiency and by more effectively using financial instruments to hedge risk.
Circulating autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing high concentrations (10 ng/ml; in plasma diluted 1:10) of IFN-α and/or IFN-ω are found in about 10% of patients with critical COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pneumonia but not in individuals with asymptomatic infections. We detect auto-Abs neutralizing 100-fold lower, more physiological, concentrations of IFN-α and/or IFN-ω (100 pg/ml; in 1:10 dilutions of plasma) in 13.6% of 3595 patients with critical COVID-19, including 21% of 374 patients >80 years, and 6.5% of 522 patients with severe COVID-19. These antibodies are also detected in 18% of the 1124 deceased patients (aged 20 days to 99 years; mean: 70 years). Moreover, another 1.3% of patients with critical COVID-19 and 0.9% of the deceased patients have auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations of IFN-β. We also show, in a sample of 34,159 uninfected individuals from the general population, that auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations of IFN-α and/or IFN-ω are present in 0.18% of individuals between 18 and 69 years, 1.1% between 70 and 79 years, and 3.4% >80 years. Moreover, the proportion of individuals carrying auto-Abs neutralizing lower concentrations is greater in a subsample of 10,778 uninfected individuals: 1% of individuals 80 years. By contrast, auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-β do not become more frequent with age. Auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs predate SARS-CoV-2 infection and sharply increase in prevalence after the age of 70 years. They account for about 20% of both critical COVID-19 cases in the over 80s and total fatal COVID-19 cases. ; The Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Rockefeller University, the St. Giles Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (R01AI088364), the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), NIH Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program (UL1 TR001866), a Fast Grant from Emergent Ventures, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the Yale Center for Mendelian Genomics and the GSP Coordinating Center funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) (UM1HG006504 and U24HG008956), the Yale High Performance Computing Center (S10OD018521), the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation, the Meyer Foundation, the JPB Foundation, the French National Research Agency (ANR) under the "Investments for the Future" program (ANR-10-IAHU-01), the Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory of Excellence (ANR-10-LABX-62-IBEID), the French Foundation for Medical Research (FRM) (EQU201903007798), the FRM and ANR GENCOVID project (ANR-20-COVI-0003), ANRS Nord-Sud (ANRS-COV05), ANR GENVIR (ANR-20-CE93-003) and ANR AABIFNCOV (ANR-20-CO11-0001) projects, the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 824110 (EASI-Genomics), the Square Foundation, Grandir–Fonds de solidarité pour l'Enfance, the Fondation du Souffle, the SCOR Corporate Foundation for Science, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), REACTing-INSERM; and the University of Paris. P.B. was supported by the FRM (EA20170638020). P.B., J.R., and T.L.V. were supported by the MD-PhD program of the Imagine Institute (with the support of the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller). Work in the Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Disease was supported by the NIH (P01AI138398-S1, 2U19AI111825, and R01AI091707-10S1), a George Mason University Fast Grant, and the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation. The French COVID Cohort study group was sponsored by INSERM and supported by the REACTing consortium and by a grant from the French Ministry of Health (PHRC 20-0424). The Cov-Contact Cohort was supported by the REACTing consortium, the French Ministry of Health, and the European Commission (RECOVER WP 6). This work was also partly supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIAID and NIDCR, NIH (grants ZIA AI001270 to L.D.N. and 1ZIAAI001265 to H.C.S.). This program is supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (reference ANR-10-LABX-69-01). K.K.'s group was supported by the Estonian Research Council grants PRG117 and PRG377. R.H. was supported by an Al Jalila Foundation Seed Grant (AJF202019), Dubai, UAE, and a COVID-19 research grant (CoV19-0307) from the University of Sharjah, UAE. S.G.T. is supported by Investigator and Program Grants awarded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and a UNSW Sydney COVID Rapid Response Initiative Grant. L.I. reported funding from Regione Lombardia, Italy (project "Risposta immune in pazienti con COVID-19 e co-morbidità"). L.I. and G. L. Marseglia reported funding from Regione Lombardia, Italy (project Risposta immune in pazienti con COVID-19 e co-morbidità). This research was partially supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (COV20/0968). J.R.H. reported funding from Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority HHSO10201600031C. S.O. reports funding Research Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases from Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, AMED (grant number JP20fk0108531). G.G. was supported by ANR Flash COVID-19 program and SARS-CoV-2 Program of the Faculty of Medicine from Sorbonne University iCOVID programs. The Three-City (3C) Study was conducted under a partnership agreement among the INSERM, the Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2 University, and Sanofi-Aventis. The Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale funded the preparation and initiation of the study. The 3C Study was also supported by the Caisse Nationale d'Assurance Maladie des Travailleurs Salariés, Direction générale de la Santé, Mutuelle Générale de l'Education Nationale (MGEN), Institut de la Longévité, Conseils Régionaux of Aquitaine and Bourgogne, Fondation de France, and Ministry of Research–INSERM Programme "Cohortes et collections de données biologiques". S. Debette was supported by the University of Bordeaux Initiative of Excellence. P.K.G. reports funding from the National Cancer Institute, NIH, under contract no. 75N91019D00024, task order no. 75N91021F00001. J.W. is supported by an FWO Fundamental Clinical Mandate (1833317N). Sample processing at IrsiCaixa was possible thanks to the crowdfunding initiative YoMeCorono. Work at Vall d'Hebron was also partly supported by research funding from Instituto de Salud Carlos III grant PI17/00660 cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). C.R.-G. and colleagues of the Canarian Health System Sequencing Hub were supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (COV20_01333 and COV20_01334, Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation RTC-2017-6471-1; AEI/FEDER, UE), Fundación DISA (OA18/017 and OA20/024), and Cabildo Insular de Tenerife (CGIEU0000219140 and "Apuestas científicas del ITER para colaborar en la lucha contra la COVID-19"). C.M.B. is supported by a MSFHR Health Professional-Investigator Award. P.Q.H. and L.H. were funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (ATAC, 101003650). Work at Y.-L.L.'s laboratory in the University of Hong Kong (HKU) was supported by the Society for the Relief of Disabled Children. MBBS/PhD study of D.L. in HKU was supported by the Croucher Foundation. J.L.F. was supported in part by the Coopération Scientifique France-Colciencias (ECOS-Nord/COLCIENCIAS/MEN/ICETEX (806-2018) and Colciencias contract 713-2016 (code 111574455633)]. A.K. was in part supported by grants NU20-05-00282 and NV18-05-00162 issued by the Czech Health Research Council and Ministry of Health, Czech Republic. L.P. was funded by Program Project COVID-19 OSR-UniSR and Ministero della Salute (COVID-2020-12371617). I.M. is a Senior Clinical Investigator at the Research Foundation–Flanders and is supported by the CSL Behring Chair of Primary Immunodeficiencies; by the KU Leuven C1 grant C16/18/007; by a VIB-GC PID grant; by the FWO frants G0C8517N, G0B5120N, and G0E8420N; and by the Jeffrey Modell Foundation. I.M. has received funding under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 948959). E.A. received funding from the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (INTERFLU, no. 1574). M.Vi received funding from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (grant number 2020/09702-1) and JBS SA (grant number 69004). The NH-COVAIR study group consortium was supported by a grant from the Meath Foundation ; Peer reviewed
PI'S RELIGIOSITY IN YANN MARTEL'S LIFE OF PI Yektiningtias English Literature, Art and Language Faculty, State University of Surabaya yektiningtias@gmail.com Drs. Much. Khoiri, M.Si English Literature, Art and Language Faculty, State University of Surabaya Much_choiri@yahoo.com Abstrak Agama merupakan istitusi mengenai ketuhanan. Agama berisi sekumpulan pengertian dan kebiasaan yang mengacu pada individu. Individu tersebut adalah individu yang religius, pernah religius, atau bisa jadi religius. Partisipasi dalam suatu hal yang berbau religius didefinisikan sebagai religiusitas. Individu yang memiliki religiusitas tidak berarti mereka menganut sebuah agama. Selagi mereka melakukan hal hal yang sebuah agama perintahkan terhadap para pengikutnya, seperti percaya kepada Tuhan, mencintai ciptaan Tuhan, dan melakukan tindakan religius, individu tersebut dapat dikatakan religius. Life of Pi, sebuah novel karya Yann Martel, menggambarkan religiusitas seorang anak laki –laki, Piscine Molitor Patel atau Pi. Sejalan dengan hal tersebut, tujuan dari pernelitian ini adalah untuk menggambarkan religiusitas dari Pi dalam hidupnya dan mengungkapkan faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi religiusitas tersebut. Metode analisis secara tidak langsung berdasarkan teori psikologi remaja karya Frederick Tracy karena sebagian besar novel tersebut menyuguhkan kehidupan Pi ketika dia masih dalam masa remaja. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Pi telah memenuhi tiga komponen religiusitas-keyakinan, perasaan, dan tindakan. Terlebih, ada lima faktor yang mempengaruhi religiusitas Pi. Faktor tersebut adalah pengaruh keluarga, pengaruh pekerja professional, kebutuhan, ketertarikan, dan rasionalitas. Kata kunci: agama, religiusitas, komponen religiusitas, remaja Abstract Religion is the institution of godness. It contains a set of meaning and behavior referring to individuals. The individuals are religious, were religious, or could be religious. The participation in religious things is defined as religiosity. Individuals who have religiosity do not mean they commit to a religion. As long as they do what a religion tells its followers to do, like believing God, loving God's creation, and doing religious action, the individuals are considered religious. Life of Pi, a novel by Yann Martel, depicts the religiosity of a boy, Piscine Molitor Patel or Pi. In line with that, the purpose of this study is to depict religiosity of Pi in his life and reveal the factors that influence it. The method of the analysis indirectly works mostly based on Frederick Tracy's psychology of adolescence theory because mostly the novel presents the life of Pi when he is in adolescent period. The result of this study shows that Pi has fulfilled three components of religiosity—knowing, feeling, and doing. Moreover, there are five factors that influence Pi's religiosity. They are family's influence, professional workers' influence, needs, interest, and rationality. Keywords: religion, religiosity, component of religiosity, adolescence INTRODUCTION Fiction, by its definition, is describing imaginary events and people. The contents of a prose literature which are included in fiction are drawn from imagination that shows creativity or original thought. An unrealistic plot like a boy who flies by a broom, talking animals, aliens, or monsters that attacks the earth often cause delusion. Thus, an author puts truths to make the work more realistic although as the mentality history, a work of art can be a manifestation of reality, critic of reality, and alternative thought of reality (Supaat, 2008: v). A modern literature has a notion that art or literature is a matter of creativity. Often the creativity is bounded with the legalistic and formalistic doctrines of religion. Thus Western societies put the religion aside from their literature. The literature is free and free from religious matters. On the contrary Y.B Mangunwijaya in Supaat (2004: 175) stated that basically all literatures are religious. T.S Elliot in Supaat (2004: 166) added that the value of literature must be seen from the ethic and religiousness. If there is an idea or agreement of a society of a religious ethic so the literature must be 'good' like the religious ethic. Religion within a fiction is based on religious ideas from the real world. The religious ideas can be included into a fictional prose because basically fictional characters are imaginary. Although the characters are made up, they still have people's same willingness, needs, and drives in the real world. What people do in real world includes seeking religious understandings. (http://altreligion. about.com/od/artandculture/a/Religion-And-Fiction.htm retrieved on March 7th 2013). Based on the explanation, art works often raises religious issues to make the story becomes more real. The issues contain the truths from real religious ideas. The authors put more understanding to the issues from the facts. A character seeks for religious understanding for some reasons. The character may find peace and satisfied feeling towards his or her life in religion. Although religion is a term for conceivable religions whether formal or informal (Ferm, 1959: 647) a character does not always practice what a particular religion that he or she commits' rules. A satisfaction is found deep inside a feeling. Because it is related to feeling, it can be related to religiosity. Stolz (2009: 347) defines religiosity as what an individual chooses, feels, believes, and acts that refer to a religion that already exists or to a self-made religion. Religion itself is a cultural symbol-system that responds to problems and possibilities that are related to a very important reality. This system influences everyday life and cannot be controlled directly. Stolz continues with religiosity is when an individual prays, sacrifices, believes, loves or fear his god while the religious symbol-system or religions are like Christianity and Islam (Stolz, 2009: 347). An author may put his understanding about religious things to his works. 