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Tunisia emerges today the only success story of the Arab Spring revolution that swept the Arab world five years ago. This poverty assessment seeks to learn from the pre and post revolution periods with a view of avoiding the repetition of past mistakes in the future. Specifically, it will provide Tunisians with a more detailed and updated diagnostics of poverty, regional disparities, trends over time and the strong links between poverty, inequality, opportunities, and vulnerability. Beyond statistics, this report will also provide a somber but more balanced alternative explanation of socioeconomic development in the country, which will hopefully complement the efforts of the Government of Tunisia to develop and implement its strategic development plan. This poverty assessment questions the extent to which growth was truly pro-poor in Tunisia and, more importantly, capable of reducing inequalities and increasing inclusion in society. This questioning sheds light on Tunisia's prospects for a more prosperous society if substantive changes in the socioeconomic model are not introduced. The poverty assessment analysis goes into a post-2010 analysis; expanding as well the analysis of monetary poverty to broader concepts of vulnerability and equal opportunities; and by enriching traditional instruments with more sophisticated tools to measure poverty, analyze poverty dynamics, and simulate the effects of certain policy reforms for the first time in Tunisia.

This paper analyzes the relationship between fiscal multipliers and fiscal positions of governments using an Interactive Panel Vector Auto Regression model and a large data-set of advanced and developing economies. The methodology permits tracing the endogenous relationship between fiscal multipliers and fiscal positions while maintaining enough degrees of freedom to draw sharp inferences. The paper reports three major results. First, the fiscal multipliers depend on fiscal positions: the multipliers tend to be larger when fiscal positions are strong (i.e. when government debt and deficits are low) than weak. For instance, the long-run multiplier can be as large as unity when the fiscal position is strong, while it can be negative when the fiscal position is weak. Second, these effects are separate and distinct from the impact of the business cycle on the fiscal multiplier. Third, the state-dependent effects of the fiscal position on multipliers is attributable to two factors: an interest rate channel through which higher borrowing costs, due to investors' increased perception of credit risks when stimulus is implemented from a weak initial fiscal position, crowd out private investment; and a Ricardian channel through which households reduce consumption in anticipation of future fiscal adjustments.

Chile could well have space to increase its growth potential by 2 percentage points of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per year. To do this, it would need to pay more attention to new sources of growth in natural resources, manufacturing, and services. In an increasingly globalized world, first-mover advantages have become more numerous and larger. Chile risks losing out, as a few recent high-profile cases suggest. Chile's total factor productivity growth can be raised by driving within-firm technological change closer to the global best-practice frontier more rapidly, especially in manufacturing. This would encourage the diversification of exports and boost Chile's supply response to global demand changes. Chile confronts obstacles in its processes of innovation, human capital accumulation, and investment. To overcome them, deep institutional changes are needed to develop a national innovation system, stronger and more equitable educational achievement, more flexible labor markets, and focused public investments that crowd in private business. Such an inclusive growth strategy is likely to yield better social outcomes than a strategy that attempts to confront social inequities head-on through more equitable access to public services without paying adequate attention to the demand for labor and generation of income. Chile could also try a new policy towards innovation, but it would need to be bolder in terms of the institutional design to maximize the chances of success.

There are a lot of moving parts to the MMT program. I want to focus on one of these parts today: the relation between monetary and fiscal policy.
One thing I find appealing about MMT scholars is their attention to monetary history and
institutional details. I've learned a lot from them in this regard.
But as is often the case with details, one has to worry about whether they help
shed light on a specific question of interest, or whether they sometimes let us not see
the forest for the trees. And in terms of the broader picture, since I grew up
in that branch of macroeconomics that tries to take money, banking, and debt
seriously (i.e., not standard NK theory), I sometimes have a hard time understanding what all the fuss is
about. Much of standard monetary theory (SMT) seems perfectly consistent with
some of the ideas I seen discussed in MMT proponents; see, for example, The Failure to Inflate Japan. 

  

This post is devoted to better
understanding a contribution by Eric Tymoigne. Eric is one of the people I go
to whenever I want to learn more about MMT (if you're interested in MMT, you
should follow him on Twitter @tymoignee). In this post, I discuss his
article "Modern Monetary Theory, and Interrelations Between the Treasury
and Central Bank: The Case of the United States." (JEI 2014). Passages quoted from his paper are highlighted in blue. The working
paper version of the paper can be found here. Eric has kindly agreed to respond to my comments and let me post our conversation. We had to some editing, hopefully this did not disrupt the flow too much. In any case, I hope you find it interesting. And, as always, feel free to join in on the conversation in the comments section below. -- DA



============================================================================



DA: Eric, let's start with the opening paragraph:



One of the main contributions of modern money theory (MMT) has been
to explain why monetarily sovereign governments have a very flexible policy
space. Not only can they issue their own currency to spend and to service their
public debt denominated in their own unit of account, but also any self-imposed
constraint on budgetary operations can be easily bypassed. 



I'm
curious to know what the contribution is here relative to standard monetary
theory (SMT). In SMT, the government can also issue its own currency to spend
and to service the public debt denominated in its own unit of account. So this
degree of "flexibility" is already accounted for. As for
"self-imposed constraints on budgetary operations," SMT takes several
approaches to this issue, depending on the purpose of the analysis. One
approach is to take these constraints as given and then to study their
implications. But it is also common to consolidate the central bank, treasury
and government into a single authority, which implies no self-imposed
constraints on budgetary operations. 


Perhaps what is meant is that MMT shows how existing self-imposed constraints
on budgetary operations can be (or are) bypassed in reality.  This leads
us to question, however, concerning what those self-imposed constraints are doing there in
the first place. Are they there by design and, if so, why? Or are they there by
accident (and, if so, how in the world did this happen)?



ET: Yes
consolidation is not unique to MMT as we have said repeatedly. Not only is it
used quite commonly in the economic literature, but also it is a common
rhetorical tool in economic talks, discourse, etc.

























 

DA: Right, so everyone understands this (at least, they should)--it's perfectly consistent with standard monetary theory. So far, so good.



ET: Most
economists, politicians and the public don't understand this or its
implications. They will interpret the above as saying that it is obvious that
the government can create money but it is not a normal way to proceed and it is
inflationary. MMT just pushes consolidation to its logical conclusions and
shows that institutional details do back those conclusions. In a consolidated
framework, the federal government can only implement spending by creating
money, this is not abnormal and it is not inflationary by itself. There is no
other way to find the necessary dollars to spend. Here is what consolidation means in terms of balance sheets:



For the federal government, taxes destroy currency
(L1 falls) and claims on non-fed sectors falls (A1 falls) (an alternative
offsetting operation is net worth of government rises). When US spends, it
credits accounts (L1 rises). Similarly, bond issuance does not lead to a gain
of any asset for the government; all it does is replace a non-interest earning government
liability (monetary base) with an interest-earning government liability (Treasury
securities).



DA: I am not going to argue against your accounting. As for bond-issuance, in
SMT, an open-market operation is modeled as a swap of zero-interest reserves
for interest-bearing treasuries. The interest on treasuries is explained by
their relative illiquidity (another self-imposed constraint). The economic
consequences of such a swap depends on a host of factors, which I'm sure you're
familiar with. 



ET: Sure, in
addition, self-imposed financial constraints (e.g. debt ceiling, no direct
financing by the Fed, no monetary power for treasury) have been put in place at
various times with the argument that they impose discipline in public finances.
MMT argues, these financial constraints are not necessary and are bypassed
routinely through Treasury-Central Bank coordination.



DA: Sure, the standard view is that these
self-imposed constraints are designed to impose discipline in public finance.
The proposition that these financial constraints are or are not necessary, however, must be
based on a set of assumptions that may or may not be satisfied in reality. (The
fact that these constraints may be bypassed through Treasury-Central Bank
coordination does not seem relevant to me -- the conflict emphasized by SMT is
between an "independent" central bank and the legislative authority
(e.g., the Fed and Congress, not the Fed and Treasury). I'm not sure why a new
theory is needed here. We know, for example, that if the legislative branch of
government fully trusts itself (and future elected representatives) to behave
in a fiscally responsible manner, the notion of an "independent"
central bank (and other self-imposed constraints) makes little sense. 



ET: Remember
that MMT emphasizes the irrelevance of financial/nominal constraints for
monetarily sovereign governments (bond vigilantes, risk of insolvency of social
security, etc.). One can do that by using the consolidated government (taxes
don't finance, bonds don't finance, government spends by crediting accounts,
etc.) or by using the unconsolidated government (the central bank helps the Treasury,
the Treasury helps the central bank). The second method conforms to actual
federal government operations but it is much less easy to use rhetorically and it
waters down the core point: government finances are never a financial issue as
long as monetary sovereignty applies.

Given that point, as you note, financial constraints are not only
irrelevant, but also disruptive and used for political games. MMT wants to make
government financial operations as smooth and flexible as possible. Once
society has decided how, and to what degree, government should be involved in
solving socioeconomic problems, finding the money should not be an issue when
monetary sovereignty prevails. That means demystifying
and eliminating financial barriers to government operations so the political
debate can focus on solving real issues (environment issues, socio-economic
issues, etc.). Fearmongering about the public debt and fiscal deficits makes for
poor political debates and policy prescriptions.



There is a view, expressed by Paul Samuelson, that if
we tell policymakers and the public that there are no financial limits to
government spending, policymakers will spend like mad; therefore, economists
need to lie to policymakers and the public (and themselves). This is nonsense.
We ought to discuss policy choices not on the basis of Noble Lies but rather on
the basis of sound and informed premises. Economists needs to make sure that
policymakers focus on resource constraints.



In addition, political constraints on government should be geared
toward improving the transparency and participatory aspects of government (e.g.
limit role of big money in elections, limit wastes, etc.). We already have a
government that passes a budget (it needs to do so for transparency and
accountability purposes), we already have an auditing process, and we already
have some (limited) democratic process, so aim at improving these aspects. MMT
proponents are not naive, we know that some politicians are self-interested, we
know that policy implementation may lead to mistakes, we know people may try to
game the system ("free riders"); however we trust that a transparent and
democratic government can (and does) get through these issues. MMT does not see
financial constraints as helping in any ways, rather they inhibit the
democratic process.



Of course, MMT proponents also have a policy agenda (Job guarantee,
financial regulation based on Minsky, etc.) because we do not see market
mechanisms as self-promoting full employment, price stability and financial
stability. As such, as you said, MMT proponents favor alternative means to
achieve these goals through direct government intervention. We don't see the
central bank as an effective means to promote price stability. The central bank
should focus on financial stability through interest-rate stabilization and
financial regulation (an area where the Fed has not performed well).



Finally, yes independence
of the central bank is seen as a big deal but MMT disagrees for two reasons.
First, MMT emphasizes the lack of effectiveness of monetary policy in managing
the business cycle and, second, and probably more importantly, MMT notes that
central-bank independence in terms of interest-rate setting and goal settings
does not mean independence from the financial needs of the Treasury.



DA: I think it's fair to say most people want to see government
operations run smoothly, and would welcome a sober debate over the issues at
hand without the fear-mongering that some like to promote. The broad objective seems the same--the debate is more over implementation--how monetary and fiscal policy is to be coordinated--given human frailties. 