'Literature going behind God' is an effort of a man in letter by his works in which nuances in religious with his total comprehension of faith , so that he could comprehend fully of his seeking of God, his Creator, and literature is a dynamic, productive, and creative media (Supaat, 2004: 176). Yann Martel puts his idea of religion and religious things into his fictional work, Life of Pi. "Pi is interested in religions: so am I. Pi is open to all faiths: so am I. Pi is comfortable in different Godhouses: so am I. There is a sociocultural component to religions. Just as there are different ways of feeding the body, there are different ways of feeding the soul. Each religion is one group of people's attempt to understand ultimate reality. I think in each one there is a portion of truth and a portion of error. So I see in all great religions the same frame of being, only seen from a different perspective." (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Books/story?id=124838&page=5 retrieved on March 7th 2013) Life of Pi mostly presents such unrealistic things and events. The carnivorous trees and an impossible 227 days survival of a boy together with a Bengal tiger floating on a boat in Pacific Ocean seem hard to dissolve by mind. Although these things are in some ways unrealistic, Martel puts Gods and religions ideas into this work. The Author's Note in the beginning of his novel states that the story comes up from a man named Mr. Patel. Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi, was in India in searching for inspiration here he met a man in a café who then tells him to meet a man with great story i.e. Piscine Molitor Patel. He then says that the story will make him believe in God. Life of Pi is uniquely presenting its adventurous content with religious values and zoology. Yann Martel was intelligently put those different things into synchronized single unit. The coordination of the true story of Mr. Patel told in first person is incredible. The story begins about Mr. Patel's education and working life which serve with the fact that he was a student of religious studies and zoology. Then it shifts to his life when he was a boy, son of a zoo owner. In this part, the story provides facts about some animals' life inside the cage or out there in the wild. The story next progress is story about Pi's religious life when he was in his teen that reveals his strange religious practice. The 227 days survival in Pacific Ocean on a boat with a Bengal tiger is the next part of this incredible story and it is closed with he is survived. This novel once comes up with controversy of its originality. Some critics come up with their idea that this novel resembles Scliar's Max and the Cats, a story about a family of German zookeepers sets sail to Brazil. The ship is shipwrecked and only a young man survives after floating at sea with a wild jaguar. This issue then goes down as a discussion between Scliar and Martel done. But Martel had been firstly mentioned Scliar's name in his Author's Note part of his book. (http://www.sparknotes.com /lit/lifeofpi/context.html, retrieved on February 12th, 2013). This issue affects the outstanding content of this novel. Some critics, however, still appreciate the novel. This novel makes the reader recalls the story of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea Yann Martel was an author of seven awards in literature. His first book entitled The Facts Behind Helsinki Roccamatios and Other Stories was a collection of four short stories published in 1993 deals with themes like illness, the anguish of youth, grief, and loss that blend with the lunacy of 20th century history. This book achieved Journey Prize in Canada. Martel's second book, his first in the form of novel Self published in 1996. This book succeeded to win Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award. This novel's theme was study of sexual orientation and identity. Also Martel was the author of a collection of letters to the prime minister of Canada, What Is Stephen HarperReading? (http://Literature.britishcouncil.org/ yann-martel on 17 oct 2012) After the publication of his novel in 2001 Life of Pi, his name was widely recognized by literature world. This novel was able to win five different awards. In 2001, this novel won Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction in Canada and also Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. A year later, it won Commonwealth Writers Prize in Eurasia Region as the Best Book although it won over the shortlist. Also in the same year, Life of Pi was able to get the Man Booker Prize for Fiction that made him create much of literary splash rather than with his first two books and it also won the Boeke Prize in South Africa. As the recent achievement, Life of Pi has been filmed in 2012 and achieved a great success. Martel's works have been praised seven different literary awards although his life began with various odd jobs after he graduated for a degree in philosophy in Trent University in Ontario. He ever became a tree planter, dishwasher, and security guard before he committed in writing at the age of 27. Although he began his life with various odd jobs, his decision to write books after that was a right decision. He got praised for his ability to make multi themes and problems that are not common to be bound in to one. For his ability to combine uncommon multi themes and problems, he succeeded to make Life of Pi to become a novel of great combination of religious values, zoology, and adventurous life. As the opening of the novel, it is told that the novel will make you believe in God. This story reveals Pi's journey of life since he was child until he was mature and graduated from university. This story provides about Pi's religious life which is strange and it affects his understanding about his life and God's destiny for him. The combination of religious theme and zoology of the novel is purposely done for enriching Pi's religious life portraits. Pi is kind of person with maturity in his mind to combine his understanding about God of his religions towards the objects around him although he is still young. As human life is divided into four divisions (Tracy, 1920: 10) in which the first period is the period of childhood. The second is period of youth where this is the period of procreative function to the process of self maturing. The next period is the period of manhood and the last is the period of decay that is being dead. As the character of Pi in Yann Martel's Life of Pi is in the second period of life, he experiences great things in his religious life. In his adolescence that is ranged from 12 up to 24 years of life, Tracy (1920: 187) points out that, youngsters seek for spiritual meaning in religion as well as from the objects of nature, events, and their relationship with other fellows. Piscine Molitor Patel or Pi is originally a Hindu. He lives in a Hindu neighborhood when he was kid until he is adolescence. His religious practice has become strange when he meets two religious people i.e. a priest and an imam. Thus, this introduction constructs his understanding about other religions, Christianity and Islam. His decision to commit three religions, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam simultaneously is also influenced by Bapu Gandhi who said that the most important thing is to love God. Pi has a strong love towards God although he is still a young man. Pi is having a disliking towards his biology teacher who does not believe in God's existence. Pi sees the doubt on the important of religion and the existence of God as just a while. Every man will pass it someday and reach a happy life. Although Pi is still young, he has already experienced his deep feeling about being religious and to religion itself. The feeling creates him to experience religious flaming. This deep religious feeling or religiosity happens in his teen. His religious feeling seems have mutualism with his personality as adolescence. His life whether they are individual or cultural and social more or less influence personality and affect his decision in understanding religions as the way to love God and being a religious on his multi religions practices. This religiosity that is seen from his religion combinations stresses the importance of individual factors, including social background and personal history. Those backgrounds are to build up his mind of committing three different religions at the same time. Thus this study is to reveal the form of his religiosity in the novel and the influencing factors. RESEARCH METHOD The source of this study is taken from a novel by Yann Martel, Life of Pi reprinted and republished in New York in 2012. The data collection is by analyzing the quotations, phrases, dialogues, or monologues in which reveal thought, speech, action, and attitude that reflects the idea of religiosity of the main character, Pi, from the novel Life of Pi. This study of religiosity will be applied by the concept of religiosity with its components, modes, dimension, orientation, and changes that often experienced by people. The religiosity used to determine and explain about the main character Pi issues of religiosity. To analyze the background of his commitment, it is used psychology of adolescence concept that consists of several psychological points of view about relationship between adolescence and family and religious life of adolescence. Close reading of the novel is done first to determine the major issue of it. The major issues are collected and proposed into a topic of the study by seeing the conflict, the monologue, the dialogue in the novel. After the topic is already decided, it is tried to figure out what should be analyzed with the topic. Thus it is collected two statements of problems. There are the depiction of Pi's religiosity and the factors that influence his religiosity. The next step is searching related information about concept of the topic and to figure it out, it is used religiosity concept and theory of psychology of adolescence for the analysis and the conclusion. CONCEPT OF RELIGIOSITY Religiosity is a concept that has a bound with religion. This concept of religiosity can be defined in some definitions that relate to the religion itself. Supaat (2008: 175) defines religiosity as an aspect which lies inside the deep heart, flaming in the inner heart, personal attitudes which more or less are mystery for the other people, because are based on intimate psychology i.e. universal totality, that includes human's ratio and feeling, inside the personal being. This religious attitude is pointed on personal side of an individual toward his God, and having attitudes as what God wants. Stolz (2009: 347).continues with religiosity is when an individual prays, sacrifices, believes, loves or fear his god. Religiosity can also be defined as participation in religious rituals, various behaviors, and attitude in group or society by an individual (Theodorson, 1969: 345). Rituals are usually what a religion tells the adherents to do. Whitehouse (2004: 4) explains rituals as actions that have lack of intrinsic meanings although there are possible interpretations or symbolic motivations that may be the background of the rituals. Although these actions are lack of intrinsic meaning, the ordeals are ritualized and the speculation of their significance and meaning are still present. Focusing on implicit motivations of people doing the behaviors has some tactical merits (Whitehouse, 2004:24). The explicit religious concept that ethnographers interpret is often difficult to differentiate that the concept is the interpretation of the ethnographers or the people's actual explicit religious concepts. The other reason is from the psychological point of view, implicit concepts are better predictors of behavior. The people can also be manipulated to do the actions because they are not consciously aware and will of their response to the stimulus. This leads to explicit reason to do the behaviors instead of the real motivation of them. The explicit knowledge is likely consisting of post hoc rationalization rather than a guide of the motivation for the behavior (Whitehouse 2004: 25). On the contrary, Fazio stated in Whitehouse (2004: 25) says that the conflicts between the implicit concept and explicit concept are not always true all the time. He says that explicit belief can also be a guide to the motivation. People who do the same ritual procedures regularly results in habituation. Those automated habits can make the people to have less reflection of the symbolic meanings of the rituals (Whitehouse, 2004: 6) for example in religious speech. People can be feeling bored of the doctrinal repetition. Rituals are the main things to do in order to get merits and not being sinful. As Tracy (1920: 183) stated that religion involves man's attitudes towards the Supreme Being without age differences and the main thing is to do positive attitudes towards the Being. To support these, an adherent often does various behaviors like fasting and to behave or keeping his or her good attitude by helping other people and doing good things. God is the invisible but owns the highest power and attitudes towards the Being, as sacred and profane. Durkheim (1915: 37) states that there are two divisions of world. They are sacred in which is the one containing all and profane which is the other all. These are the distinctive characteristics of religious thought. Sacred thing is not only about the personal beings called gods and spirits but a rock, a house, a tree, or anything can be sacred. Profane is what relates to daily life experience of human beings. For example, it is about someone's attitude that results in sins or the way a religion teaches human being to have a meaningful life by giving charity and helping one another so it will result in man's goodness. The representations which express the sacred things, the virtues and powers that they have, or the relation with profane things are like beliefs, myths, dogmas, and legends (Durkheim, 1915: 37) As well as Theodorson, Tarigan (2007:11) supports that. The definition of religiosity for him is as the human attitude which comes from God's blessing. God blesses human to believe in God, to enjoy modest life, to give charity, to help other people, to be lovable, and to be friendly. Because of the participations, behaviors, and attitudes based on particular religion that an adherent must do, sometimes these will cause strain to the adherents. They may feel under pressure because if they are not doing them, there will not be merits that they will get but sins and being afraid of God. God is someone who watches you to see that you behave yourself. (Powell, 1963: 289) The concept of religiosity is also generally accepted as multidimensional phenomenon. The phenomenon happens in the society related, influenced, or caused by many dimensions. The dimensions come from cultural, social, or individual contexts. Religious as the result of practicing and believing religion is also influenced by the religion's system of beliefs, rituals, and practices. Thus, individual actions are often influenced by the religion. Because of factors like afraid of being sinful person or to be considered as a religious person, adherents may do more than what a religion tells. This actualization of excessive religious, religiosity (Concise Oxford English Dictionary Eleventh Edition), besides to show that they are religious by doing it excessively, it also can be deviated from the real doctrines. It is agreeable that religion has to do with the relationship between man and his Maker or specifically it is the relationship between man's attitudes towards whatever he believes to be the owner of the highest power in universe (Tracy, 1920: 183). Because of the existence of attitudes, it needs to differentiate religion and religiosity although they bound each other. Religiosity is something that adherents do from what a religion orders. Then, religion defines as follows A religion is a set of meanings and behaviors having reference to individuals who are or were or could be religious. (Ferm, 1959: 647) The statements means that a religion is a container of what an individual must do or must not do either the individual is religious, was religious, or could be religious. Thus, it is only a term that contains all formal or informal religions in the world (Ferm, 1959: 647). Religion is the institution of godness which is unified system of beliefs, rituals, and practices that typically involve a broader community or believers who share common definitions of the sacred and the profane. (freebook.uvu.edu/SOC1010 retrieved on 18th October 2012) Supporting Ferm, Evans (1978: 305) has a definition of religion in which also has relationship between things or power which are uneasy to explain. Because religion freely allows a man to relate himself to the outer power that cannot be explained with science, quality and intensity of man's religiosity of his religion can be low or high. A man considered himself as religious man not only because he believes on religion , he can be considered as religious without doing religion's doctrines or a man who does it but is considered as not religious one as explained as follows that it needs a deep understanding to consider a man as religious person or not. To be religious is to effect in some way and in some measure a vital adjustment (however tentative and incomplete) to whatever is reacted to or regarded implicitly or explicitly as worth of serious and ulterior concern. (Ferm, 1959: 647) Supaat (2008: 175) stated that someone who is religious is defined as human being who has serious inner heart, pious, careful, and with deep spiritual considerations. GENERAL COMPONENT OF RELIGIOSITY For the social psychologist, religion has five main facets. They are the ideological or beliefs, the ritualistic or practice, the experiential or feelings, the intellectual or knowledge and the consequential or effects (Watts and Williams, 1988: 10). These facets bound into one dimension of religiosity. On the other hand, Duke (1988) defines the general components of religiosity seen from social psychologist are knowing or cognition, feeling or affection, and doing or behavior. Knowing or cognition is abstract. Knowing about things that are related to religiosity and religions are inside every man's mind. This is an ideology. The people believe what he believes that the things are true and good for him. Because ideology is only idea in this context in idea of religious things, the only thing that can be seen from this is the realization of this belief in the real world. For example a person believes that a religion is true. People cannot see his belief but can only see how the person shows his belief true religious doings like doing rituals. The feeling or affective is the feeling dimension of religiosity towards the social situations. The social situations contain things that God has created. Human being, animals, plants, goods, or institution are the creation of God. People who have religiosity are feeling grateful of the existence of His creations. Doing or behavior is the action of showing religiosity. This action aims to get positive effect. Religious doings are the realizations of religion as ideology and the feeling towards the God and His creation in the world. The behaviors are like attending religious rituals like servings God as a duty, studying about religion as the feeling to enlarge his knowledge and religiosity to his God, doing charity as the praise for his sufficiency and love feeling towards fellow, and helping the others to tighten the fellowship. In the matter of religious behavior, cognitive scientists more or less ignored the roles of explicit religious ideas and sentiments as the motivations of people doing the religious behavior (Whitehouse, 2004: 24). Boyer stated in Whitehouse (2004: 24) says that people are feeling the compulsion to participate in rituals because the natural environment often produces contaminants so the people use the rituals as the detection of and protection against them. These specializations are actually just normal cognitive systems. Of these components of religiosity, many researchers still hopes for more developed ways to measure religiosity of someone that the participation in institutional religion because there are differences in religious attitudes and experiences between dominations and between different people with the same denomination and there are fact of the equivalency of average attendance figures (Watts and Williams, 1988: 11). Some people may define themselves as religious in some sense although they play no part in organized religion. From a survey on religious scale items from Independent Television Authority Survey stated in (Watts and Williams, 1988: 11), individuals scored high on religiosity because they classified themselves as very religious or fairly religious, are certain that having some religious beliefs lead a good life, without belief in god life is meaningless, religion helps to maintain standard and morals of society, there is God, god watches each person, are very likely to think of god when they are worried or happy, religious belief affected their everyday lives. MODES OF RELIGIOUS INVOLVEMENT Individual participation on religion consists of two modes of religious involvements. Duke, in his journal, states that the modes are personal mode and institutional mode. The personal mode is built of religious beliefs, feelings, and behaviors. These are found in personal and individualized religion. The person accepts doctrinal orthodoxy from the cultural society around (Duke: 1998). In institutional mode, the religious beliefs, feelings, and behaviors are found in formalized and institutionalized religion. This mode accepts them in which related to religious rituals and worship services like in a particular church or other religions. While Duke divides an individual involvement is a religion as personal and institutional mode, the others like Davidson stated in Duke, separates it to private and public modes. RELIGIOUS ORIENTATION People's interest toward particular religion that makes them religious depends on their own decision. It is whether they are extrinsically or intrinsically oriented (Allport, 1967: 144). Allport's point of view of extrinsic religious is caused by outer reasons or influence. The reason why an individual is committing religious acts aims in seizing mundane goals like feeling comforted and protected and also is like to get a social status and approval. To measure an individual religiosity based on extrinsic orientation is by seeing the influence given by peers, family members, or professional workers. Durkheim demonstrates how process that influence by society motivates individual action. The only source of life at which we can morally reanimate ourselves is that formed by the society of our fellow beings; the only moral forces with we can sustain and increase our own are those which we get from others. (Durkheim, 1915: 425) It is different from intrinsic orientation which assumed without achieving a mundane goal even self denying quality as the reason of religious involvement. This orientation arises from the goal of the contents of the religious tradition itself. To measure this orientation is by seeing the personality. CHANGE IN RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT AND PARTICIPATION Life events relate to religiosity. Peter Berger stated in Cornwall (1998) states that plausibility structures i.e. family, church, or voluntary organizations and conversations with the others are important and can give influence to religiosity. Because there are many life events that will influence someone's religiosity, there is chance of the change of his or her commitment and participation in religion. The changes are change in belief and activity over the life cycle, religion disaffiliation and dropping out, religious conversion and reactivation, religious change as personal development. The changing of religious belief and activity can be related to life cycle. Teens or early twenties may have less religious belief and activity than they who are in late twenties or thirties. This changing is caused by several backgrounds like family backgrounds, early socialization, and to developmental issues of adolescence and young adulthood (Albrecht and Cornwall: 1998) In religious disaffiliation and dropping out, an individual decides to not join one organization because she or he chooses to join another or decides to stop his religious involvement in the organization. Even though this is action of switching, it does not mean they loose their religious faith. They only choose the best belief for them. Religious conversion has often been defined as a rather sudden process consisting of new religious insight or experience which leads to greater religiosity on the part of individual involved (Donahue taken from Albrecht and Cornwall: 1998). Supporting Donahue, Starbuck (1900: 21) added that sudden changes of character like from evil to goodness, sinfulness to righteousness, and indifference to spiritual insight or activity. In the adolescent period, the conversion is an awakening. The conversion can happen in many motifs: conversion from private investigation of alternative ideologies to highly social, emotionally arousing experience (Lofland and Skonovd stated in Albrecht and Cornwall: 1998). Starbuck (1900: 49) states that the motives and forces behind the religious awakening is based on the nature of conversion. To study the motives and fears, the people are grouped into their likeness and differences. They are fears, other self-regarding motives, altruistic motives, following out a moral ideal, remorse and conviction for sin, response to teaching, example and imitation, urging and other forms of social pressure (Starbuck, 1900: 49) Religious development changes as the individual goes matures. This maturation process is primarily seen through psychological study without focuses on the impact of normative events like marriage, first job, child bearing, and death (Albrecht and Cornwall: 1998) PSYCHOLOGY OF ADOLESCENCE Adolescence is the second stage of human life. In this stage, adolescents will experience a period of the birth of procreative function until the full maturity of their powers (Tracy, 1920: 10). This stage is begun in the second dozen period of human life. The first dozen period is childhood, the third is manhood and the fourth or the last period is the beginning of decay of the powers until death. In other word, the adolescent period started from the age of 12 years. Supporting Tracy, Goldenson (1984: 17-18) explains further about the beginning of adolescent of girls and boys. He stated that adolescent period of girls is begun when they are 12 until 24 years. Boys have a year later the beginning of adolescence than girls, which is from 13 until 22 years. The period of adolescence is subdivided into two periods but some writers divided it into three. In the three divisions of this period, there are early, middle, and later adolescence. In this division, the beginning of adolescence happens in the four or five first year while the rest divisions follow this. In two divisions, the period of adolescence is subdivided into early and later adolescence. Both are lined when the adolescents are in their sixteen or seventeen years of life. During the period of adolescence, adolescents will experience a period of puberty. Puberty is a period when sexual life is born and it is also the beginning of procreative quality of them. Although puberty will happen to every person, the birth is varied between an adolescent to the other adolescents. This means that an adolescent can have it when he is 12 and the other may have it in his 14. Besides puberty is the birth of sexual maturity, in some civilized people, puberty is a sign of social and religious obligations of individual. … Frequently by some new emphasis on the social and religious obligations of the individual, evidently with a half-conscious recognition of the close association between the racial and the religious life. (Tracy, 1920: 17). The same thing happens to adolescents in Christian Communions. In this community, adolescents are hoped to take new step of their religiousness and begin to take their religious responsibility. This will lead them to the closer and more open relationship with their church. As well as Tracy, Goldenson (1984: 17-18) stated that during this period, adolescence will experience major various changes that have different rates one to the other. The changes include changing of sexual characteristic, body image, sexual interest, social roles, intellectual development, and self concept. Tracy (1920: 18) stated that in the matter of thought and feeling, adolescence is the period of 'deepening'. The feeling of adolescents will experience a flaming where they will find deepest meaning of things. All experiences of them will make them to interpret them deeper and bound them into a higher thought. In this case Evans (1978: 93) supports Tracy. He explained that in period of operational thinking, adolescents will not face conflict in thought process from the concrete to the abstract form. The adolescents will be aware of logical of basic things and the formulation of hypotheses (Evans, 1978: 93). Thus, they will seek for the logical reasons behind some things, conditions, or situations around them then they began to understand them as something that they have known or purposely introduced when they were kid. The mind of the