Having said this, I think you go too far by asserting that
"government finances are never an issue as long as monetary sovereignty
applies." Of course, technical default on nominal debt is not an issue (we
all understand this). But SMT also recognizes the importance of economic default
on nominal debt. True, a government can always print money to satisfy its
nominal debt obligation, but if money printing dilutes the purchasing power of
money, this is a de facto default. 



On a related issue, SMT asks "what are the limits to
seigniorage?" The fact that a government can print money does not give it
the power to command resources without constraint. People can (and do) find
substitutes for government money (they may also substitute out of taxed activities
into non-taxed activities). SMT treats the limits to seigniorage as a financial constraint.
Maybe MMT has a different label for this constraint? Perhaps it is related to
what I hear MMT proponents call an "inflation constraint." Maybe
one way to reconcile MMT with SMT on this score is by recognizing that SMT
usually assumes (sometimes incorrectly) that the inflation constraint is always
binding. If this is the case, a monetarily-sovereign government does have
a financial constraint, even according to MMT. 



ET: Yes, ability to create a
currency does not mean ability to command resources because there may not be a
demand for the currency. That is where tax liabilities and other dues owed to
the government become important (cf. the chartalist theory of money, a
component of MMT). That's also why taxes, monetary creation and bond issuance
are not conceptualized by MMT as alternative financing means but rather as
complementary. The government imposes a tax liability, spends by issuing the
currency necessary to pay the tax liability, then taxes and issues bonds. Spending may be inflationary
indeed and so there is an inflation constraint; but it is not a financial constraint,
it is a resource constraint.



About the "printing" of money
by government, inflation and economic default. Regarding the first two, there
is no evidence of an automatic relation between money and inflation. In a
consolidated view, government always spends by monetary creation but controls
the impact on inflation via taxes and the impact on interest rates via bond
issuance. In an unconsolidated view, the central bank routinely finances and
refinances the Treasury by helping some of the auction bidders and by
participating in the auction.

Finally, regarding economic
default, governments routinely "default" in that sense with no problems. I
don't see that as a relevant concept unless someone can show that economic
default raises interest rates or generates rising inflation (it does not); here
again, there is no automatic link between inflation and interest rates. That
link depends on how the central bank reacts; if it does not then market
participants don't either.



DA: Let me return to the manner in which the Fed/Treasury/Congress
are consolidated (or not) in SMT and why this matters, in your view. In some
SMT treatments, Congress decides spending and taxes, which implies a primary
deficit. It's up to the Treasury to finance that deficit, with the Fed playing
a supporting role (by determining interest rate and issuing reserves for
treasury debt). What's wrong with this approach?

   

ET: That goes in the
right direction with an understanding that the government really has no control
over its fiscal position. All this, which relates to the implementation of
monetary sovereignty, helps understand why the financial crowding out is not
operative, why monetary financing is not by definition inflationary, why i >
g is normal. It helps explain why the hysterical rhetoric surrounding the
public debt and deficits in nonsense. I recently wrote a piece for Challenge Magazine on that topic. Surpluses are celebrated, governments implement
austerity during a recession to "live within our means", Social Security needs
to be fixed to avoid bankrupting it, governments need to save more, etc. All of this is incorrect.



DA: I'm not sure why you claim SMT leads to the idea of i > g.
The case i < g is perfectly consistent with SMT (see Blanchard's 2019 AEA
Presidential address, and also my posts here and here). The
correct criticism (I think) is that mainstream economists have assumed i > g
as being the empirically relevant case (it is not).



ET: That is what I meant. MMT links that to monetary sovereignty.



DA: I think that's correct. I should like to add that mainstream economists (apart from a small set of
monetary theorists) have not appreciated the role of high-grade sovereign debt
as an exchange medium in wholesale financial markets and as a global store of value, which in my view likely explains a lot of the "missing inflation." But as for
"surpluses being celebrated," you are now talking about individual
viewpoints and not SMT per se. There were plenty of calls out there
for countercyclical fiscal policy based on standard macroeconomic principles.
But I do agree virtually all mainstream economists are (perhaps overly)
concerned about "long-run fiscal sustainability." The view is that at
the end of the day, stuff has to be paid for -- and that having the ability to
print money, while granting an extra degree of flexibility, does not get around
this basic fact. 



DA: I'd like to ask you about this statement you make:



In (the unconsolidated) case, the Treasury collects taxes and
issues securities before it can spend. However, federal taxes and bond
offerings also serve another highly important function that is overlooked in
standard monetary economics. Specifically, federal taxes and bond offerings
result in a drainage of funds from the banking system, and MMT carefully
analyzes the implication of this fact. From that analysis, MMT argues that
federal taxes and bond offerings are best conceptualized as devices that
maintain price and interest-rate stability, respectively (of course, the tax
structure also has some important role to play in terms of influencing
incentives and income distribution; something not disputed by MMT). 



DA: Well, yes, taxes serve both as a revenue device
(permitting the government to gain control over resources that would otherwise
be in control of the private sector) and as a way to control inflation. I'm not
sure about the idea of the Treasury offering bonds for the purpose of achieving
interest-rate stability (though this may happen to some extent when the
treasury determines which maturity to offer). I don't think this is the way
things work in the U.S. today.



ET: Taxes and issuance of
treasuries drain reserves and so raise the overnight rate. Hence, on a daily
basis, a fiscal surplus raises the overnight rate and a fiscal deficit lowers
it. There has been significant Treasury-Fed coordination to smooth the impact
of taxes (and treasury spending) on the money market.



DA: Fine, but so what? We all understand
"coordination" between Fed and Treasury exists at the operational
level. 



ET: I think you are too kind to other
economists and policymakers. On taxes as price-stabilizing factors, there is
indeed some similarities here. On the role of treasuries for interest-rate
stability, it does work like this today. It may not be obvious because of the
current emphasis on treasuries as Treasury's budgetary tools, but Treasury has issued securities for
other purposes than its budgetary needs. In the US, this occurred most recently during the 2008
crisis (SFP bills). In Australia, in the early 2000s, the Treasury issued
securities while running surpluses in order to promote financial stability.



DA: But even if this is not the way things actually work
(in my view, it's the Fed that stabilizes interest rates, possibly through OMOs
involving U.S. Treasuries), I'm not sure what point is being made. I think we
can all agree that monetary and fiscal policy can be thought of as being
consolidated in some manner. What would be good to know is how a specific MMT
consolidation matters (relative to other specifications) for a specific set of
questions being addressed. There is nothing in the abstract or introduction of
this paper that suggests an answer to this question.  

ET: The point being made is that in a consolidated
government, tax and bond issuance lose the financial purpose
they have for the Treasury but keep their price and interest-stability purposes.





DA: In standard monetary theory, tax and bond issuance keeps
its funding purposes for the government and at the same time can be used to
influence the price-level (inflation) and interest rates. Is this wrong? I
don't think so. At some level, taxes (a vacuum cleaner sucking up money from
the private sector) must have some implications for the ability of government
to exert command over real resources in the economy. What we label this ability
(whether "funding" or ''finance" or whatever, seems
inconsequential). 



ET: Ok here comes the crucial difference between financial
and real sides of the economy. In financial terms, taxes do not increase the
capacity of the government to spend, i.e. the government does not earn any
money from taxing; taxes destroy the currency. In financial terms, there is no
reason to fear a fiscal deficit; deficits are the norm, are sustainable and
help other sectors grow their financial net wealth. As such, it is not because a
government wants to spend more that it must tax more or lower spending
somewhere else. That is the PAYGO mentality. This mentality makes policymakers
think of spending and taxing in terms of how they impact the fiscal balance
instead of their impact on employment, inflation, incentives, etc. While
deficits may have negative consequences, they are not automatic. If
one takes a look at the evidence, deficits have no automatic negative impacts
on interest rates, tax rates, public-debt sustainability, or inflation.



In real terms, the necessity to increase tax rates to prevent
inflation, and so move more resources to the government, depends on the state
of the economy and the permanency of the increase in government spending relative to
the size of the economy. In an underemployed economy, the government
can spend more without raising tax rates. In a fully employed economy, shifting
resources to the government without generating inflation does require raising
tax rate and/or putting in place other measures such as rationing, price
controls, and delayed private-income payment. Here Keynes's "How to Pay for the
War" provides the roadmap. Standard economics is full-employment economics so
opportunity costs are always present. MMT follows Kalecki, Keynes and the work
of their followers (have a look at Lavoie's "Foundations of Post
Keynesian Economic Analysis") and note that capitalist
economies are usually underemployment and economic growth is demand driven. Put
in a picture, the economy is usually at point a.









Put succinctly, the real constraint is conditionally relevant, the
financial constraint is irrelevant if monetary sovereignty prevails. That is
the proper way to frame the policy debates and to advise policymakers; don't
worry about the money, worry about how spending impacts the economy.



ET: Moving to another topic, consolidation of the government brings to the forefront
forces that are operating in the current system but that are buried under
institutional complications. Namely that a fiscal deficit lowers interest rates
and treasuries issuance brings them back up, that spending must come before
taxing and treasuries issuance, that monetary financing of the government is
not intrinsically unsound and does not mean that tax and treasuries issuance
don't have to be implemented. 



DA: The statement that "deficit lower
interest rates" needs considerable qualification. Among other things, it
depends on the monetary policy reaction function. As for the claim that
spending *must* come before taxes, this is not a universally valid statement
(even if it may be true in some circumstances. But even more importantly, who
cares? Mainstream theory does not suggest that monetary financing is
intrinsically unsound (seigniorage is fine, if it respects inflation ceiling).
As for money, taxes and bonds not being alternative "funding"
sources, I worry that this semantics. You can call X a "funding"
source or not -- it's just a label. The real question is: what are the
macroeconomic implications of X? 



ET: Let me emphasize where I agree. Yes, evidence
shows the central role of monetary policy for the direction of interest rates,
fiscal policy is at best a very small driver. And yes, one ought to focus on
the real implications of government spending and we ought to forget about the financial implications. A fiscal
deficit is not unsustainable nor abnormal; deficits are the stylized fact of
government finances and are financially sustainable if monetary sovereignty is
present. So don't try to frame the policy debate and set policy in terms of
household finances, bankruptcy, fixing the deficit, etc.

To conclude I see three reasons why the "taxes/bonds don't
finance the government" rhetoric is helpful:



1- It is strictly true for the federal government (i.e.
consolidation).



2- it brings to the forefront some lesser-known aspects of taxes
and treasuries issuance: impacts on money market, role of central bank in
fiscal policy, role of treasury in monetary policy.



3- It changes the narrative in terms of policy and political
economy: government does not rely on the rich to finance itself, taxes should
be set to remove the "bads" not to finance the government (e.g. one
should not set tax rates on pollution with the goal of balancing the budget but
with the goal of curbing pollution to whatever is considered appropriate, that
may lead to much higher tax rates than what is needed to balance the budget),
PAYGO is insane, one should focus on the real outcomes of government policies
not the budgetary outcomes.



DA:

1. I think this is semantics.

2. Not sure how it helps in this regard.

3. I think all of these positions are defensible without the
statement "taxes/bonds don't finance the government", so
if this is the ultimate goal (and I think it should be), perhaps we should set
aside semantic debates and focus on the real issues at hand. 