adolescent reaches out to that which is implicated or involved in the presentation. In a deeper sense than ever before, the mind now takes hold upon the ideal, builds castles, lays plans, and indulges in day dreams, with all kindred psychic adventures (Tracy, 1920: 18) The feeling of adolescents will be richer than when they are children. This will also become actual. The combination of feeling, thought will result of the birth of emotion. Adolescence has primary emotions. They are love, fear, anger, and curiosity. The adolescence does not learn the emotions. The emotions are inborn. Other emotions are built on those primary emotions. Love is a feeling of strong affection or attachment. This emotion makes adolescence concerns for someone or feels delight in an object, person, or situation. This primary emotion builds some secondary emotions like affection, joy, pleasure, and delight. Adolescence will feel alone and insecure without love. Fear is an emotion which ranges from worry. Hurlock stated in Kapunan (1971: 55) categorizes fear into three: fear of material objects, like animals, airplane, elevator; fear of social relationship, like being alone, meeting people for the first time, making a speech; general fear, like poverty, death, darkness, physical incapacity, marriage. Gates and Pressey stated in Kapunan (1971: 56) say that fear has positive values. Fear causes someone to be cautious and careful, thrifty, sober, and the fear prevents one from doing wrong. But, fear also can make one from going a head and can lead to failure. There are three ways to overcome fear. They are forewarning in which the adolescence should be cautioned of something they are afraid of, assurance in which they are told that nothing is to fear, and to live the experience. Some secondary emotions of fear are moods, anxiety, and worry. Anger is an emotion from resentment to rage. This emotion is caused by inability to do or get what is wanted. It may be being teased, treated unfairly, and being bossed. The expressions of anger are like disobedience, resistance, sneers, threats, satire, gossip, or oral attack. This anger also has positive effect. This can make one accomplish more, make one pause and re-examine his practices and limitations. Curiosity is the beginning of knowledge and learning when one starts asking question. This interest or curiosity makes children being aware of the changes around them. This makes their interest aroused. The birth of emotions of adolescence makes the adolescents becoming aware of the combination of those emotions. After that, the action rises. When children's action is imitative, habitual and automatic adolescents' action will be less imitative, habitual, and automatic. It will be controlled by the will although it is not fully controlling the action. It is because their intelligence control is spasmodic and intermittent. FAMILY AND ADOLESCENCE Family condition whether it is related to the parents' attitudes influences the attitude of adolescence. Since many of attitudes or values own by children are well structured in their eight or nine years that are difficult to change, this means the home environment is the primary factor involved in structuring them. Powell (1963: 266) added that although parents have strong role of structuring children's attitudes and values, the home environment also influences them. It is including children's observation of his parent's interaction with each other and with other adults. According to Warnath in Powell (1963: 267) home is the place for children of learning developmental social skill and the desire to participate in activities related to other individuals. THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF ADOLESCENCE Everyman is basically a religious being. They are capable of religion not at this age or that age. They are always capable of this. Although everyman's naturally religious, they are not capable of it in the same sense. It is not also the ideas and feelings towards a religion are the same in every man. An immature man does not have the same things as a mature man has of the ideas and feelings. It can be said that child's capability of religious experience is not the same in form and content as youth's and adult's. Since religion is a matter of thinking, feeling, and acting, children who are not mature, they themselves have intellectual power over their feeling and behavior (Tracy, 1920: 186). As long as they are given early introduction to God, their life is genuinely religious (Tracy, 1920: 186) as they easily absorb things around them. Thus, the character of children's religious life is based on their mental life and this progress. As everyone knows, child absorbs things around him but without the knowledge of his sense. Although the child tries to look deeper about the knowledge he gets from his surroundings, there is not larger degree of understanding that he will get. Although child may comprehend and speak bout the un-sensed for example the unseen and untouched things, there is not understanding about it. They only know that they can see the unseen if they have keener vision and where to look them. During childhood, children are told that God sees them but they cannot see God and God is near to them but they still cannot see God. They may ask such questions but without understanding. Thus, they will be satisfied to any answers given to them. Religion of child and the religion of youth have much in common but there are still features that differ one from another. The religion of youth is more subjectively personal than the religion of children. Religion of children is natural religion but the youth's is spiritual religion. Youth tries to find spiritual meaning of objects, events, and relationship of human life. Religion influences moral values as well as social attitudes not only for adults but also children and adolescents. Children know about religion early from the one closed to them like from parents. Since the children's religion is natural, as long as they are given early introduction about this, they will likely be religious. This differs to adolescent. Early introduction to concept of religion that is relationship between God and man often creates conflict in adolescence. They begin to question the concepts they have absorbed (Powell, 1963: 284) because they start to find out the hidden meaning of something, like no children. For in childhood there is a simple, direct response to the impressions of the environment, on the sensori-motor reflex plane, without the possibility of the deeper and stronger emotions, and with a minimum of logical interpretation or critical analysis. In youth this naive outlook gives way by degrees to one in which the subjective elements play a more prominent part, with the simple feelings giving place to the profounder emotions, mere sense-perception being supplemented by the more ambitious processes of cognition, and the instinctive and habitual motor reactions by deliberate choice and higher volition. (Tracy, 1920: 189) Adolescence is an important period of dedication in participation of organized religions in the world even in primitive form (Ferm, 1959: 378). Ferm also states that When the religious nurture of childhood must issue in personal commitment if significant religious maturity is to follow (Ferm, 1959: 378) Tracy (1920: 191) distincts two distinctive features of adolescence's religion. The first are the experience of intellectual doubts and difficulties whether it is accompanied by emotional tension and upheaval or not. The second is the experience known as conversion. Doubts and difficulties are related to religious questions. As children is very dogmatic which means they greatly absorbs what others say and answer based on questions that they ask, the mind of adolescence begins to criticize that. Ideas which have heretofore dwelt side by side in consciousness without any sense of clash or conflict, may now reveal to the more alert mind of youth certain incongruities and contradictions. (Tracy, 1920: 193) If the adolescence cannot deal with the idea that they have with the reality that they face, there will be conflict which leads to doubts of what they have believed. In some researches stated by Powell (1963: 286) relating to loss of religious interest with adolescent, show that young people do not loose 100 percents the interest of religion but they do not seem feeling satisfied with traditional religious belief and ritual. In this period, he added that confusion seems to happen that may lead to guilt feeling. Family environment which is included attitudes of father and mother influences the development of young people's religious attitudes, Parents often give their children with strict adherence to specific religion. This habit can make confusion to the children when they come to a more liberal home (Powell, 1963: 286). However, children with less religious even irreligious parents will make them insecure and envy of seeing their classmates involved in religious experience denied them. A better point of view of religion will be in the attitudes of children whose parents are religious and liberal. These combinations seem to make result in developing more mature religious views (Powell, 1963: 288). According to Allport cited in Powell (1963: 290) religious sentiments occur from needs, interests, temperament, rationality, and cultural response. Young people seek for new experiences, awareness of the presence of God, to be useful and unselfish, to participate responsibly, and become members of a wholesome fellowship (Powell, 1963: 291) Kuhlen and Arnold cited in Powell (1963: 289) agrees that religious beliefs become increasingly abstract with the increase of age. The more age he has, the more likely he becomes religious. For many adolescents, leaving religious practice is temporary since they will enter their adulthood that makes them likely to become affiliated with religious practice. DEPICTION OF PI'S RELIGIOSITY Three general components of religiosity are depicted by Pi. The depictions are Pi's knowing about God's existence, knowing about religion, feeling grateful of animals' existence, grateful of goods' existence, Pi's doing like serving God through personal prayer, committing three religions, loving the fellow, and loving animals. As adolescence, Pi has knowledge about the great power of God. Pi thinks that it is only a very serious disease that will kill God. What is meant by serious disease is a real serious disease that infects a human being. Pi thinks that God, the Supreme Being who has super power over all things in the world will not die or never dies because of thing like suffering disease like a man can. God is the creator of human being and all other creatures in this world. He disagrees with his teacher's opinion that God died during partition in 1947. He might also die during the war or when he was in orphanage. Pi believes and knows it so he thinks that it is an impossible thing for God to die that way like a human being does. He also thinks that if God's existence in a man's heart is dead, this condition will lead to terrible things. In other words this is a very dangerous condition. Pi states this because he does not want God disappears from every human being's heart. He compares the terrible things that will happen because of that condition with terrible disease. He attempts to say that the effect of both things towards human beings and other creatures in the world is vey dangerous. Someone who suffers a not-dangerous disease still can infect the people around him then imagine if the disease is terrible. This will have greater effect towards them. Then, if someone does not recognize his God anymore, this will make destruction. For example, if human beings are the highest God's creature compared to animals and plants do not have God inside their minds then the God's blessing like mercy towards the other will be lessen and the worst is disappearance of that. If the people do not have mercy anymore, they will damage the environment. Relating this to Pi's life that is closed to animals, Pi knows and believes that by keeping God inside his heart will make the world and its contents peaceful. Pi has a positive point of view of religion. For him religion is light. The light will guide human beings to the right way along their life's way. When Pi met his teacher, Mr. Kumar at his father's zoo, Pi was so happy to see him there. Mr. Kumar said that he often went to the zoo and thought that other people might think that it was his temple although he was indicating to the Pit of goats' and rhinos' cage. He later talked about politic that lead to religious debate between him and inside Pi's heart. Mr. Kumar thinks that the world will be peaceful if the politicians are like the goats and rhinos. But the real condition is reversed. Pi does not know anything about politics although his parents often complained about Mrs. Gandhi. He bluntly said that religion would save them. After Pi mentioned that they will be saved by religion from the political condition that was terrible, Mr. Kumar's response was not very good. He admitted that he did not believe in religion. He thought that religion is darkness. He thought that there were no grounds for believing thing like that. He only thought that religion was a superstitious bosh. He did not believe in God's existence. Hearing this Pi was only thinking that Mr. Kumar was only testing him for his knowledge of religion. He thought that he was like purposely saying that mammals lay eggs. After that Mr. Kumar is an atheist was in his mind. He was then surprised when he was told that God may have died somewhere some when. Although he was surprised of this, Pi did not hate the fact that Mr. Kumar is an atheist but Mr. Kumar's agonistic made Pi upset. Mr. Kumar spoke that God never came when he needed Him. When he was Pi's age, he was racked with polio. The God never came and saved Him but the medicine did. Pi did not respond anything about it although it was a bit much for him. Pi chooses not to argue with Mr. Kumar not because of his anger but more afraid of loosing someone he loved. The depiction of Pi's gratefulness of animals' existence is found when he was in the zoo. Pi's father was the owner of a zoo in Pondichery. He was feeling very happy of growing up in a zoo. Almost every animal in the zoo left an impression to Pi. In some case, Pi did not have to depend on his activity to the mundane thing like alarm clock for example. Pi did not have to have the clock because he could use the voice of animals around him to wake him up, to remind him for breakfast. He used the roar of a pride of lion who usually roar off between five-thirty and six every morning. The loud voice of howler monkeys punctuated his breakfast time. The