ET: 1 is not semantic. I know you have in mind taxes as a
means to leave resources to the government. MMT makes a clear difference
between financial (ability to find the money) and resources constraint (ability
to get the goods and services) as explained above. The financial
constraint is highly relevant for non-monetarily sovereign governments so it
should be noted and clearly separated from the real constraint. Too many
policy discussions and decisions by policymakers operating under monetary
sovereignty are based on an inexistent inability to find money and the imagined dear financial
consequences of budgeting fiscal deficits. 2 helps to understand how monetary
sovereignty is implemented in practice. On 3, yes focus on the real issues.



DA: We agree on 3! Thank you for an interesting discussion,
Eric. There's so much more to talk about, but let's leave that for another day. 



ET: You are welcome and thank you too!

Issue 34.5 of the Review for Religious, 1975. ; Revtew ]or Rehgtous ts edited by faculty members of the School of DIvlmty of St Louts University, the edttorlal ol~ces bemg located at 612 Humboldt Buddmg, 539 North Grand Boulevard; St. Louis, Missouri 63103. It is owned by the Missouri Province Educational Institute; St. Louis, Missouri. Published bimonthly and copy-right (~) 1975 by Review [or Religious. Composed, printed, and manufactured in U.S.A. Second class postage paid at St. Louis, Missouri. S!ngle copies: $1.75. Subscription U.S.A. and Canada: $6.00 a year; $11.00 for two years; other countries, $7.00 a year, $13.00 for two years (for airmail delivery, add $5.00 per year). Orders should indicate whether they are for new or renewal subscriptions and should be accompanied by check or money order payable to Review ]or Religious in U.S.A. currency only. Pay no money to persons claiming .to represent Review ]or Religious. Change of address requests should include former ad~ciress. Daniel F. X. Meenan, S.J. Everett A. Diederich, S.J. Joseph F. Galicn, S.J. Editor Associate Editor Questions and Answers Editor September 1975 Volume 34 Number 5 Renewals, new subscriptions, and changes of address should be sent to Review for Religious; P.O. Box 6070; Duluth, Minnesota 55802. Correspondence with the editor and the associate editor together with manuscripts and books for review should be sent to Review for Religious; 612 Humboldt Building; 539 North Grand Boulevard; St. Louis, Missouri 63103. Questions for answering should be sent to Joseph F. Gallen, S.J.; St. Joseph's College; City Avenue at 54th Street; Philadelphia, Pennsyl-vania 19131. / ;" ~: :°~Vith these ,words Po o ~t only for Jesmts,~but-~f6r all~rehg~ous;~ )s wh6, .in ~varyingways, ~dentff, y:.o. 671 A Survey of the Thirty-second General Congregation John R. Sheets, S.J. Fr. Sheets, chairman of the theology department of Creighton University and director of its new Masters Degree in Christian Spirituality program, was an elected delegate of his province (Wisconsin) at the 32nd General Congregation. He resides at Creighton University; 2500 Califor-nia St.; Omaha, NB 68178. The Thirty-second General Congregation of the Society of Jesus began on December 2, 1974. It finished its work on March 7, 1975. The Holy See authorized the promulgation of its decrees on May 2, 1975. In this article I will attempt to set down in an intelligible way a description of what went on during those ninety-six days, especially for (hose who are not Jesuits but who are in-terested in the congregation. Having gone over once again both the official documents and the Acta of the congregation, and having tried to recapture.my own experience over those days, I feel keenly the limitations of what follows. In the first place, it is difficult to give a survey of the vast amount of material covered by the various commissions;-secondly, it is hard to detail my own ex-perience without writing an autobiography; thirdly, it would take someone with both a sense of historical detail and a journalistic flair to present the in-terplay that took place among the various identifiable groups within the con-gregation, and also what took place between the Vatican and the congregation. In spite of these reservations, I hope that the observations that follow might provide some insight into what happened, and at the same time provide a counterweight to impressions given to the public through the general press. For me personally the congregation was the peak experience of my life. I am still trying to sort out the reasons for this. There is the obvious fact of hav-ing been part of a decision-making body whose decrees could have momentous importance for the Societ), of Jesus and for the Church at a very critical mo- A Survey of the Thirty-Second General Congregation / 673 ment in history. Again there was the experience of being "companions in the Lord" with two hundred and thirty-six other Jesuits from all over the world, united in the same Ignatian vision, sharing a common purpose, praying and working together to formulate with the help of the Holy Spirit responses to what the Church and the world ask of the Society today. The "honeymoon experience" of the first days gave way, as the weeks went on, to the .experience of fatigue, the perplexities of the search for the proper wording, the experience of working on disparate problems at the same time, without any clear point of convergence. Added to these was the experience of the interaction between the Vatican and the congregation which brought with it great anguish. However, it was also perhaps the experience that changed the congregation from a group of planners relying much on our own wisdom into something approximating an instrument of the Holy Spirit. The whole experience of the congregation in many ways paralleled what a person goes through in making the Spiritual Exercises, where one is subject to the movement of different spirits. On the one hand, it was the occasion of the greatest consolation; on the other, 1 have never in my life experienced such heaviness of heart. There were moments when one could almost feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, particularly at the concelebrated liturgies where one was drawn into the mystery of the communio jesuitarum, both the living and the dead, ~hrough our sharing in the Eucharist. Certainly the con-celebrated Mass, celebrated on the opening day of the congregatiofi in the Gesu, a church hallowed by the memories of Ignatius, Xavier and the early history of the Society, with seven hundred Jesuits participating, was one such moving experience. But if there were consolations, there were also periods of desolation, the worst desolation I have ever experienced. These came from the pall of uncer-tainty cast over the congregation from the communications of the Holy Father through Cardinal Villot in reference to the way the congregation had proceeded on a particular point concerning the Fourth Vow in the Society. This was also the occasion for the Holy Father to remark with pain that he detected from the Acta of the congregation attitudes among the delegates which were at variance with the kind of disposition a Jesuit should have toward the Pope. To be frank, however, it was not so much the interventions of the Holy Father that depressed me. In fact, as events would show, he was under the im-pression that we had received a specific communication on the subject that he had given to one of the delegates to be transmitted to us. But because of a mis-understanding the delegate did not in fact communicate it, and the congrega-tion learned about it only after we had taken a step which seemed to con-travene directly the explicit instruction of the Holy Father. To me the tone of his and Cardinal Villot's letter, while severe, was comprehensible in the light of this misunderstanding on the communication of their earlier message. What was far more upsetting was the sudden change in the mental climate of the congregation. Somewhere Kierkegaard mentions that the sudden is the 1574 / Review for, Religious, Volume 34, 1975/5 category of the demonic. In the course of only minutes, the demon of rumor, suspicion and recrimination was let loose. Suddenly it all fitted into a kind of master plot to discredit Fr. Arrupe, bring about his resignation, and bring to nothing the efforts of the congregation. No one knew who the enemies were, but some gave the impression that there was one hiding behind every column in the Vatican. Among the memories which will always be with me are the occasions when I used to walk in St. Peter's Square at night, when it was deserted, except for a police car and a few pa~sers-by. The majestic beauty of the facade of St. Peter's, bathed by the light of the moon, the beauty of the fountains flashing in the lights, the Vatican apartments with a light here and there, formed a setting of peace which seemed to overflow into me, particularly when events occurred which plunged the congregation into gloom. Looking back over those difficult periods I am certain that if it were not for the example and leadership of Fr. Arrupe we would have lost courage. He transmitted to us both by word and example a sense of the working of God's providence and the life-through-death process in which we were engaged. We were faced with the humbling and humiliating fact that we experts who were supposed to discern the signs of the times could not discern a sign that was much closer to us. In many ways the misunderstandings did not "have to be," when one looks at them from a human point of view. The reports from the press about con-frontation, maneuver and counter-maneuver were the product of journalistic imagination. The sad fact is that pain was caused by people who were trying their utmost to act with responsibility to the Holy Father and to the Society. But I have probably got ahead of myself. All I wanted to do in these in-troductory remarks was to point out that for me personally the experience of those three months led by the diverse paths of joy and anguish to a deeper ex-perience of the ways of God, that "If Yahweh does not build the house, in vain the masons toil." The Procedure Followed in the Business of the Congregation In preparation for this congregation there had been four years of highly organized participation on the level of the local communities and the provinces. The extent of this participation varied. In general, however, it had a beneficial result in creating the awareness that this congregation would grow out of the discernment that took place on the local level rather than work from the top down. Perhaps some might consider that this was a waste of time and money when we measure the results of those years of preparation, and the little impact that it had directly on the congregation. However, the minimal result of this preparation was that at least we did not come into the work of the congregation cold, but had some awareness of the problems that confront us, as there were seen by a large segment of the Society. For those who are not familiar with the structure of the Society of Jesus, a few words of explanation may be helpful. In the Society of Jesus the supreme A Survey of the Thirty-Second General Congregation / 675 authority is vested in the General Congregation. It does not meet at regular in-tervals, but only on two occasions, either to elect a new superior general, or to face a particular state of affairs which can be handled only by the highest authority of the Society. Of the thirty-two congregations that have met in the four hundred and thirty-five years of the Society's history, all except seven have been called to elect a new superior general. When, therefore, in 1970 Fr. Arrupe decided to call a General Congregation to convene after appropriate preparation, he felt that the state of the Society needed to be reviewed. It was an opportune time, since ten years would have elapsed since Vatican II and our last congregation. Delegates to a General Congregation are basically of two kinds: the provincial superiors, who attend by right of office, who make up ap-proximately one-third of the membership of a congregation and the other two-thirds who are elected. The only delegates who were unable to attend the 32nd General Congregation were a few from behind the Iron Curtain. Their unoc-cupied desks remained an ever-present symbol to the assembly of the oppres-sion of the Church in various areas. In spite of these absences, there were two hundred thirty-six delegates present. In the Society of Jesus the agenda is made up after the congregation con-venes. It is based mainly on the postulates (requests) submitted either from in-dividual Jesuits or provinces. Contrary to what one might suspect, there is probably no more democratic legislative group than is to be found in the General Congregation. Any Jesuit can send in postulates either through his province or directly, as an individual to the General Congregation. All of these are considered on their merits independently of their source. Over one thousand postulates were submitted. After a preliminary analysis, it was seen that they could be organized according to ten categories. Ten commissions were set up roughly corresponding to these ten categories. Initially the commissions had a membership of about twenty-five each, com-posed of representatives from different parts of the Society. Later, for the sake of efficiency in composing the documents emerging from the commissions, the number was reduced to four or five. The amount of work that went into the final draft of the documents was enormous. The work of the commission would be submitted to the whole assembly, receive revisions (or even be re-jected), be returned to the commission; then again be submitted to the assembly, with a repetition of the same procedm:e, until the assembly was satisfied with it. The whole assembly convened in a large hall that had been especially renovated for the congregation. Electronic equipment was installed to provide simultaneous translation. Voting was done by means of a small switch at each desk. In the front of the hall in full view of all the delegates was a large elec-tronic board, with indicator lights arranged accordihg to the seating plan in the hail. This board registered the votes with a green light if affirmative or a red, if negative. At the top of the board was a place where the total affirmative and negative vote would register immediately after the vote was taken. All ~'~' ~ ~.~. 