animals in the zoo also give Pi a happy feeling. Besides from his mother's gaze, he also got a benevolent from bright-eyed otters, burly American bison, and also orang-utans. Pi was living his life as prince who had the fondest memories of living in a zoo because of the animals. The animals brought him advantages. From morning until dark, Pi was always welcomed by them. Every animal in the zoo has different characteristics, habits, and action. There are animals which voices are very disturbing but there are animals which are not. The habits or the actions of the animals whether they are annoying or not, has brought him to think that they are the graceful gifts from God. Seeing their action made Pi feeling as a lucky boy. Pi has always been feeling grateful of what God has given to him. Once when he is in trouble when floating on the Pacific Ocean, he finds goods that will make him survive. Although he is in trouble, he still remembers about the relationship of the goods' colour with one of the religions he has committed. In Hinduism, saffron is the most sacred color for the Hindu. This color represents fire and symbolizes purity. Wearing this color symbolizes the quest for light. If this color is related to what Pi finds in the lifeboat, this means the goods are source of light for Pi. The light is his survival from the fear. The boat makes him safe from the Pacific Ocean beneath him and the tarpaulin separates him with his Bengal tiger. At first, Pi does not think that the goods he has found will become his lifesaver. But, he then thinks that with the lid, he is separated from Richard Parker. This means he is protected from carnivore that is in the same boat with him. He is feeling grateful of that. Then if the tiger is managed to attack Pi from below, he should push the lid and it will warn him and make him fell backwards to the water. And here it is the function of the lifebuoy. The existence of the goods has caused joyful feeling for Pi. He even cannot compare them with all giving occasions that he has experienced before even the occasions bring great pleasure. Although Pi is floating on the Pacific Ocean, he still does prayers. Pi does the religious rituals adapted to the circumstances. He does all three religions rituals he commits. Pi still does the prayers because he has felt that doing prayer will bring him comfort. But, in practice, doing prayer is very hard for him. He thinks that to have faith in God is difficult. He has to have an opening up, trust, and act of love towards God. It is because he is not in a save condition. There are dangerous problems that he faces on the ocean. He sometimes fills with anger, desolation, and weariness. He is angry at the God who puts him in this kind of situation. In that kind of situation, Pi ensures himself that everything around him is God's, even the hat he is wearing, the attire, the cat, the ark, the wide acres, the ear. Pi has a very strange religious practice. Although he is still adolescence, he has already practiced three different religions. They are Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. At the age of fourteen years old, Pi meets Jesus Christ and becomes a Christian although he was born Hindu. He is admired by the God's Son's sacrifice. He willingly sacrifices Himself for the goodness of humanity. He pays the humanity sins. The reason is because of love. Although Pi is a Hindu, he also commits to Christianity. He does both Hindu and Christian prayers even right after becoming Christian. Pi commits to Islam a year later. Again he is introduced to Islam by a professional worker. He is a Sufi who is a Muslim mystic. His name is Satish Kumar, person with the same name as his biology teacher. Pi is attracted to Islam because of the brotherhood and devotion that are told in Islam. Pi also feels good when he brings his forehead to the ground. He feels a deep religious contact then. After all those introductions to new religions, Pi practices all of them. Pi's love toward the fellow is depicted through his relationship with his biology teacher. Although Pi is born Hindu and is a well-content Hindu, he still respects anyone who does not have the same faith with him including his biology teacher, Mr. Satish Kumar. One day Pi sees Mr. Kumar in the zoo. He is a regular visitor of the zoo. When he is visiting zoo, he always reads labels and descriptive notices of every animal. He feels scientifically refreshed after visiting the zoo. In the zoo Mr. Kumar and Pi have a talk about political things in India. Mr. Kumar imagines if they have politicians like two rhinoceros and a goat, that live together in harmony that they are watching, India would not have faced many problems. Then Pi says that religion will save them. Mr. Kumar's response is out of Pi's mind. He thinks religion is darkness and God does not exist. Pi is surprised about this. Pi only thinks that he is testing him. But it is not. Mr. Kumar is an atheist, someone who does not believe in God's existence. Although Mr. Kumar's point of view about religion and God is not the same as Pi's, he still accepts this. He only thinks that anyone has doubt like Christ who ever doubts God for forsaking Him. Pi still makes Mr. Kumar as the reason he choose zoology as one of his major in university. Because he is the first atheist person that Pi meets, he is able to think that atheists are his brothers and sisters. He considers Mr. Kumar as a person of blood-relationship with him no matter what faith he has. The faith is their faith. They are free for it like Pi himself. Pi's love towards animals has made him to become a vegetarian. When Pi is in trouble finding the source of food on the boat on Pacific Ocean, he is finding many flying fish, Dorado fish, have flown into the lifeboat. He is finding this event as happy event because Richard Parker has had some food supplies to fill its hungry stomach. Pi also takes one of the fish. He covers the fish with blanket in order to not make him hurt. After that, he tries several times to kill the fish but he could not complete the action. Pi cannot make it because he feels pity of the fish. He even feels a bit responsible of the rat's death because he threw it to Richard Parker. To kill the fish, he thinks that he is between the affection feeling towards animals and the need to have meal. In his lifetime, he is a vegetarian. When Pi has been succeeded in killing the fish, the tears come down his cheeks. He cannot feel the life fighting anymore. He feels sad knowing that there is blood on the fish. Although fish is a common animal that human even other animals eat and they rarely think that the fish is a creature that has soul, Pi's aware that there is soul inside the fish. He is very sorry toward the soul living things that he has killed. The fish cannot enjoy its life anymore. Pi thinks the fish and him are the living creation of God. They should not kill each other. Because he loves it, he is feeling guilty. Then, he promise to pray for the fish in his prayer. FACTORS INFLUENCING PI'S RELIGIOSITY The religiosity of a person can be begun since early life of that person. This can appear to the mind of people when they are children. Not all people will experience religiosity since in their early age. Usually the forms of religiosity are based on religion. The moral values and social attitudes of the people will be likely influenced by it. Early introduction of religious things to people are mostly from the people around them but this religiosity can also come from inside the individuals. The factors that influence religiosity of Pi are family's influence, professional workers' influence, needs, interest, and rationality. Pi's religiosity comes from the influence of his parents because they are the closest figure for the children. Although Pi is from Hindu family, he defines his father as person who does not have strong belief about religion. He later explains that all new animals in the zoo owned by his father are blessed by priest. In the zoo there are also two small shrines. They are to Lord Ganesha and to Hanuman. But, the reason behind this is only to please the zoo director. His father thinks the existence of the shrines is good for his business to build a better relationship with the public, not personal reason like personal salvation for him. It is true that Pi is religious because he has been falling in love with Hinduism. But, the children's mental life grows. Pi sees his father as a less or lesser religious than him. Then he might think that committing two new other religions is okay for him. Because of this reason, he begins to think it won't be any problem with my family if I commits to these new religions. Besides of the religious life of his father, Pi also feels that when he was kid, he has never prohibited reading comic and other papers that contain anything about gods of any religion. Pi thinks that his mother was pleased to see him reading any books so long it was not naughty, because she herself is a big reader. Professional workers have a great influence towards Pi's religiosity. Pi was originally a Hindu because he was born in Hindu family. During his childhood, he was familiar with everything about Hinduism. Later on when he enters his adolescence period that is in his fourteen years old, he begins to know about Christianity. Pi is on a holiday trip in Munnar. In Munnar there are three hills. The hill on the right has a Hindu temple, the hill in the middle has a mosque, and the left hill has a Christian church. Pi is a school boy who attends a Christian school but he never goes inside a church. Then, because of curiosity he decides to hide around a corner of the rectory of the church because he is afraid. Inside the church he sees a figure, a priest who is sitting quietly and patiently waiting for anyone who wants to talk to him. On the next day he manages to enter the church and is welcomed by the priest, Father Martin. Pi thinks he is very welcoming. In that church he was told some story about Christianity including God's son who was willing to pay the humanity sins. Pi cannot accept this. He always questions this thing to Father Martin. He always answers it is because of love. Pi does not feel satisfied of the answer. On his last day in Munnar, Pi decides to come to the church again. At first he thinks that the priest is not in but he is. He says to Father Martin that he wants to be a Christian. He says that Pi already is. Before Pi leaves, he finds Father Martin smiling to him. It is the smile of Christ for him. From these, Father Martin's patience and kindness to give explanation to Pi and answers his questions too have made Pi to feel that Christian is not as what he thinks as people with great violence. He has seen the sincerity of Father Martin. He is feeling comforted about what the man is telling. These makes him understands about the religion and finally commits in it. Another professional worker that influences Pi to Pi's religiosity is an imam of a mosque in Mullah Street. At that time, Pi is also in his adolescent period. He is sixteen years old when he knows Islam. Pi actually does not have good impression about Islam. Islam has a reputation worse than Christianity. Islam has fewer gods but greate
President Biden has used the immigration authority known as "parole" to permit many immigrants to enter the country or remain in the country legally. But his actions have deep historical precedent. Under section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)), the Attorney General and later the Secretary of Homeland Security has had the authority to waive the normal restrictions on entry and allow certain noncitizens to enter the United States since 1952. Table 1 provides a list of 126 programmatic or categorical parole orders, meaning orders that were nationalized policies intended to permit the entry of certain defined types of noncitizens. This list is certainly not exhaustive. Until recently, programmatic or categorical uses of parole were often not publicized in any formal, consistent, or even public way. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) would simply create internal guidance that would only become public if stakeholders or the media publicized it.
For example, one instance in Table 1 is an INS official in 1990 listing six separate categories for parole in operation at the time that no other document refers to before or since. That is an exceptional case. In many cases, however, Congress acknowledged these uses of parole through subsequent or previous congressional actions, allowing for parolees to adjust to legal permanent residence or receive refugee benefits. In some cases, it just acknowledged that these procedures were in effect or expressed support for them. This list helps dispel some myths. Since the creation of the parole power in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952—which codified executive powers already in use—Congress has substantively amended the parole authority twice: in the Refugee Act of 1980 (P.L. 96–212, March 17, 1980), barring refugees from being paroled into the United States, and in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–208), which made two statutory changes. First, the standard for paroling someone changed from "emergent" or "public interest" reasons to "urgent humanitarian" or "significant public benefit" reasons. Second, each determination had to be made on a case‐by‐case basis. Few at the time thought these changes were substantive, and the categorical parole regulations then in effect were reenacted verbatim. Moreover, the case‐by‐case basis requirement was in effect for decades, including for large‐scale programmatic uses of parole, such as for Cubans and Vietnamese. Case‐by‐case determinations always meant an individual determination, even if someone's categorization created a presumption that they met the "emergent/humanitarian" or "public interest/significant public benefit" requirement. In many cases, these parole programs have received almost no attention in many years but contain precedents that the current administration should consider reimplementing. For example, parole used to be available in 1990 for children aging out of eligibility for green cards. In the 1950s, it was used for the employment‐based first preference category (skilled immigrants) when immigrant visas were unavailable under the cap. These two issues are particularly relevant now, with the employment‐based cap being exhausted even for Nobel laureates and their children. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive set of statistics for the number of people paroled since 1952. Figure 1 shows the data that the INS published from 1982 to 2003. Table 2 shows the programmatic grants under various programs from the 1950s through the year 2000.