676;~ R~i~.w for Religious, Volume 34, 1975/5 voting~'~bhe exception," was public. The exception came at the request of the congregatiori ~hen it came to vote on the question of grades in the Society. Doubtless this pr0ce.dure was intended to provide the general with the oppor-tunity to vote in a way that would not compromise him in whatever future ac-tions he would have to take.as a result of the vote. The Main Themes Seventeen documents issued from the congregation, most of them originating from the ten commissions which had been established. Other documents came from special commissions appointed as the need arose. Though the documents differ in content, some common themes run throughout. Perhaps the main theme reflected in the documents is that of mission. Related to this is a reawakened awareness of the Society as a whole, of which the local communities are part. The Society, while it exists also for the sanc-tification of its members, takes its special meaning from its apostolic orienta-tion. This apostolic orientation is specified by its relationship to the Holy See, particularly through the Fourth Vow, and in its service to the Church through the promotion and defense of the faith. A characteristic of this apostolic orienta-tion is adaptability to the needs of particular times and places. In our day this involves an overriding concern to overcome the injustices which oppress so many millions of people. However, in all of its apostolic work, the goal and the means it uses are to be consistent with the tradition of the Society as set forth in its Formula of the Institute which sets forth its fundamental pontifical law. This ties in with the identity of the Society, a theme that is both the subject of one particular document and one that runs through all of the others as well. The Society is a priestly, apostolic body, bound to the Holy See in a special way for the defense and promotion of the faith. The sense of mission involves not only working with those who are op-pressed but it also involves becoming identified with them as far as this is possible. Our poverty, therefore, which has its juridical as well as evangelical aspects, takes on a particular experiential mode in so far as, by it, we can iden-tify with the poor. The decree that has to do with union of hearts and minds is also intimately related to the nature of the Society as an apostolic body. Ignatius clearly saw that the Society's apostolate depended first of all on the union of the members with God, and then derivatively on their union with one another. One theme which is conspicuous is that of repentence. The Society acknowledges that it has failed in recent years to live up to those characteristics which were suppose to distinguish it, such as obedience, loyalty to the Holy See, fidelity tO the principles of the religious life. The State of the Society One of the commissions set up early in the order of business was the one charged to examine the state of the Society. Its purpose was to form some A Survey of the Thirty-Second General Congregation / 677 kind of an evaluation of the condition of the Jesuit order at this point in its history, assessing both its weaknesses and its strengths. To provide this com-mission with input, the delegates met in small groups over a period of several days. These small groups were of two kinds: what were called "assistancy groups" (for example, all of the American Jesuits belong to one "assistancy," the French to another, etc.), and "language groups," composed of people from different countries who had some facility in their own and other languages (German-English, French-English, Spanish-French, etc.) These groups dis-cussed the state of the Society in reference to key points such as formation of Jesuits, religious observance, the apostolate. These sessions broadened the practical knowledge each of us had of the Society and helped to create among us an awareness of community. They were also informative, first of all in bringing us to realize that many of the problems were common, with varying degrees of acuteness, while others were peculiar to a particular section of the Society. A criticism which many of us in the western world resonated with came from one of the German provincials in my group when he said that the image that the Society in Germany gives is that of B~rgerlichkeit, which in English connotes a comfortable, gentlemanly, middle-class existence. On the other hand, the situation of the Jesuits from behind the Iron Cur-tain, some of whom were also in my language group, has spared them some of the enervating effects of secularization. For one reason, their apostolate, where they are able to exercise it, is mostly pastoral work; secondly, their precarious existence serves to keep their faith at a high level of vitality. The delegates from the Third World countries brought other emphases. From the Spanish speaking countries there was a strong orientation toward social change, bringing with it problems of political involvement and the degree to which such involvement could subscribe to an ideology which often had Marxist overtones. In other regions, such as Africa, Indonesia and the Far East, one of the main problems is "inculturation," embodying the faith and the spirit of the Society in forms peculiar to their own cultures. As part of this evaluation on the state of the Society, Fr. General himself gave a picture of the way he sees the Society at the present, as a body which is very much alive, but with certain illnesses. He also gave a detailed description of his own relationship with the Holy See and the other officials in the Vatican, providing afterwards an opportunity for the delegates to question or discuss any of the points he had brought up. The document on the state of the Society which came out as a result of all this exchange is not one of the papers published to the Society. It was intended only for the delegates and their work in the congregation itself. However, the document is not in fact that useful. Its main value was in providing the oppor-tunity for the delegates to familiarize,themselves with the state of the Society through their live exchanges with one another. A document of this kind by its nature remains general, and gives little sense of the extent and import of either the positive or negative points. 671~ / Review for Religious, l/olume 34, 1975/5 The Work of the Commissions As was mentioned above, ten commissions were formed, more or less along the lines of the categories of material received in the postulates. While a few others later came into being and some of the original ones were changed, these ten commissions formed pretty much the working base of the Congrega-tion. Risking over-simplification, they could be divided into those which looked mainly inward, for example, about our "grades," the Fourth Vow, for-mation, final incorporation into the Society (final vows), central government, the constitution of provincial and general congregations; those which looked outward, namely, the mission of the Society today, inculturation, the service of the Society to the Church; and finally those which look both inward and outward, for example, on union of hearts, the Jesuit today. Some comments on a few of the documents might contribute to a better understanding of them. 1. The Mission of the Society Today The decree which took up the lion's share of the time, and which provided the platform for most of the rhetoric was the one that dealt with the mission of the Society today. The very nature of the topic explains why it took so long to come up with a satisfactory formulation. It involves an articulation that had to bring together the old and the new: fidelity to the essentials of the Society's apostolic nature, and coming to grips with the needs of today. While such a formulation has its own difficulties, the problem was exacer-bated by an initially one-sided approach and by the impression that some gave of using language more appropriate to political parties than to a religious group attempting to clarify its mission. The initial approach was largely horizontal, too much concentrated on the socio-economic aspects, with too lit-tle of the priestly. In the effort to make the congregation conscious of the urgency of these problems there was a tendency to absolutize what was in fact only one aspect of the Society's apostolate. One of the observations offered by Cardinal Villot in the letter in which he com-municated the Pope's authorization to promulgate the work of the congregation pertains to this decree. He stresses an important point, which is already present in the decree, but which deserves emphasis, namely, that the total work of evangelization has a comprehen-sion that cannot be reduced to working for social justice, and secondly that there is a priestly way of working for social justice that is distinct from the proper role of the laity. No one can judge from the final document how much work went into it. If one were tothink of a carpenter shop filled with shavings, and one tiny cabinet to show for the work, the comparison would be apt. The final decree, though somewhat diffuse, manages to relate the fundamental apostolic orientation of the Jesuit life as a priestly order to the promotion of faith which in the real-life situation is inseparable from the promotion of justice. 2. Poverty The. subject of poverty has continued to bedevil our recent congregations. A Survey of the Thirty-Second General Congregation ] 679 As everyone knows, there are two main aspects to what is called religious poverty: the juridical and the evangelicalwor the personal appropriation of the values of evangelical poverty. The decree on poverty, probably the most im-portant document to come out of the congregation, has two parts, the first be-ing more inspirational and exhortatory, while the second is juridical, setting down a basic reform in the structures of our institutional practice of poverty. It is not possible to enter into the technicalities of the juridical part of the decree since it presupposes some knowledge of the structure of the Society. Suffice it to say that the decree formulates what is, to my mind, a creative way of realizing for our own times the Ignatian ideal of poverty, taking into con-sideration the different socio-economic conditions of the twentieth and six-teenth centuries. On the personal side, frugality, the sense of being part of the kenotic mystery of Christ, dependence on the community, and identification with the poor are stressed. in his letter, Cardinal Villot makes two points concerning this decree. After commenting on the fact that the Holy Father was aware of the immense amount of work that had gone into this decree, which attempts to relate the traditional practice of poverty in the Society to the needs of our times, he says that considering the newness of the approach, it would be better to promulgate the decree ad experimentum, to be reviewed in the next General Congregation. He also cautions that the decree should not jeopardize the Society's traditional approach to gratuity of ministries. 3. Grades and the Fourth Vow No other subject discussed by the congregation received as much attention from the press as that of our "grades" and the Fourth Vow. As I remarked above, the delegates had proceeded in a spirit of obedience to the Holy Father's wishes, but in the spirit of Ignatian obedience which allows represen-tation of one's case to the superior, with full openness, however, to the final decision of the superior. But, as I mentioned above, the delegates were not aware of an important communication from the Holy Father which he had given to one of the officials manifesting his mind clearly on the topic. We were made aware of this special communication only after we had proceeded in good faith to take up the question, and to give an "indicative" votewone that is not definitive, but from which it is possible to infer the mind of the delegates. The indicative vote was overwhelmingly in favor of abolishing grades. One can imagine the consternation of the Holy Father when he read of the results of this in the Acta, a copy of which he received regularly, especially when he learned that we had not been given his specific directive on this matter which had been communicated to one of the officials of the congregation. This unfortunate series of events precipitated a strong response from the Vatican. First there was a letter from Cardinal Villot in the name of the Holy Father expressing his consternation at the proceedings. Later there was a letter from the Holy Father himself, tin which he expressed his wonderment, pain, disappointment. What the delegates found particularly difficult to understand in Cardinal Viilot's letter was the strong language used about the failure of Fr. Arrupe to exercise the proper kind of leadership that could have headed off this series of unfortunate events. I~1~0 / Review for Religious, Volume 34, 1975/5 While the delegates were still reeling from this unexpected turn of events, they learned of the directive that had been given by Cardinal Villot to one of the officials to be given to the congregation. The official explained before the whole congregation that he had not understood that he was supposed to transmit this directive to the delegates in any official way. This was a costly mistake. Yet in some ways I think it was a felix culpa because of the benefits which came out of it, as I shall comment below. At this point I should say something about the meaning of the grades and the Fourth Vow for those unfamiliar with the Society's structure and legisla-tion. When the idea of the Society was evolving in the mind and experience of Ignatius, one of the features that emerged was a conception of having membership in the Society on different levels, or "grades." For those with their final vows, there were to be three levels or grades. First of all, there are the "solemnly professed," with solemn vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and a Fourth Vow of special obedience to the Holy Father in regard to mis-sions, that is, apostolic commissions. In the past one hundred years about 40% of Jesuit priests have belonged to this grade. In the mind of Ignatius the professed were supposed to exemplify to a special degree what he looked for in every Jesuit, proficiency in learning, a high degree of virtue, mobility, a life supported only by free-will offerings, exemplifying in their lives a similar relationship to the Vicar of Christ that the disciples showed toward Christ Himself. In addition, key positions in government were reserved to the professed, such as the office of provincial. Again, only the professed could take part in a General Congregation. In the second place, there were priests whose final vows were simple, not solemn. Without going into detail on the differences between solemn and sim-ple vows, it is sufficient to remark here that for one thing they differ accord-ing to the seriousness of the reasons needed for dispensation. This grade is that of "spiritual coadjutor." Members of this grade do not take the vow of special obedience to the Holy Father. In the third place, there are "temporal coadjutors" or brothers. Their final vows are also simple vows of