Humanitarian and public interest parole categories (1952—present): This type of parole has evolved over time in the types of categories that fall under it. In 1964, the INS associate commissioner listed several categories of immigrants who would be granted parole: to "either attend to sickness or burial or some close family affair," "accompany servicemen, members of the Armed Forces where the wife or some child would have been technically inadmissible," reunite a mentally handicapped child who would otherwise be excludable with their family, or deal with medical emergencies. Since 1982, at least some of these reasons have been included in regulations. In 1980, the INS provided examples of parole, including children coming for medical treatment, people coming to donate a kidney, and a Chinese woman who was allowed to visit her 81‐year‐old adoptive mother, who had been expelled by the communists from China. In 1990, the INS described a "small sampling" of the kinds of humanitarian and public interest categories of parole available at the time: 1) Someone's immediate family member just died or is dying, and consular officers lack time to process a visa or deny the visa; 2) People coming for organ, blood, or tissue donation; 3) Extradited criminals, informants, witnesses; and 4) National security assets (e.g., Soviet dissidents and foreign U.S. spies). In September 2008, ICE, USCIS, and CBP signed a memorandum of agreement on the use of parole by the agencies. This document listed, among other programs described below, parole categories for 1) registered sources of the U.S. intelligence community, 2) transiters through the United States to legal proceedings in a third country, 3) trainees, 4) individuals necessary for prosecutions or investigations, 5) confidential informants, 6) extraditions, 7) civil court participants, and 8) international organization event participants. Parole from detention (1954—1980): On November 12, 1954, Ellis Island and several other INS detention centers were closed, and detainees were paroled into the United States. The number of detained immigrants fell from a monthly average of 225 to less than 40. Paroles were carried out under section 212(d)(5) of the INA. The INS promulgated a regulation on January 8, 1958, authorizing this practice of parole from ports of entry rather than detention. From 1954 until 1981, "most undocumented aliens detained at the border were paroled into the United States." Even after 1982, when the use of parole was narrowed, its use continued "when detention is impossible or impractical." The INS associate commissioner testified in 1964 that the closing of the detention facilities met the requirement of the parole statute because "it created a better image of the American Government and American public." Orphan parole (1956): The Refugee Relief Act of 1953 created 4,000 slots for orphans adopted by U.S. citizens, but when the slots were filled, the attorney general authorized the entry of additional orphans under his parole authority on October 30, 1956. A total of 925 orphans were paroled. Adjustment of status: On September 11, 1957, Congress enacted Public Law 85–316, which authorized the adjustment of status to legal permanent residence of any eligible orphaned paroled into the United States. Hungarian parole (1956): On November 13, 1956, President Eisenhower ordered that 5,000 Hungarians be paroled into the United States. On December 1, 1956, he revised the limit to 15,000 Hungarians before eliminating the limit on January 2, 1957. By June 30, 1957, 27,435 parolees had entered, and the total reached 31,915 by 1958. For context, only 109 immigrants were admitted from Hungary in 1956, and only 321,625 immigrants were admitted worldwide. The Justice Department said in 1957 that this was "the first time that the parole provision has been applied to relatively large numbers of people." Several U.S. charitable organizations helped prepare their parole applications and to find housing and jobs for them. Adjustment of status: On July 25, 1958, Congress enacted legislation (P.L. 85–559) that allowed Hungarians to adjust their status to legal permanent residence if they were "paroled into the United States" at any point after October 23, 1956 (including after the enactment of the act) if they had been in the United States for at least two years. Ultimately, 30,491 received legal permanent residence in this way. This set a precedent for handling adjustments of later parolees. Pre‐Examination Parole (1957—1959): Regulations of December 6, 1957 provided that someone who was subjected to pre‐examination in the United States prior to requesting an immigrant visa in Canada who was found inadmissible in Canada "shall be paroled" into the United States. This regulation was revoked in 1959. Crew Members Parole (1957—present): Regulations of December 6, 1957 provided for the parole of noncitizen crewmembers under certain circumstances and stated that shipwrecked or castaway crew members "shall be paroled." On December 8, 1961 and March 22, 1967, expanded the grounds for parole to asylum seekers from communist countries. On July 27, 1990, this parole was expanded to crewmen facing persecution in any country. On March 6, 1997, this provision was updated and reenacted, and it was revised and reenacted again on February 19, 1999. On April 4, 2004, the parole of lightering crews that were not eligible for D‑1 visas for technical reasons was authorized. The parole of crew members was recognized in Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–208, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(13)(A)). Cuban parole (1959—1965): Starting about January 1, 1959, following the communist revolution, the Eisenhower administration used parole to allow a "small percentage" of Cubans who had left the island and entered illegally into the United States (INS 1960). By June 1961, there were 4,000 paroled Cubans in the United States (INS 1961). By December 31, 1961, there were 12,200 in parole status. In 1962, Cuban illegal entrants ceased to be referred for deportation hearings and were instead paroled into the United States (INS 1962). By June 1962, the number of Cubans on parole rose to 62,500 (INS 1962). Commercial travel between the U.S. and Cuba was suspended in 1962, and only a few thousand more Cubans made it off the island through the Red Cross (INS 1963). Altogether, about 107,116 Cubans were paroled into the United States from 1959 to 1965. Adjustment of status: The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 (P.L. 89–732, November 2, 1966) made it possible for Cuban parolees, including future parolees, to adjust their status to legal permanent residence after two years in the United States if they entered after 1959. Guam parole (1959—1974): Starting in April 1959, the INS began to parole into the United States some Filipinos to work with the Defense Department and the Government of Guam on the island under the Parolee Defense program. At least 16 orders establishing and renewing Guam parole programs went out between 1960 and 1969, and an INS internal memo of January 27, 1960 established the initial rules for the program. Workers received INS Form I‑94 stamped, "Paroled into Guam under section 212(d)(5) I&N Act until the purpose of parole has been served not exceeding—–." Parolees could enter for up to a year and could be extended at least twice. On November 15, 1962, the INS created the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Parole Program to parole workers from the Philippines and the Trust Islands into Guam to help with emergency repairs to homes and defense installations following a storm (INS 1963). From FY 1963 to FY 1974, 26,501 workers received parole to enter Guam temporarily. The Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Parole Program ended in 1970, and the Parolee Defense program was eliminated in 1975 in favor of admitting workers under the H‑2 nonimmigrant work visa program. Refugee‐escapee parole (1960—1965): On July 14, 1960, Congress passed the Fair Share Law (Public Law 86–648), a joint resolution to "enable the United States to participate in the resettlement of certain refugees." The law directed the INS to parole into the United States any refugee who fled from a communist or Middle Eastern country in an amount not to exceed 25 percent of the total number of such refugees accepted by other countries in the world, and it allowed any of those paroled to receive legal permanent residence after two years. During fiscal year 1961, 2,942 refugees entered as parolees (INS 1961), the largest portion of which were from Yugoslavia. In 1962, the total reached 8,260 (INS 1962). By 1966, the total had reached 19,705 (INS 1966). Public Law 86–648 included a sunset date for this use of parole of July 1, 1962, but authorization to continue to parole was extended indefinitely by section 6 of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act Public Law 87–510 (July 1, 1962). Section 16 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 ended this parole program, and the law introduced a new capped category of immigrant visas for refugees. Adjustment of status: Public Law 86–648 of 1960 (the original statute establishing the refugee‐escapee parolees) allowed parolees to adjust their status to legal permanent residence after two years in the United States. Section 16 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 terminated this provision. First Preference parole (1961): In January 1962, the INS reported that "recent changes in regulations" allowed for the parole of two groups of first preference skilled workers who could not receive green cards or immigrant visas as a result of the annual caps: 1) those who were abroad if they will be coming to work in defense industries; and 2) anyone in the United States. It's not clear exactly what change in regulation made this possible, but in 1964, the INS associate commissioner testified that this was the policy for "many years." He testified, "The basis for this policy was this incompatible situation that seemed to exist in that, with one hand, the Service was in effect making a finding that the alien's services were urgently needed and, at the same time, in contradiction, we were seeking to expel him." Congress revised the caps in 1965, which may have ended this practice. Hong Kong Chinese parole (1962—1965): On May 23, 1962, Attorney General Robert Kennedy ordered the INS to parole into the United States Chinese who had fled to Hong Kong so long as they were "relatives of United States citizens and resident aliens" or "Chinese persons possessing special skills needed in the United States" (INS 1962). By the end of FY 1963, the total number reached 7,047 (INS 1963). Processing continued into 1964, during which the total reached 10,617 (INS 1964). The number reached 13,619 in 1965 (INS 1965). By 1966, the total reached 14,757 (INS 1965, Table 14B). A few stragglers were approved in 1966 but did not arrive until later, bringing the total to 15,111 (INS 1966). The program ended in June 1965. Adjustment of status: The INA was amended in 1960 to allow parolees to adjust their status to legal permanent residence for the first time—which many were eligible to do since parolees generally had to meet the standards for an immigrant visa except for a cap spot being available—but no law provided any special category for Hong Kong parolees. Nonetheless, when Congress created a new general refugee category in December 1965, the administration used it to enable most other Hong Kong Chinese refugees to adjust their status. On October 5, 1978, P.L. 95–412 authorized adjustment of status for "any refugee, not otherwise eligible for retroactive adjustment of status, who was or is paroled into the United States by the Attorney General pursuant to section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act before September 30, 1980."
Russian Orthodox Old Believer parole (1963): The Russian Orthodox Old Believer church was being forced out of Turkey to the Soviet Union, where they would be persecuted. In response, the INS authorized the parole of 210 church members on May 10, 1963. Adjustment of Status: On October 5, 1978, P.L. 95–412 authorized adjustment of status for "any refugee, not otherwise eligible for retroactive adjustment of status, who was or is paroled into the United States by the Attorney General pursuant to section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act before September 30, 1980."
Cuban airlift parole (1965—1973): Starting on December 1, 1965, based on a November 6, 1965 memorandum of understanding with the Cuban government, the Johnson administration operated daily "Freedom Flights" from Cuba to Miami. During its operation, 281,317 Cubans were paroled into the United States. At its peak year, 46,670 Cubans arrived via parole in 1971. This compares to 361,972 total immigrants that year. The airlifts were funded by congressional appropriations. In May 1972, the flights were suspended by the Cuban government before being terminated permanently on April 6, 1973. Adjustment of status: The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 made it possible for Cuban parolees entering after 1959, including future parolees, to adjust their status to legal permanent residence after two years in the United States. Czechoslovak parole (1970): Following the failed uprising against the Soviets in Czechoslovakia on September 4, 1968, Secretary of State David Rusk asked the president to authorize the attorney general to parole for Czechoslovaks fleeing the fallout of the failed anti‐communist uprising. When the refugee numbers permitted under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 ran out, every member of the House Judiciary Committee wrote in November 1969 to the administration to request that it parole Czechoslovakian refugees. On January 2, 1970, the attorney general authorized the use of parole. Nearly 5,000 were processed from February to November 1970, with 6,500 total. These parolees were given I‑94 documents that stated that the period of admission was "indefinite" and the purpose of the parole was "refugee." This type of indefinite parole document was still available throughout the 1980s for other parole types. Adjustment of Status: On October 5, 1978, Public Law 95–412 authorized adjustment of status for "any refugee, not otherwise eligible for retroactive adjustment of status, who was or is paroled into the United States by the Attorney General pursuant to section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act before September 30, 1980."
Soviet Union minority religious groups (1971): Following a letter from Rep. Peter Rodino of the House Judiciary Committee, on October 1, 1971, Attorney General John Mitchell announced that the United States would parole Soviet religious minorities who secured exit permits from the Soviet Union. The first four arrived on January 7, 1972, and in FY 1973, 200 were processed this way (INS 1973). Adjustment of Status: On October 5, 1978, Public Law 95–412 authorized adjustment of status for "any refugee, not otherwise eligible for retroactive adjustment of status, who was or is paroled into the United States by the Attorney General pursuant to section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act before September 30, 1980."
Advance Parole (1971): Advance parole appears to date to 1971 when the INS implemented a regulation in 1971 deeming an adjustment of status application abandoned if a person left the country while it was still pending unless "he had previously been granted permission by the Service for such absence." If someone had entered with a nonimmigrant visa and tried to adjust status, they would have had to prove "nonimmigrant intent" (i.e., intention to leave) upon reentry, which would be impossible with a pending adjustment of status application, and the only alternative to a visa is parole. Advance parole would not have helped prior to the effective date of the 1960 act, which authorized parolees to adjust their status (under a normal immigrant visa category) for the first time. The first advance parole regulation from 1982 stated that "parole [may be] authorized for an alien who will travel to the United States without a visa." Since then, advance parole has often been the top reason for granting parole. In several acts since then (1986, 1990, and 1996), Congress specifically mentioned how "advance parole" can be granted to people already paroled into the United States (8 U.S.C. 1151(c)(4)(A)). Ugandan Asian parole (1972): The Ugandan government ordered Ugandan Asians to leave the country in 1972, and Attorney General Mitchell responded by initially ordering the INS to parole 1,000 Ugandan Asians. It ended up paroling almost 1,200 into the United States in FY 1973 (INS 1973). Another roughly 1,300 came thereafter. Adjustment of Status: On October 5, 1978, P.L. 95–412 authorized adjustment of status for "any refugee, not otherwise eligible for retroactive adjustment of status, who was or is paroled into the United States by the Attorney General pursuant to section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act before September 30, 1980."
Asylum parole (1972—1980): Following the United States acceding to the Protocol to the U.N. Convention on the Status of Refugees in 1968, the INS had no uniform process or status providing to asylum recipients because Congress had not created a specific status for them, but some were granted "individual parole." The April 10, 1979 regulations specifically provided for immigration judges to "grant asylum by parole under section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act." Adjustment of Status: The Refugee Act of 1980 (P.L. 96–212, March 17, 1980) provided the opportunity for those granted asylum to adjust their status to receive legal permanent residence.
Cuban third country parole (1973—1978): On October 26, 1973, the INS created a parole program for Cubans outside of Cuba who had family in the United States (INS 1975). A total of 11,577 were paroled in FY 1974, 6,940 in FY 1975, 2,341 in FY 1976, 413 in FY 1977, and 580 in FY 1978. Adjustment of status: The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 made it possible for Cuban parolees entering after 1959, including future parolees, to adjust their status to legal permanent residence after two years in the United States.
South American/Chilean parole (1975—1979): On June 12, 1975, the INS permitted 400 detained Chilean dissidents (and their families) to be paroled into the United States. A total of 1,600 people were ultimately paroled from 1975 to 1977. On October 27, 1976, the INS again authorized parole of 200 households, representing 800 people in FY 1977, and included some Uruguayans and Bolivians. On June 14, 1978, the parole of 500 households was authorized, and 2,000 people were admitted, including some Brazilians and Argentinians. More would have come if the government of Argentina had allowed more of them to leave. Adjustment of Status: On October 5, 1978, Public Law 95–412 authorized adjustment of status for "any refugee, not otherwise eligible for retroactive adjustment of status, who was or is paroled into the United States by the Attorney General pursuant to section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act before September 30, 1980."
Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian parole (1975—1980): In late March 1975, a parole program was authorized for Vietnamese orphans, and the first 2,279 Vietnamese orphans were flown out on April 2, 1975 (INS 1975), and on April 18, 1975, the president authorized a large‐scale evacuation to Guam using parole. In FY 1975 alone, about 135,000 received parole. Congress funded (partially retroactively) the processing under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act (Public Law 94–23, May 23, 1975). In August 1975, the program was expanded to Cambodians and Vietnamese with special connections to the United States, and on May 6, 1977, 11,000 more were authorized from Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos. The three countries were grouped together in expansive programs starting August 11, 1977, January 25, 1978, June 14, 1978, December 5, 1978, April 13, 1979, October 16, 1979, and December 15, 1979. From 1975 to the middle of 1980—when the Refugee Act was enacted and replaced the parole programs—more than 330,000 Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians were paroled into the United States. These refugees were all assessed on a case‐by‐case basis. Adjustment of status: In 1977, Congress passed Public Law 95–145 (October 1977) that authorized adjustment of status to anyone from Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia who was paroled as a refugee before March 31, 1979—that is, about two years in the future. On October 5, 1978, Public Law 95–412 extended the date to September 30, 1980 and allowed any refugee to adjust from any country. Soviet and Eastern European parole (1977—1980): On January 13, 1977, the attorney general created a Special Parole Program for 4,000 Soviet Jewish refugees (INS 1977). In December 1978, another program was initiated for 5,000 Soviet Jews and Romanians (INS 1978). On June 14, 1978, the INS launched another parole program for Eastern European refugees, with 3,260 processed in FY 1978 and 8,740 processed in FY 1979 (INS 1978). On April 12, 1979, 25,000 additional entries were authorized and occurred under parole in 1979. On October 16 and December 15, 1979, 3,000 additional entries were authorized per month until the enactment of the Refugee Act in March 1980. Adjustment of Status: On October 5, 1978, Public Law 95–412 authorized adjustment of status for "any refugee, not otherwise eligible for retroactive adjustment of status, who was or is paroled into the United States by the Attorney General pursuant to section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act before September 30, 1980."
Lebanese parole (1978): On December 6, 1978, the attorney general announced the creation of a new parole program for 1,000 victims of civil strife in Lebanon, and by 1980, 349 had been used, and 107 were pending. Adjustment of Status: On October 5, 1978, Public Law 95–412 authorized adjustment of status for "any refugee, not otherwise eligible for retroactive adjustment of status, who was or is paroled into the United States by the Attorney General pursuant to section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act before September 30, 1980."
Cuban prisoner parole (1978, 1985): On December 6, 1978, following an invitation by the Castro regime to take them, the attorney general announced the creation of a new parole program for 3,500 political prisoners who were then imprisoned or released since August 1978 plus their family. Ultimately, 12,000 Cubans were paroled in FY 1979. On December 14, 1984, Cuba and the United States signed an agreement under which the United States would take 3,000 Cuban political prisoners through parole and the refugee program. In fiscal year 1988, the State Department and INS approved 2,040 prisoners for entry to the United States, and 928 entered the United States. Adjustment of status: The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 made it possible for Cuban parolees entering after 1959, including future parolees, to adjust their status to legal permanent residence after two years in the United States.
Iranian parole (1979—1982): On April 16, 1979, following the Islamic revolution in Iran, the INS granted "extended voluntary departure" to Iranians in the United States and began paroling others into the country. Precise parole figures were not kept, but "a large number" ("thousands") were paroled. Part of this parole effort was a program under which—as the State Department put it—"not too many questions were asked" about B‑2 visa applicants from Iran, and those clearly not qualified were often paroled anyway. In 1983, Iranians were included under the Refugee Act cap for the first time, which—the administration said—replaced "the practice of the past several years of admitting them through the Attorney General's parole authority." Adjustment of Status: On October 5, 1978, authorized adjustment of status for "any refugee, not otherwise eligible for retroactive adjustment of status, who was or is paroled into the United States by the Attorney General pursuant to section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act before September 30, 1980."
Cuban/Haitian entrant parole (1980): In April 1980, thousands of Cubans began arriving in Florida from Mariel, Cuba, by boat. Initially, these Cubans were granted parole for 60 days and allowed to seek asylum under the procedures of the newly‐passed Refugee Act of 1980 (P.L. 96–212, March 1980). As the crisis escalated, INS declared on June 20, 1980 that it would extend 6‑month parole documents to Cubans and Haitians who had already arrived. On October 21, 1980, these 6‑month paroles were then authorized to be extended again to those who arrived before October 10, 1980. More than 125,000 Cubans and 25,000 Haitians were paroled. Congress passed a statute that recognized the existence of the Cuban and Haitian "entrant status" parole in 1981. Congress specifically authorized benefits for both past and future Cuban and Haitian parolees in The Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 (P.L. 96–422, October 10, 1980). On December 28, 1987, INS finalized a special regulation on the parole of Mariel boatlift Cubans detained since the boatlift ended, which resulted in about 7,000 additional paroles (or re‐paroles). Adjustment of Status: The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1980 (P.L. 99–603, November 6, 1986) allowed any Cuban or Haitian who entered before 1982 and either received Cuban/Haitian entrant status or had a "record created" with the INS.
Parole from detention (1982—present): In 1981, the INS reversed its prior practice of not detaining people unless they were deemed a flight risk or a danger to the community. A court enjoined the policy, and the INS issued an interim regulation on July 9, 1982 that detailed the grounds under which it would issue parole from detention. On October 19, 1982, it finalized the regulation. This included the following categories of people eligible for parole from detention: people needing medical care, pregnant women, young children and teenagers whose processing will take longer than 30 days and who cannot be held with an accompanying adult; people with U.S. family eligible to petition for an immigrant visa for them; witnesses going to testify; people subject to prosecution; any other person whose "continued detention is not in the public interest." On March 6, 1997, INS reiterated its categories for those eligible for parole under the language of the new parole statute. On December 21, 2000, the INS revised its procedures for the parole of people ordered removed who could not be removed. Khmer border parole (1986): In May 1986, the attorney general created a parole program for Cambodians who fled the Khmer government to Thailand, had approved immigrant petitions filed by U.S. citizen family in the United States, and had no visa available to them because of the caps. A total of 53 approvals were made in 1986, and only 418 were made as of March 1988. In 1991, 1,123 received parole. This program ended in FY 1992. About 3,500 total paroles were issued. Adjustment of Status: The Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 1989 (P.L. 101–167, November 21, 1989) allowed any Cambodian paroled into the United States between 1988 and September 30, 1990 (about ten months in the future) to adjust to legal permanent residence after one year if they had been denied refugee status.
Parole for U.S. expats (1987): On December 12, 1987, the United States announced that it would parole former‑U.S. citizens who renounced their U.S. citizenship and then were ordered deported by their new state of nationality. Soviet/Moscow Refugee Parole (1988—present): In August 1988, the attorney general overturned the presumption that Soviet Jews qualified as refugees. On December 8, 1988, he created a "public interest" parole program for 2,000 Soviets per month who were denied refugee status. Parolees needed to have sponsors in the United States and were not eligible for refugee benefits. A total of 7,652 were paroled in FY 1989. Congress reinstated the presumption of refugee status for Jews and Evangelical Christians from the Soviet Union in 1989 (P.L. 101–167, November 21, 1989). Parole continued after this change in part because Jews had a plausible offer of alternative resettlement in Israel and continued after the Soviet Union dissolved under the label of the Moscow Refugee Parole Program. About 17,000 Soviets were paroled from 1992 to 1998 (INS 1996, 1998). On August 6, 2007, responsibility for the Moscow Refugee Parole Program was transferred to USCIS. In July 2011, it was canceled. Adjustment of Status: The Foreign Operations Appropriations Act of 1989 (P.L. 101–167, November 21, 1989) allowed any Soviet paroled into the United States between 1988 and September 30, 1990 (about ten months in the future) to adjust to legal permanent residence after one year if they had been denied refugee status. In 1992, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were added explicitly. This provision was then repeatedly reauthorized.
Orderly Departure Vietnam parole (1989—1999): In February 1989, the attorney general created a parole program to supplement the Orderly Departure refugee program from Vietnam, which was offered only to those denied refugee status. About 770 entered in 1989. Parole was also used for Vietnamese with immigrant visa petitions approved but who could not immigrate due to the caps. Some Laotians and Cambodians also were paroled. This program was created after the attorney general overturned the presumption that Vietnamese (and others) in refugee camps qualified as refugees under the Refugee Act of 1980. Parolees had to prepay their travel expenses. The program was closed at the end of fiscal year 1999 after about 32,000 paroles. Adjustment of Status: The Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 1990 (P.L. 101–167, November 21, 1989) allowed any Vietnamese paroled into the United States between 1988 and September 30, 1990 (about ten months in the future) to adjust to legal permanent residence after one year if they had been denied refugee status. On November 6, 2000, Congress enacted the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act of 2001 (Public Law 106–429), which authorized adjustment of status for citizens or natives of Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos paroled before October 1, 1997, even if they had not been denied refugee status.
Hungarian and Polish parole (1989): In the middle of 1989, Hungary and Poland's communist governments fell, meaning that refugees from those countries no longer feared persecution on political grounds. On November 21, 1989, the INS began denying them refugee status and paroled some 832 people who were already in the process, had been interviewed, and had family in the United States. Adjustment of Status: Section 646 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–208, September 30, 1996) granted legal permanent residence to these parolees.
Undated 1990s parole categories: In 1990, the INS described the following grounds for parole at the time without giving a date for when they started being used: Spouses of U.S. military members who cannot qualify for visas because of the caps; Aged‐out children of immigrant visa applicants who had waited for years for a visa; Children of immigrant visa recipients who failed to immigrate soon after visa receipt and for whom a visa number is not immediately available; Someone who was trying to legalize their status by getting an immigrant visa, but the State Department erred in scheduling an appointment because there were no visa numbers available for them and is attempting to return to their U.S. residence. Adopted children of U.S. citizens who do not qualify as orphans; and Unaccompanied children in refugee camps with family in the United States.
Chinese parole (1990): On April 11, 1990, the president ordered the attorney general to defer the removal of unauthorized Chinese until January 1, 1994. The INS determined that parole for detained Chinese should be considered in the public interest. Adjustment of Status: Congress enacted the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–404, October 9, 1992) that provided permanent residence to Chinese who were covered by the president's order and in the United States on April 11, 1990, if they were inspected and admitted or paroled.
Parole of asylum seekers (1990—present): Paroling asylum seekers is a subset of parole under the 1982 regulations, the final category of which (public interest) was amenable to several interpretations. On May 1, 1990, INS launched a "pilot parole program" for detained asylum seekers with a limit of 200. The pilot was expanded and made permanent everywhere on April 20, 1992. From 1993 to 1996, there were about 3,800 to 4,500 asylum paroles. On October 7, 1998, the INS made having established a "credible fear" of persecution a presumptive category of eligibility for parole. On November 6, 2007, DHS eliminated this presumption. On December 8, 2009, DHS reinstated the presumption to parole those establishing a credible fear of persecution. Despite a memorandum from the DHS secretary in 2017 that stated parole should be used "sparingly," the 2009 directive remained in force, though widely flouted during the Trump administration years. On March 29, 2022, DHS lowered the standard to parole someone who had not yet established credible fear. Haitian Guantanamo parole (1991): A 1991 coup led to refugee flows by sea from Haiti to the United States. The U.S. government intercepted the boats and relocated Haitians to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for processing. In September 1991, the INS announced a new parole program for Haitians at Guantanamo Bay who demonstrated a "credible fear" of persecution. The program continued until May 1992 when it was suspended. A small number of Haitians continued to be paroled thereafter, but they faced a strong presumption that they should be returned to Haiti. They received one‐year parole authorizations. About 13,000 Haitians received parole from 1992 to 1996 (INS 1996, 1998; INS Parole Report 1999). Adjustment of Status: The Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (P.L. 105–277, October 21, 1998) provided for the adjustment of status to legal permanent residence for any Haitian in the United States as of December 31, 1995 who applied for asylum or was paroled into the United States after a finding of credible fear.