poverty, chast.ity, and obedience. They have the same apostolic purpose as the priests, but have a different way of contributing to the realization of it. The grades are a feature that are peculiar to the Society. As one would sur-mise, the distinction has not been an unmixed blessing in the history of the Society. Though Ignatius never conceived of a Society which would have privileged and unprivileged castes, human nature being what it is, the results were predictable. Since human nature associates power with authority, the professed came to be considered as a kind of first-class type of Jesuit, and the non-professed as second-class. In recent years there has been much historical research on the origin of the ~grades. Also there has been considerable discussion whether the distinction of ~the grades was inextricably tied up with the vision of St. Ignatius, or whether it was something that with the change of times no longer served a purpose. The A Survey of the Thirty-Second General Congregation Thirty-first General Congregation did not face the question head-on. It con-tented itself with broadening the norms by which a person could be admitted to profession. It also transmitted the final solution of the problem to the Thirty-second General Congregation. The intervention of the Holy Father did not directly concern grades. He limited himself to the question of the Fourth Vow, which he said could not be extended to non-priests. This intimates that the Holy Father was concerned not simply about a juridical division in the Society which could be changed by another law, but about a theological question concerning the relationship between the priestly identity of those who take the Fourth Vow and the mis-sions which are the direct object of the vow. Again (I am speculating) the intervention of the Holy Father might be a healthy reminder in this age of blurring all distinctions for the sake of dubious notions of equality, that differentiation in functions does not necessarily mean division. Reserving the Fourth Vow to priests helps to keep the priestly focus of the apostolic work of the Society which has characterized it from the begin-ning. This need not create first- and second-class citizens, but it could engender an awareness that there are different gifts within the same body by which the same goal is realized. 4. The Union of Hearts A commission without a name was set up as a kind of catchall to handle four topics that on the surface had little unity: the question of union and pluralism, communal discernment, religious life, and community life. Since I was a member of this commission from beginning to end, I feel more in touch with it than with the other commissions. It was a kind of a "Benjamin" com-mission compared with those set up to handle the "important" topics like mis-sion, grades, poverty, etc. Ironically, Benjamin was suddenly given an importance late in the con-gregation. The Holy Father in his intervention had commented on the fact that he had heard a lot about mission and justice, but little about renewal of the religious life, even though we had already been at it for two months. So all of a sudden the pressure was on to come up with something significant along those lines. The final document on union of hearts is a contemporary commentary, on Chapter One of Part VIII of our Constitutions, "Aids Toward the Uniori of Hearts." Under this heading the commission found a focus which could unite the various topics given to it. Much effort was spent in an attempt to formulate a clear statement on the subject of union and pluralism. Many of the postulates asked for such a state-ment, some of them stressing the harm coming from internal divisions, others emphasizing the need for a "healthy pluralism." Eventually the commission decided that a theoretical statement would not be helpful. Instead it for-mulated, along with principles on which union of hearts is based, certain prac-tical directives on prayer, community life, sacraments, and communal discern-ment. 682 / Review for Religious, Volume 34, 1975/5 The subject of communal discernment received a lot of discussion. Some wanted to turn it into a kind of Aladdin's lamp which could call forth some kind of a jinni. Others were more skeptical over the possibility of univer-salizing the practicableness of such a process. The final statement in the docu-ment attempts to locate communal discernment within the spectrum of various kinds of spiritual exchange within a community, not exaggerating its role, but on the other hand recognizing the value that it has when the right dispositions and circumstances are present. Incidentally about midway through the congregation, an ad hoc commis-sion was also established to see whether the congregation itself could not carry on its work through a method of communal discernment. After a couple of meetings, it dissolved, because it felt that proceeding according to a formal method of communal discernment was impractical for the congregation because of the large numbers involved and the wide range of subjects on the agenda. 5. The Jesuit Today In the light of the diversity that has appeared in Jesuit life over the past ten years, it was felt necessary to have a statement which would describe the meaning of being Jesuit today. The congregation was presented with five different papers, each of which approached the subject of Jesuit identity from different points of view. They opted for the one which now appears among the official decrees. The decree relates Jesuit identity today in a very simple way to our Igna-tian tradition, to our apostolic mission, and to the source, center, and goal of Jesuit life, which is the imitation of Christ. The Holy See and the General Congregation We have already commented on the intervention of the Holy See in regard to the subject of extending the Fourth Vow to non-priests. However, this is only an application of something which is much broader. The interest of the Holy See in this congregation is unparalleled in the whole history of the Society. Perhaps this comes from the fact that Pope Paul had a keen sense of its importance for the Society and for the Church itself. I have just finished once again going over the papal documents, beginning with the letter written to Fr. Arrupe on September 15, 1973, which the Holy Father wrote after Fr. General had announced the convening of the General Congregation, and concluding with the covering letter which was added to the approbation of the decrees. There is one theme running through all of these communications: the necessity of being faithful to the distinctive nature of the Society as it is expressed in the Formula of the Institute, a distinctiveness which has proved its fruitfulness over hundreds of years of experience. Specifically, the Society is described time and time again as a priestly apostolic order, with a special bond of obedience to the Holy See. There is, to be sure, a stress on the need to adapt to the needs of our times, but such adap- A Survey of the Thirty-Second General Congregation I 683 tation must always maintain the essentials as these are to be found in the For-mula. 1 Pope Paul wrote of his concern for the Society not only as the Vicar of Christ who has responsibility for the whole Church, but in terms which, unless I am mistaken, are unprecedented in the history of this relationship between the Society and the Holy See. He speaks of himself as the one who has the chief responsibility for the preservation of the Formula of the Institute, "supremus 'Formulae Instituti' fideiussor," and the chief protector and preserver of the Formula, "Formulae Instituti supremus tutor ac custos." It would not be true to say that all of the delegates responded with un-qualified enthusiasm to the interventions of the Holy Father. Though all recognized his right in abstracto to intervene, a~nd the corresponding attitude of obedience to which we were obliged and, which all gave without contesta-tion, nevertheless when the interventions came in this particular way, with these particular words and in this particular timing, there were signs of ruffled feelings. In case anyone needed reminding, we learned in the process that the delegates as a whole, while good and responsible men, are not yet ready for canonization. However, we did see in an exemplary way the incarnation of Jesuit obedience in at least one person, Fr. Arrupe. This was not something he did just "to give good example." His whole life has been so totalized by his faith that even his perceptions pick up the reality beneath the appearance. He senses the presence of the Vicar of Christ beneath the appearance of Pope Paul. The concern of the Holy Father shown in so many ways over the past few years and in a special way through his vigilance over the activities of the con-gregation are to my way of thinking a special grace for the Society. In a way that we never planned on, the interventions of the Holy Father brought us to a level of faith we would not have reached by ourselves. It also brought us to a realization that the Society is a servant of the Church. In some small way the history of this congregation parallels the description of Peter's death, about whom our Lord said, "You will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go" (Jn 21:18). Father Arrupe I have already mentioned that if it were not for Fr. Arrupe's example and leadership the congregation would have capsized under the difficulties it ran into. He constantly called us to a vision we needed in order to see what was happening from a supernatural point of view, and in order to avoid the traps of tNot many Jesuits are aware either of the content or the importance of the Formula of the Institute. Yet, even more than the Constitutions, it is the basic rule or fundamental code of legisla-tion in the Society. It contains the results of the deliberations of Ignatius and his companions in 1539 which provided the first sketch of the Institute of the Society of Jesus. It was first approved by Paul Iil in 1540, then again by Julius 111 in 1550 in a slightly revised form. 684 / Review for Religious, l/olume 34, 1975/5 self-pity or recrimination that were only too present. Like one of th~ prophets, he reminded us to see what was happening as coming from the hand of God, and to use it for our own purification and conversion. In a talk given to the delegates on the second day of the congregation, he spoke of the answer that we had to give to the needs of our times. It should be the foolishness of the cross by which Christ redeemed the world, which is the wisdom of God. "In the absolute foolishness of the Cross, the emptying of all things, we find the key to the ultimate solution to the problems of today." In a way we did not foresee, those words were prophetic. Again, he exercised his leadership by leaving the congregation free to follow the paths where its deliberations would take it. In its authority, the General Congregation is superior to the general. Fr. Arrupe always acted with full awareness of this fact. On occasion he would let the delegates know how he felt about certain things, not to pressure them, but in order to make this part of the input of their deliberations. The congregation showed its appreciation of his leadership over the past ten year,s in many ways. There are few who have had to pilot a ship through such a stormy period. The burden has not been easy. But there is always evi-dent in him the same buoyancy and infectious joy that somehow puts him in touch with the Stillpoint that is beyond, above, beneath the storm. Yet, while realizing his outstanding qualities, the delegates did not apotheosize Fr. Arrupe. They realized that with all of his gifts there were also limitations. In fact, the decree which set up a council for the general was framed mainly to supply the kind of help which might balance out the one-sidedness of some of his gifts. Differences Between This Congregation and the Previous Ones The Thirty-second (2ongregati0n had many characteristics which made it very different from any preceding General Congregation. Some of the more important ones might be the following. As was mentioned above, there was a four-year period of preparation for this congregation which was unprecedented. Similarly a few months before the actual opening day a special preparatory commission met to organize the material. This was the first General Congregation where, from the start, traditional rules of secrecy were lifted, except for the prohibition against making public either the names of delegates who spoke on the different questions, or the tally of the votes. Five Jesuit journalists were given free access to the meetings. They published a report about every week that kept the Society informed of the progress of affairs. In this Congregation for the first time the voices of the Third World were not only heard in larger numbers, but they showed a vitality that added zest to the meetings. However, even among these voices there were different accents. All of them were keenly aware of the injustices which oppress their peoples by reason of the exploitation of the capitalistic countries. However, the Spanish- A Survey of the Thirty-Second General Congregation / 685 speaking delegates tended to stress political and social involvement; the Africans continually reminded us of the need for the sense of the transcendent, the specifically God-and-Christ-centered nature of our apostolate; and those from the Far East, while keeping these same perspectives, also stressed the need for approaches that were directed both toward personal conversion and change of the structures. No other congregation has met at a period when there has been such a crisis in vocations. Over the past ten years, the Society has diminished from about 36,000 to 30,000 members. While in some places the number of novices has begun to pick up again, the overall picture remains dim. In 1965 there were 1902 novices compared to 705 in 1974. In the United States there are about 200 novices, showing a slight increase over the past few years. In some coun-tries, however, the picture is dismal. Spain, for example, had 269 novices in 1965. In 1974 it had only 30. Germany had 114 in 1965. At present it has about 30. Similar figures could be given for France, Belgium, Holland, Italy. When one compares the number of scholastics presently in their training with the number of priests engaged in apostolic work, there is only one scholastic for every five priests. This will seriously change the scope of our apostolic work over the next fifty years. Another unique factor was the everpresent concern of the Holy See in regard to the preparation for the congregation, the things taken up, and the final results, as I have mentioned above. The theme was repeated over and over again: be faithful to yourselves, especially to your identity as it is ex-pressed in your Formula of the Institute. The only specific feature which was singled out in the expressions of this concern was fidelity to the lgnatian idea of the Fourth Vow, both positively in the fact that it should be a vital factor in the life of the Society, and negatively in that it should not be extended to non-priests. Again, the fact of asking the congregation to submit its decrees to the Holy See for its approval before they were promulgated was unprecedented. The approbation was given with, in some instances, a few qualifications. Another characteristic which distinguishes this congregation from begin-ning to end and is evident in the decrees is thee theme of repentance. There is a mea culpa, mea maxima culpa evident in the Introductory Decree, the Decree on Mission, on The Jesuit Today, as well as in others. The Society is painfully conscious of its failings over the past ten years. Particularly in contrast to the Thirty-first Congregation, with its stress on freedom, subsidiarity and conscience, this one stressed the complementary features of the limits of pluralism, the need for norms that are applicable for Jesuit life as a whole, the responsibility of superiors for a greater firmness in governing, the importance of the manifestation of conscience both for the spiritual direction of the individual, and the good of the apostolate, the value of communal discernment when the proper conditions are realized. This congregation, unlike others, had a unifying theme throughout: the mission of the Society today. This did not happen because it was planned. There was a kind of unconscious dynamic at work which imperceptibly gave 686 / Review for Religious, Volume 34, 1975/5 this orientation to the various decrees. The consciousness of mission, if fully appropriated in all of its richness, could do much to revivify the Society, over-coming in the first place a great deal of individualism and self-will, and bring-ing about a greater sense of the living presence of Christ sending through His Church, and through superiors. In the actual procedure of the congregation there were unique features arising from the sharing that took place in smaller groups. One of the most im-portant parts of our daily life was the concelebrated Mass which was celebrated according to the different language groupings. Finally this congregation is probably distinctive in the fact that a little over half of the delegates were under forty-nine years old (122 out of the 236). Strengths and Weaknesses of the Congregation Like all meetings of this kind there are both strengths and weaknesses to be found. I could not resist the temptation to say that one of the strengths was un-doubtedly sheer psychological tenacity to "keep at it" for over three months when everyone was exhausted both from the work itself and the emotional strain. But the main strength of the congregation is the sense of solidarity manifest among the delegates and throughout the Society, a solidarity coming from a vision based on faith and brought into an Ignatian focus through the Spiritual Exercises and our Jesuit tradition. However, I think that there are also some deficiences evident in the work and structure of the congregation. Some way has to be found to expedite the carrying out of business. Though it was an attempt to get the input from the whole Society, on balance, the analysis of the postulates took up too much time. And questions of order consumed interminable hours. In regard to particular questions, in retrospect, it might have been a serious mistake not to have separated in some way the question of the Fourth Vow from that of grades. While they are related, they are distinct. And the interven-tion of the Holy See was concerned with the Fourth Vow, and not directly with grades. Again the expression given to the relationship of the Society to the Holy Father is "safe," but it creates the impression of one who is driving a car with one foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake. It does not seem to ex-press the 61an of Jesuit spirituality in its fullness. One reason for this inade-quacy stems from the fact that the congregation came to the topic only in the last few days before it ended, and the members did not have the mental energy or the time to do justice to it. Another difficulty is in the formulation itself. Attempts to combine both the unreserved expression of the spirit of loyalty and the juridical aspect of limits tend to cancel one another out. For example, there were numerous attempts, all sterile, to speak of "mission" in relationship to "doctrine," wherein loyalty would be unreserved in regard to mission, but conditioned in regard to doctrine. Consequently the resulting statement is bland, not nuanced. This will probably be one of the main topics that will have to be taken up at the next General Congregation. A Survey of the Thirty-Second General Congregation Another deficiency is the fact that the congregation treated those problems which are more obvious because they have a certain shrillness--the problem, for example, of global injustice. Just as important, however, but without the volume being turned up, are questions touching man and technology, par-ticularly the genetic manipulation of man. Again, these questions will probably have to be faced by the next congregation. What to Hope For If the Society as a whole could translate what is set down in the decrees from formulation into fact, it would be renewed. In turn it would become a great force in renewing the Church and the world. What hope is there for such a renewal? The parable of the sower and the seed has its application to the Society as well as to the Church. There are those whose roots are not deep enough to withstand trials. There are others whose life of faith is choked by cares and riches. But then there are the many who do yield fruit, some, a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Decrees, however excellent, are no substitute for the gospel-call to totality. To the degree that individuals open themselves to the radical call of the gospel will they also open themselves to the decrees, which after all are only a faltering attempt to express this radical call in a way that is both Ignatian and contemporary. There are many factors which will contribute to energizing this renewal. Many feel a need for a deeper life of prayer. The importance of spiritual direc-tion is expressing itself strongly. A fuller appropriation of the Spiritual Exercises ¯ through the directed retreat is a great blessing. Again, an important factor is the reinforcement and leadership given to the Society by other religious con-gregations which have already led the way in the renewal of religious life by bringing their lives more in conformity with gospel simplicity and single-mindedness. We can also hope that we will not repeat the mistakes of the past ten years. Considering the turmoil and confusion coming from "future shock," these mistakes are perhaps understandable. But no organization can exist in a state of continuous convulsion. Many of the delegates, in searching for answers to the problems which faced us "discovered" our Thirty-first Congregation, which someone described as the great congregation in the history of the Society. We found that in many cases we could not do better, in fact could hardly come up to the decrees of the Thirty-first. But we also felt like a traveler who had spent hours trying to find his way only to discover after much meandering that there was a map in his glove compartment. The documents of the Thirty-first General Congreg -tion were such a map. The logical question, then, is: why were not the decrees implemented? A still more haunting question is: will the same thing happen to the decrees of this congregation? This was a problem which preoccupied the delegates throughout the whole time. Meetings were held to discuss implementation. But as the saying goes, 61~! / Review for Religious, l/olume 34, 1975/5 there is many a slip,between the cup and the lip. How much will the Society be able to drink in from the decrees? One of the main sources of hope, in addition to those mentioned above, is a renewed sense of solidarity and confidence among the provincials, and a strong sense of support in Fr. General. In the past ten years very often inaction resulted not from a failure of courage or faith, but because of a blurring of ideas concerning the fundamentals of religious life, often enough because of contradictory views bandied by theologians. The provincials obviously have not suddenly received some formula of universal application to solve all problems, but there is a greater sense of assurance and direction. The weight of implementation turns around the local superiors with the support of the provincials. There is hope here also, because the superiors themselves have a greater sense of their solidarity and of their role as spiritual leaders of the local communities. Ultimately the problem is always the same: conversion. It is something never accomplished once and for all, but continues to repeat its call. There are the perennial obstacles to conversion: inertia, self-love, self-will, the evil spirits that affect us all as individuals. However, it especially in the way that the collectivity reenforces the inertia in individuals that we find the main obstacle today. Group-think and group-feel, in large part created through the media, produce a kind of closedness that filters down from a collective level to in-dividuals, bringing about imperceptibly a closedness in the individual. Each one, young or old, is caught in some degree on this split level of collectivity and self, and suffers from the unfreedom of the collectivity. Jesuits already engaged in the apostolate have to discern how much this group-think affects their personal lives, impeding their personal conversion and the fruitfulness of their apostolate. Jesuits who are in formation have to do the same. The responsibility of those who are in charge of training the younger Jesuits is great. The importance of the congregation comes not from the written decrees but from the support that these decrees give to creating in the Society a different kind of group-think, a "group-feel" based upon the gospel. "My name is legion." Legions can be driven out only by legions. The demonic in collectivity can only be driven out by the embodiment of holiness in collec-tivity. The Society will rise or fall to the extent that the good will of the in-dividual is supported and sustained by a corporate realization of sanctity. No individual can abdicate the responsibility for his own conversion. But in a special way superiors have a responsibility for the whole group. Newman remarked somewhere that good is never done except at the expense of those who do it, and truth is never enforced except at the sacrifice of its propounders. Reformers and prophets have never been well received. Perhaps superiors are destined to enter into that role, not, however, with a martyr complex or heaviness of heart. We have a living example in Fr. Arrupe that it is a role that is compatible with a deep joy. Aiding and facilitating the work of the superiors are the communities A Survey of the Thirty-Second General Congregation / 689 themselves which are called upon, through community meetings and prayerful discernment, to face their own response to the gospel call to simplicity, and to bridge the gap between the radical response to which we have vowed our lives and the actual way in which we live them. When I asked one of the delegates who was in great part responsible for the formulation of the decree on poverty how optimistic he was about its im-plementation, he said: "When I think of human nature, I am not very op-timistic. But when I think of the power of the Spirit, 1 am hopeful. Everything depends on the Spirit. Legislation can support; it cannot convert. Of ourselves we are weak, but with the power of the Spirit we can overcome, overcome even ourselves." POSITION OPEN The Department of Theology in the School of Religious Studies of the Catholic University of America announces the opening, beginning January, 1976, for: Assistant, Associate or Full Professor in the field of Christian Spiritual Theology. Applications should be sent to:Chairperson Department of Theology Catholic University of America Washington, DC 20064 The Catholic University of America is an equal ol~portunity employer. The Recovery =of Religious Life Bro. Raymond L. Fitz, S.M. Bro. Lawrence J. Cada, S.M. Both authors belong to the Marianist Training Network. Brother Raymond Fitz is director of the Marianist Institute of Christian Renewal and associate professor of Engineering Management and Electrical Engineering at the University of Dayton. He lives at 410 Edgar Avenue; Dayton, Ohio 45410. Brother Lawrence Cada is chairman of the Department of Science and Mathematics at Borromeo College of Ohio and lives at 315 East 149 Street; Cleveland, Ohio 44110. I. Introduction~ How long will the turmoils now besetting religious life last? Are they almost over, and has the process of returning to a more normal situation begun? Or will things stay unsettled for some time to come? This article will argue for the likelihood of the latter alternative. On the basis of the models and analyses presented, the article will try to show that religious life in America is undergo-ing a profound transition, which will take another twenty to twenty-five years to run its full course. Moreover, the study will seek to demonstrate that social disintegration (loss of membership, lack of vocations, collapse of institutions, etc.) of religious communities in the Church will probably continue for at least the next ten to fifteen years. The most significant questions facing religious life in those ten to fifteen years will center on "death and dying." Many aspects of the life as it has been known will be passing away. Only after these questions are accepted and creatively answered can religious life be expected to be revitalized and renewed within the Church. This process will demand both a recovery of that deep dynamic impulse which first gave rise to religious life in the Church and a recovery from the malaise through which it is now passing: tThis is a draft of a work in progress. Feedback on the content and style of this paper would be ap-preciated. 