ABC Settlement Parole (1991): On January 31, 1991, the INS settled a lawsuit that challenged its asylum adjudication policies for certain Salvadorans and Guatemalans. As part of the agreement, certain Salvadorans and Guatemalans were permitted to reapply for asylum. Among these were 20,000 who were paroled into the United States to reapply in fiscal years 1993 and 1994. Adjustment of Status: Section 203 of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (P.L. 105–100, November 2019) permitted these Guatemalans and Hondurans subject to the settlement agreement to apply for suspension of deportation (which provides legal permanent residence) under the lower pre‐1996 standards.
Adoptee parole (1994): On November 25, 1994, the INS created a new parole program for children adopted by U.S. citizens who did not fall into the "orphan" category required to receive an immigrant visa. Adjustment of Status: Congress passed Public Law 104–51 (November 15, 1995) to amend the definition of "child" to create green card eligibility for these children and other adoptees moving forward.
Cuban Migration Accord paroles (1994—present): On September 9, 1994, the United States and Cuba signed an agreement to pursue policies designed to reduce illegal immigration, including the United States maintaining a minimum level of 20,000 legal admissions of Cubans per year. The U.S. Coast Guard interdicted Cubans and moved them to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On October 14, 1994, the White House announced that the INS would parole unaccompanied children, people over age 70, and chronically ill people at Guantanamo Bay. On December 2, 1994, it announced it would consider paroling family units if children would be adversely affected by staying in Guantanamo Bay on a case‐by‐case basis. On May 2, 1995, the United States agreed to accept all 18,500 Cubans currently detained at Guantanamo Bay detention facility through parole, but end the practice of taking Cubans there and simply return them to Cuba. In order to meet the 20,000 immigration quota, the United States created the Special Cuban Migration Program to grant parole to about 5,000 Cubans per year through a lottery (which was restricted to those who met at least two of the following criteria: 1) having any relatives living in the United States, 2) 3 years of work experience, and 3) a high school or college degree). In 1995, 1,898 were granted parole through the lottery out of 189,000 applicants. On March 15, 1996, the second parole lottery registration was opened. There were 433,000 applicants. On June 15, 1998, the final registration period was opened for the lottery, and 541,00 applied by July 15, 1998. Those qualifying under the 1998 registration continued to be paroled thereafter. Since 1998, the Cuban government has refused to allow another registration to occur in the country. Around 75,000 Cubans were paroled under these programs from 1994 to 2003 (the last year that statistics were available). Adjustment of Status: All Cubans paroled after 1959 are eligible to adjust to legal permanent residence after one year in the United States under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966.
Cuban Wet Foot, Dry Foot parole (1995—2017): On May 2, 1995, the U.S. government announced that it would not parole any Cubans intercepted at sea, even if in U.S. waters, but it would parole anyone on U.S. soil or arriving at a port of entry. The Customs and Border Protection field manual provided that Cuban asylum seekers "may be paroled directly from the port of entry" except for those who "pose a criminal or terrorist threat." Subsequently, the number of Cubans paroled at ports of entry (mainly along the southwest border) increased significantly. From 2004 to 2016, 226,000 Cubans were paroled at U.S. land borders. On January 12, 2017, DHS canceled the wet foot, dry foot parole process. Adjustment of Status: All Cubans paroled after 1959 are eligible to adjust to legal permanent residence after one year in the United States under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966.
Iraqi parole (1996): On September 17, 1996, the United States began airlifting some Iraqi Kurds to Guam, where they were granted parole. A total of 6,550 Iraqi Kurds who worked with the United States and 650 opposition activists were granted parole starting in September 1996. Adjustment of Status: The FY 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Act (Public Law 105–277, October 21, 1998) waived the cap on green cards for those adjusting after receiving asylum for Iraqis evacuated via parole but did not create a special green card category.
Cuban Medical Professional Parole (CMPP) Program (2006—2017): On August 11, 2006, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created a new parole program for Cuban doctors in third countries conscripted by the government of Cuba. In fiscal year 2007, 480 of 28,000 Cuban physicians applied for parole. As of December 2010, 1,574 physicians were paroled. On January 12, 2017, DHS canceled the program except for dependents of the physicians already in the program. Adjustment of Status: All Cubans paroled after 1959 are eligible to adjust to legal permanent residence after one year in the United States under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966.
Parole in Place for family of U.S. veterans (2007—present): On June 21, 2007, DHS announced that it would grant parole to a spouse of a U.S. active duty soldier, enabling the spouse to adjust to a green card. This policy continued for the next six years. On November 15, 2013, DHS issued a memorandum that provided clearer guidance on this program and expanded it to include veterans of the armed forces. On November 23, 2016, DHS expanded the program to cover family of deceased veterans and adult or married children of veterans. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2020 (P.L. 116–92) expressed congressional support for an ongoing parole program for relatives of U.S. military members. Adjustment of Status: Spouses of U.S. citizens have an uncapped opportunity to apply for a green card, but parole enables them to apply for a green card by allowing them to meet the requirement that they were "admitted or paroled" prior to applying.
Cuban Family Reunification Parole (2007—2017, 2021—present): On November 21, 2007, the DHS created a new parole program for any Cuban with an approved family‐based petition for legal permanent residence. In December 2017, USCIS shut down its field office in Cuba and suspended the program. In 2014, DHS started requiring a fee for the parole program. On May 16, 2022, DHS announced that it would resume processing Cuban Family Reunification Parole cases. Adjustment of Status: All Cubans paroled after 1959 are eligible to adjust to legal permanent residence after one year in the United States under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966.
Haitian Orphan Parole Program (2010): Following a 2010 Earthquake, on January 18, 2010, DHS announced that it would parole Haitian orphans in the process of being adopted by U.S. citizens. It accepted applications through April 2010. Adjustment of Status: Help Haitian Adoptees Immediately to Integrate Act of 2010 (Help HAITI Act, Public Law 111–293, December 2010) authorized DHS to adjust the status of adoptees to legal permanent residence even if the formal adoption process was not complete in Haiti as a result of the Earthquake.
Haitian Earthquake paroles (2010—2016): Following a 2010 Earthquake, on January 13, 2010, ICE suspended deportations to Haiti, and ICE began to generally parole detained Haitians. CBP at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border likewise began to parole Haitians rather than detain them for transfer to ICE. On January 25, 2010, DHS authorized an automatic extension of advance parole documents through March 12, 2010 for Haitians who had traveled outside the United States prior to the Earthquake after receiving advance parole. From 2010 to 2016, about 16,000 Haitians were paroled after being deemed inadmissible at ports of entry. Central American Minors (CAM) parole (2014—2017, 2021—present): On November 14, 2014, DHS and the State Department announced a combination refugee and parole program for Salvadoran, Guatemalan, and Honduran children with U.S. family sponsors in legal status in the United States (and the minor children of the child and in‐country parent of the child if married to the sponsoring U.S. parent). On July 26, 2016, DHS expanded the program to include other relatives, including siblings and any in‐country biological parent of the child. On August 16, 2017, DHS announced it would be canceling the parole program. On March 10, 2021, DHS and the State Department announced it would be restarting the program for those who previously applied before the termination in 2017. On June 15, 2021, they announced the program would reopen to new applicants, including children whose parents were in the United States with pending asylum applications. The parole is indefinite. On April 11, 2023, it expanded the program to allow sponsorship by parents of children who have pending T visa applications. As of December 2016, there were 10,758 applicants for the CAM program. Of these applicants, 873 had received refugee status, and 2,086 had received parole. In 2017, another 2,700 were permitted to enter. Haitian Family Reunification Parole (2014—present): On December 18, 2014, DHS created a new parole program for any Haitian with an approved family‐based immigrant visa petition if they have a priority date within two years of being current. On August 2, 2019, DHS announced it would terminate the program but would extend the parole of current participants. On October 12, 2021, it reversed its decision and continued the program. Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) program (2016—present): On May 9, 2016, DHS created a new parole program for Filipino World War II veterans who have approved family‐based immigrant visa petitions. On August 2, 2019, DHS announced its plans to terminate the program but would extend the parole of current participants. On December 28, 2020, it proposed a regulation to finalize this change. On October 12, 2021, it reversed its earlier decision and continued the program. International Entrepreneur Parole (2017): On January 17, 2017, DHS created a parole program for certain entrepreneurs. On July 11, 2017, DHS published a rule delaying the effective date of the program. In December 2017, the rule delaying the rule was vacated by a court and was forced to implement the rule. From 2017 to 2019, 30 people applied, and only one approval was granted. Parole + Alternatives to Detention program (2021): On July 31, 2021, Border Patrol created a policy of paroling detained immigrants at the border when ICE cannot accept custody of the person, there isn't a risk to national security or public safety, processing capacity exceeds 75%, and arrivals exceed discharges, the average processing time exceeds two days, and arrivals will likely exceed discharges the following day. On November 2, 2021, the Border Patrol chief formalized this policy with respect to family units. On July 18, 2022, Customs and Border Protection expanded this policy to cover both families and single adults. On March 8, 2023, the policy was blocked by a federal district court judge after about 700,000 paroles. Afghan evacuation parole (2021): After the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the U.S. military began to fly thousands of Afghans to U.S. military bases in the region. On August 23, 2021, DHS launched a new parole operation under Operation Allies Welcome (OAW). In the next few weeks, it paroled more than 75,898 Afghans into the United States. After the initial evacuation, DHS received 50,000 parole requests from Afghans, adjudicated about 9,500, and denied all but about 500. In September 2022, DHS stated that Afghans abroad would generally no longer be considered for parole at all. On June 8, 2023, DHS announced it would extend the parole of Afghan parolees in the United States. The Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act of 2021 (P.L. 117–43, May 2022) provided refugee benefits to Afghan parolees, explicitly appropriating money for those benefits, and directing the creation of a plan to process pending Afghan parole applications between July 31, 2021, and September 30, 2022 or paroled into the United States after September 30, 2022 if a spouse or child of an Afghan parolee or parent or legal guardian of an unaccompanied Afghan child. Uniting for Ukraine (2022): After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, DHS decided to parole Ukrainians arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border ports of entry, formally announcing the policy on March 11, 2022, and about 23,000 were paroled with 1‑year admissions. On April 27, 2022, DHS created a new parole program for Ukrainians with U.S. sponsors. As of May 2022, DHS had paroled about 125,000 Ukrainians under the Uniting for Ukraine sponsorship program with 2‑year admissions. The Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022 (P.L. 117–128, May 2022) provided refugee benefits to Ukrainians paroled between February 24, 2022 and September 30, 2023 or paroled into the United States after September 30, 2022 if a spouse or child of a Ukrainian parolee or parent or legal guardian of an unaccompanied Ukrainian child. On March 13, 2022, DHS extended the parole of the 23,000 paroled at ports of entry. Adjustment of Status: A Ukrainian Adjustment Act (H.R.3911) was introduced in 2023.
Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan parole sponsorship processes (2022—2023): On October 19, 2022, DHS created a parole program for Venezuelans with U.S. sponsors modeled on Uniting for Ukraine with a cap of 24,000. On January 9, 2023, DHS replaced this cap with a combined 30,000 per month cap for Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua (each of which received its own parole sponsorship programs the same day). 1.5 million applicants had applied by May 2023, and about 131,000 had been admitted. Adjustment of Status: All Cubans paroled after 1959 are eligible to adjust to legal permanent residence after one year in the United States under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. A Venezuelan Adjustment Act (H.R. 7854) was introduced in 2022.
Family Reunification Parole Processes (2023): On July 10, 2023, DHS created family reunification parole programs for Colombians, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondurans who have approved immigrant visa petitions. Parole applicants had to be invited by the U.S. government. This announcement followed up on the May 2023 announcement that the United States wanted to accept as many as 100,000 individuals from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras through the family reunification pathway. As of May 2023, there were 73,500 eligible for the program, but many more were waiting for their immigrant visas to be approved.