690 The Recovery of Religious Life hence the title "The Recovery of Religious Life." Although much of this arti-cle argues for the plausibility of these assertions and their implications for the future of religious life, there will also be provided an explanation of how the data were collected and organized, and of what was called important or unim-portant. In this sense, these assertions represent a starting bias that informs the entire article. As such, this bias merits being stated at the outset. The approach taken in this article2 is to explore the questions about the future of religious life from a historical and sociological point of view. In the first two parts of the article, two models are developed: a historical model of the evolution of religious life as a movement in the Church and a sociological model dealing with the organizational life cycle of an individual religious com-munity. Then, in the final sections of the article, these two models will be used to address questions about the present condition of religious life and its future. Every model represents a simplification of reality, and the models in this arti-cle are no exception. To arrive at the questions posed in the final sections, the article will digest and condense large amounts of material drawn from a variety of sources that are partially indicated in the notes. It is hoped that this simplification is not a serious distortion of the facts and that it will arrange the historical and other data in such a way as to provide an overview from which some tentative generalizations can be made. II. The Evolution of Religious Life: A Historical Model Religious communities in the life of the church are not fixed and static en-tities. Taken together they make up a historical process unfolding over time, and religious life can be viewed as a significant social movement in the history of Western Culture. As parts of a movement, religious communities arose in response to dramatic social change in the Church and in the larger cultural and political arena of Western Civilization. They became a dynamic force in shap-ing and cha~ging the Church and secular culture. They have been both a cause and an effect of social change: the founding of religious communities has fre-quently been a response to major developments of society, and the evolution of the Church and Western Culture has been significantly influenced by the life and work of religious communities. As in all social movements, the role of myth, the emergence of belief systems, the fashioning of institutions and social structures, and the role of personal transformation and commitment are central to the evolution of religious life. The dynamic interplay of all these elements creates, sustains and limits the histo~'ical unfolding of religious communities. ~This article grew from a variety of experiences over an extended period of time with multiple presentations at workshops and reflections from many religious. Especially helpful were Fr. Norbert Brockman, S.M., Sr. Gertrude Foley, S.C., Bro. Thomas Giardino, S.M., and Sr. Carol Lichtenberg, S.N.D. The scheme of dividing the history of religious life into the five eras presented in the second part of this article was first suggested in a lecture given by Fr. David Fleming, S.M., at the University of Dayton in December, 1971. 692 / Review for Religious, Volume 34, 1975/5 A. Organizing Concepts One way to view the unfolding of religious life within the Church is to look at how the image of religious life has evolved over time and what implications this evolution has had for the functioning of individual religious communities.3 The term dominant image of religious life is used here to name a multifaceted reality that includes how religious view their life and its functions and role within the Church and the world during a given period. The term is also meant to indicate the sense of history which permeates religious life at a given time. How do people, both the religious and the members of society at large, picture the past of this way of life? What kind of future are religious supposed to be creating? The process by which the dominant image of religious life evolves in time can be characterized by a repeated sequence of identifiable phases of change: - Growth Phase. A relatively long period of elaboration and develop-ment of the dominant image of religious life and its implications. - Decline Phase. A period of crisis in which the dominant image of religious life comes under strong question. Religious communities seem no longer suited to the aspirations of the age. Religious com-munities lose their purpose, drift into laxity, and disintegrate. Transition Phase. A comparatively short period of revitalization in which variations of the dominant image of religious life emerge and one of these is gradually selected as the new dominant image. - Growth Phase under a New Image. A period of elaboration and development under the new dominant image of religious life. The supposition that religious life has passed through a succession of such phases of growth, decline, and transition is the basis of a model that can be used to organize and interpret the data of the history of religious life.4 The remainder of this section is devoted to illustrating a way this model might be constructed. 3Some sources used to clarify the notion of dominant image were Fred Polak, The hnage of the Future, translated and abridged by Elise Boulding (San Francisco: Jassey-Bass, 1973); Changing Images of Man, Policy Research Report No. 4, Center for the Study of Social Policy, Stanford Research Institute, May, 1974; and Kenneth E. Boulding, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1961). *Some sources used to clarify the notion of social evolution were Stephen Toulmin, Human Understanding-I (Princeton: P. U. P., 1972); Anthony F. C. Wallace, "'Paradigmatic Processes in Cultural Change," American Anthropologist (Vol. 74, 1972), pp. 467-478; Donald T. Campbell, "'Variation and Selective Retention in Socio-Cultural Evolution," in H. R. Barringer, G. I. Blanksten, and R. W. Mack (¢ds.), Social Change in Developing Areas (Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman, 1965); Edgar S. Dunn, Economic and Social Development." A Process of Social Learn-ing (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U. P., 1971); and Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962). The Recovery of Religious Life / 693 The following questions have been used in fashioning the model. First, there are questions about variation that deal with searching and experiment-ing. Under what conditions do variations appear in the dominant image of religious life? If these variations lead in certain directions, what factors in culture, the Church, or religious life itself influenced the choice of those direc-tions? Second, there are questions about selection. What determines which variations in the dominant image of religious life are selected out to serve as essential elements of a new image of religious life? How do members of religious communities distinguish well-founded and properly justified variations from those which are precipitous, not well thought out, and hasty? ¯ Finally, there are questions about retention that deal with incorporating and establishing the new. How are selected variations incorporated into religious communities? What processes are needed? What set of factors distinguishes in-novations which endure from those which disappear quickly? B. Major Eras in the Evolution of Religious Life Using the concepts described above, the history of religious life can be divided into five main periods: the eras of the Desert Fathers, Monasticism, the Mendicant Orders, the Apostolic Orders, and the Teaching Congregations) The description of these eras given in this section constitutes the historical model that will be used in the final portion of this article. 1. Era of the Desert Fathers The first period was the Era of the Desert Fathers. Following the earliest manifestations of religious life in the mode of consecrated virgins and widows within the Christian communities of the persecuted Church, ther~ emerged the image of the religious as the ascetic holy person. The description of the her-mit's life given by Athanasius in his Life of Anthony crystallized an ideal which inspired both solitary anchorites and many communities of cenobites. The desert was seen as the domain of the demons to which they had retreated after being driven out of the cities by the triumph of the recently established Church. It was to this "desert" that generous men and women withdrew to 5Factual and historical data on the history of religious life were gathered from such standard sources as The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), The New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967), the An-nuario Pontificio, The Official Catholic Directory, and The Catholic Almanac. Some of the other sources on this topic were Raymond Hostie, S.J., Vie et mort des ordres religieux (Paris: Descl~e de Brouwer, 1972); David Knowles, O.S.B., Christian Monasticism (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969); Humbert M. Vicaire, O.P., The Apostolic Life (Chicago: Priory Press, 1966); Derwas J. Chitty, The Desert a City (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1964); Owen Chadwick, John Cassian, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: C. U. P., 1968); William Hinnebusch, O.P., "'How the Dominican Order Faced Its Crises," Review for Religious (Vol. 32, No. 6, November, 1973), pp. 1307-1321; William A. Hinnebusch, O.P., The History of the Dominican Order, 2 vols. (New York: Alba House, 1966, 1973); Teresa Ledochowska, O.S.U., Angela Merici and the Company of St. Ursula, 2 vols. (Rome: Ancora, 1969); William V. Bangert, S.J., A History of the Society of Jesus (St. Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1972); and Adrien Dansette, Religious History of Modern France, 2 vols. (New York: Herder and Herder, 1961). 69t~ / Review for Religious, lZolume 34, 1975/5 carry on the Church's important work of doing battle with the devil in the wilderness as Christ had done long ago. In this way the desert came to be seen as a place of austere beauty, where the monk was trained in the ways of perfec-tion. He returned from time to time into the midst of his fellow Christians, who saw in him the power to do good--healing the sick, casting out demons, comforting the sorrowful with gentle words, reconciling the estranged, and above all urging everyone to put nothing in the world before the love of Christ. This image captured the imagination of the Christian world as news about the Desert Fathers spread from Egypt to all points of the Roman empire. Throughout the 4th century monasteries sprang up on all the shores of the Mediterranean. By the 5th century, the golden age had begun to fade. In the East, the monks had become embroiled in doctrinal controversy. In the West, TABLE 1: ERA OF THE DESERT FATHERS (200-500) Dominant Image of Religious Life. The ideal of religious life is the holy ascetic who seeks " the perfection of Christ as a solitary or in community with a group of monks. Disciples withdraw into the "desert" and place themselves under the care of a master ascetic who teaches them the ways of perfection. They live nearby as hermits or gather in cenobia or monasteries where the master is the superior. The monk prays, mortifies himself, does battle with the devil for the sake of the Church, and spends his life seeking union with Christ. 2nd and 3rd Centuries 251 Anthony horn Consecrated virgins and widows live a form of 271 Anthony withdraws into the desert RL within Christian communities of the early 292 Pachomius born Church during the persecution. 4th Century 313 Edict of Milan 325 Pachomius founds cenobium 356 Anthony ~lies 357 Athanasius writes Life of Anthony 360 Basil founds monastery in Cappadocia 363 Martin founds monastery in Gaul 376 Melania founds monastery on Mount of Olives 393 Augustine founds monastic group in Hip-po 399 Cassian, disciple of Evagrius, migrates from Egypt to West Hermits and cenobites flourish in the Egyptian desert. Various forms of solitary and com-munity RL spread around eastern rim of the Mediterranean (Palestine, Syria, Cappadocia). First monasteries are founded in the West. 5th Century 410 Alaric sacks Rome RL continues to expand in the East. Spread of 415 Cassian founds monastery in Marseille wandering monks and various kinds of 455 Vandals sack Rome monasteries in the West while the western half 459 Simon the Stylite dies of the Roman Empire crumbles. 476 End of western Roman Empire 1st TRANSITION: SPREAD OF BENEDICT'S RULE The Recovery of Religious Life / 69t~ the foundations of Roman civilization weakened under the onslaught of the barbarian tribes, and the ties between the eastern and western halves of the Empire began to break apart. The monasteries in Gaul and other parts of the moribund West became refugee cloisters, where the monks gathered the few treasures of civilization they could lay hold of. As dusk settled on the glories of imperial Rome, the stage was set for the rise of feudal Europe and with it the next period in the evolution of religious life. 2. Era of Monasticism The next period was the Era of Monasticism. In his attempt to regularize religious life as "a life with God in separation from the world," Benedict produced a new dominant image of religious life. This image was not only a correction of the abuses which had crept in during the 5th and 6th centuries, it also, and more importantly, turned out to be a successful adaptation of religious life to the feudal society of the Dark Ages and the early medieval period. Benedict's short and practical Rule furnished workable guidelines for all monastic activity and every age and class of monks. It combined an uncom-promising spirituality with physical moderation and flexibility. It emphasized the charity and harmony of a simple life in common under the guidance of a wise and holy abbot. By the 9th century, this new image had spread to virtually all the monasteries of Europe. The ideal of the Benedictine monk became the model for Christian spirituality and played a part in the stabilization and unification of society. Various modifications, such as the Cluniac, Carthusian, and Cister-cian Reforms, maintained and adapted the dominant image to the developments in European society. Cluny and the Cistercians devised methods of uniting monasteries into networks that became harbingers of the modern order. However, by the time the 'first stirrings of urbanization began at the end of the 12th century, the dominant image began to show its inadequacies and once again laxity in religious life was not uncommon. There was also a great debate between monks and canons about which form of religious life was a more authentic embodiment of the apostolic ideal. As the civilization of the high Middle Ages began to emerge, new possibilities were felt in society and with them came the opportunity for a transition in religious life. 3. Era of the Mendicant Orders When Francis and Dominic launched their communities, they ushered in the next period, the Era of the Mendicant Orders. As mendicant friaries sprang up in towns across Europe, they met with an initial hostility which could not fathom how this new style could be an authentic form of religious life. Gradually, though, the new image of religious life became acceptable, and it proved to be a much better adaptation of ~:eligious life to the needs of urban society than was possible for the monasteries in their rural settings. During the course of the 13th century, even the monastic orders established studia close 696 / Review for Religious, l/olume 34, 1975/5 to the new universities, where the mendicants were flourishing. As Christen-dom was passing through its zenith, the image of a religious life unen-cumbered with landed wealth played a key role in the cultivation of the in-tellectual life by the Church within society and in the preaching of the Gospel for the Church. TABLE 2: ERA OF MONASTICISM (500-1200) Dominant Image of RL. Life in a monastery is the ideal of the religious. The daily round of liturgical prayer, work, and meditation provides a practical setting to pursue the lofty goals of praising God and union with Christ. Within the Church and society, the monks set an example of how deep spirituality can be combined with loving ministry to one's neighbor and dutiful fidelity to the concrete tasks of daily living. 6th Century 529 Benedict founds a monastery to live ac- Spread of monasteries throughout western cording to his Rule Europe (Gaul, Spain, Ireland, etc.). Various 540 Celtic monasticism takes root in Irela'nd formats. Excesses and laxity are common--as 590 Columbanus founds monastery in Lu~r are wandering monks. euil 7th and 8th Centuries 642 Arab conquest of Egypt Gradual spread of Benedict's Rule to.more and 700 Venerable Bede more monasteries of Europe. Missionary 746 Boniface founds monastery in Germany journeys of Celtic monks to evangelize 755 Canons of Chrodegang founded northern Europe. 9th Century 816 Regula Canonicorum of Aix-la-Chapelle Observance of Canons Regular is made uni- 817 Charlemagne's son decrees that form by the spread of the Rule of Aix. Con- Benedict's Rule is to be observed in all solidation of Benedict's Rule. Virtually all monasteries. This project coordinated by monasteries are "Benedictine." Benedict of Aniane. 910 Cluniac Reform 1084 Carthusian Reform 1098 Cistercian Reform 10th and llth Centuries Various reforms breathe new life into Benedict's ideal and introduce organizational variations. 1111 Bernard joins the Cistercians 1120 Premonstratensians founded 12th Century Canons Regular unite into orders which are a variation of the monastic networks of Cluny and Citeaux. Military orders attempt a new form of RL which is temporarily successful (Knights of Malta, Templars, Teutonic Knights, etc.). 2nd TRANSITION: RISE OF THE MENDICANTS After a rapid flowering, the mendicant orders were affected by the same changes which spread across the Church and European society in the 14th and 15th centuries. As the Renaissance presaged the new humanism, the secularization of European society, and the breakup of the unity of Christen-dom, there emerged the conditions for yet a new kind of religious life. The Recovery of Religious Life / 697 TABLE 3: ERA OF THE MENDICANT ORDERS (1200-1500) Dominant Image of RL. The simple friar who begs for his keep and follows in the footsteps of the Lord is the ideal of RL. He prays as he goes, steeping himself in the love of Christ. Unencumbered by landed wealth, the mendicants are free to travel on foot to any place they are needed by the Church. They hold themselves ready to preach, cultivate learning, serve the poor, and minister to the needs of society in the name of the Church. 1211 Franciscans founded 1216 Dominicans founded 1242 Carmelites founded 1256 Augustinians founded 13th Century Mendicant friaries spring up in medieval towns across Europe. These foundations lend themsel~,es to work in the new universities and the apostolate of preaching. Rapid expansion of the mendicant orders. Monastic orders make some attempts to take up the style of the mendicants. 1325 75,000 men in mendicant orders 1344 Brigittines founded 1349 Black Death 1400 47,000 men in mendicant orders 1415 Hus burned at the stake 1450 Gutenberg 1492 Columbus 1500 90,000 men in mendicant orders 14th Century ~tabilization and slow decline of the mendicant orders. Abuses in RL are prevalent. 15th Century Various reforms restore the mendicant ideal and produce a gradual increase in membership. First stirrings of the Renaissance introduce an uneasiness into the Church and RL. 3rd TRANSITION: THE COUNTER-REFORMATION 4. Era of the Apostolic Orders The transition to the next period in religious life, the era of the Apostolic Orders, happened with the Counter-Reformation. Not long after Luther sparked the Protestant Revolt, the new image of religious life appeared with the foundation of various orders of Clerics Regular, the chief of which were the Jesuits. The verve and style of this new foundation set the pace for religious life, The mendicant orders had taken up this ideal in part by joining in the mis-sionary conquests,of the Church in the newly discovered lands. The new image also spurred religious to come to terms with the secularizing trends of the scientific revolution, modern philosophy, and the rise of nationalism in Europe. Jesuits, for example, could be found in the royal courts of almost all of Europe's Catholic kingdoms, in the laboratories of the new scientists, and teaching the youthful Descartes at La Fl~che. As the proponents of the Enlightenment testily challenged the very ex-istence of the Church, a slow decline descended upon religious life. Large and nearly empty monasteries dotted the European countryside. Jansenist and Enlightened thought undermined the.rationale for religious life from opposite directions. The Bourbon kings succeededin persuading Rome to suppress the 69~! / Review for Religious, l/olume 34, 1975/5 Jesuits in 1773. On the eve of the French Revolution, worldwide membership in all the men's religious orders stood at about 300,000; by the time the Revolution and the secularization which followed had run their course, fewer than 70,000 remained. Many orders went out of existence. As the 19th century began, there was need of a thorough-going revival of religious life, which could realistically cope with the new consciousness of Europe. TABLE 4: ERA OF THE APOSTOLIC ORDERS (1500-1800) Dominant Image of RL. Religious are an elite of dedicated and militant servants of the Church with a high level of individual holiness, a readiness to defend the Church on any front, and the zeal to win new expansion for the Church to the very ends of the earth. 1517 Luther sparks the Reformation 1535 Ursulines founded 1540 Jesuits founded 1541 Francis Xavier sails for Far East 1545 Trent starts 1562 Discalced Carmelite Reform 16th Century RE virtually wiped out in Protestant Europe. Founding and expansion of a new kind of RL in the format of the Clerics Regular. These groups work at shoring up the Church's political power in Catholic Europe, reforming the Church, and spreading the Gospel in the foreign missions. 17th Century 1610 Visitation Nuns founded 1625 Vincentians founded 1633 Daughters of Charity founded 1650 St. Joseph Sisters founded 1662 Ranc6 launches Trappist Reform 1663 Paris Foreign Mission Society founded 1681 Christian Brothers founded 1700 213,000 men in mendicant orders Flowering of spirituality, especially in French School, leads to new foundations such as the various societies of priests and clerical con-gregations. Bulk of men religious still belong to mendicant orders. 1725 Passionists founded 1735 Redemptorists founded 1770 300,000 men in RL in world 1773 Jesuits suppressed by Rome 1789 French Revolution starts 18th Century A few clerical congregations emerge, but RL as a whole seems to be in decline due to the in-roads of Enlightenment thought, Jansenism, wealth, and laxity. Weakened RL is given the coup de gr?tce by the French Revolution, which sets off a wave of political suppression and defection in France and the rest of Catholic Europe. 4th TRANSITION: FRENCH REVOLUTION 5. Era of the Teaching Congregations The revival of religious life which occurred in the next period, the Era of the Teaching Congregations, set off in a new direction. There were about 600 foundations of new communities in the 19th century. They were, for the most part, dominated by the movement of educating the masses. For the first time The Recovery of Religious Life / 699 in European history, the idea of educating everyone had the possibility of be-ing concretely realized. The new congregations joined in this movement in hopes of planting the seeds of a hardy faith in the souls of the children they taught by the thousands. This zeal for the education of children was combined with a cleansed Jansenistic spirituality to form the new image of religious life. While the activity of religious spilled over into other apostolic works such as hospitals, teaching set the pace. Even the few pre-Revolution orders which were managing a slow recovery took on many of the trappings of the typical 19th century teaching congregation. For the first time in the history of religious life, recruitment of adult vocations was almost completely displaced by the acceptance of candidates just emerging from childhood. Through the end of the 19th century and on into the 20th the religious who gave themselves to this demanding work of teaching edified the Church and produced a brand of holiness which was most appropriate for a Catholicism which sought to strengthen a papacy denuded o.f worldly power and to care for the masses of the industrialized wor.ld in need of christianization. By the mid-1960's membership in religious communities reached the highest point in the history of the Church. In the last decade, this trend was reversed for the first time in more than a century. Crises have set in which some ascribe to a loss of identity TABLE 5: ERA OF THE TEACHING CONGREGATIONS (1800-present) Dominant Image of RL. Religious dedicate their lives to the salvation of their own souls and the salvation of others. The style of life of religious men and women blends in intense pursuit of personal holiness with a highly active apostolic service. Identity with the person of Christ unites this two-fold objective into a single purpose. 19th Century 1814 French Restoration; Jesuits restored by Rome 1825 Fewer than 70,000 men in RL in world 1831 Mercy Sisters founded 1850 83,000 men in RL in world 1859 Salesians founded 1870 Papal infallibility declared Revival of RL after widespread state sup-pressions. Numerous foundations of con-gregations dedicated to a return to authentic RL blended with service, principally in schools. Old orders, such as Jesuits and Dominicans, rejuvenated in the format of the teaching con-gregations. Church gradually centralizes around the papacy and isolates itself from secular trends of the modern world 20th Century 1950 275,000 men in RL in world 1962 Vatican II starts; 1,012,000 women in RL in world 1965 335,000 men in RL in world 1966 181,500 women in RL in U.S. 1972 879,000 women in RL in world 1973 143,000 women in RL in U.S. 1974 227,500 men in RL in world Expansion and solidification. In the sixties, crises set in from within RL due to loss of iden-tity and inroads of secularizing process. Numerous defections and decreasing numbers of new members. 5th TRANSITION: (?) 700 / Review for Religious, Volume 34, 1975/5 and the inroads of secularism. It seems that another transition in the long history of religious life has begun. Further considerations will be undertaken in the remainder of this article to better analyze the present situation. 11I. The Life Cycle of a Religious Community: A Sociological Model The previous section of this paper focused on a historical model for the evolution of religious life as such within the Church; in this section attention is turned toward the life of the individual religious community or institute. To this end, a sociological model for the life cycle of individual religious com-munities which organizes the important dimensions of each period in the life of the communities is developed.6 This model allows further probing of the questions concerning the plausibility of a revitalization of religious life, since revitalization of present religious communities is one way that religious life as a whole will be renewed. A. Organizing Concepts To date, only thirteen men's religious orders in the entire his.tory of the Church have ever surpassed a membership figure of 10,000 at some point of their existence. The membership pattern of three of these orders--the Dominicans, the Minims, and the Jesuits--is graphed in Figure 1 below. Although these three examples are taken from among the largest orders of the Church, they are representative of the membership pattern in most religious communities, large or small. Typically one finds one or more cycles of growth and decline in the number of members. These membership patterns suggest a dynamic of inner vitality that goes on in a religious community. Using such analogies as the human life cycle and other cycles of growth and decline, a sociological model has been devised which divides the life cycle of an active religious community into five periods: foundation, expansion, stabilization, breakdown and transition. The model is shown schematically in Figure 2. The shape of this curve is intended to repre-sent the over-all vitality of the community as it passes from one period to the next. In the following section salient events and characteristics which typify each of these periods are described. An attempt is also made to isolate the crises which occur during each period. ~Some sources used to clarify the notion of a life cycle were Hostie, Vie et mort; Wallace, "'Paradigmatic Processes"; Gordon L. Lippitt and Warren H. Schmidt, "Crisis in a Developing Organization," Harvard Business Review (Vol. 45, No. 6, November-December, 1967), pp. 102- 112; and Lawrence E. Greiner, "Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow," Harvard Business Review (Vol. 50, No. 4, July-August, 1972), pp. 37-46; Thomas F. O'Dea, The Sociology of Religion (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1966); Luther P. Gerlach and Virginia H. Hine, People. Power and Change: Movements of Social Transformation (Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merrill, 1970). The Recovery of Religious Life / 701 _z 20 LLI ~ lO 30 1200 1300 ! \/ , st 1400 1500 1600 1700 I t I t I I I II ! I ! 1800 1900 2000 Figure 1: Membership of Dominicans, Minims, and Jesuits IFOUNDATIONIEXPANSION ISTABILIZATION BREAKDOWN TRANSITION Figure 2: Life Cycle of a Religious Community B. The Periods of the Life Cycle 1. The Foundation Period The first period in the life of a religious community centers around a found-ing person and his or her vision. The founder or foundress undergoes a radically transformi,ng experience, which can usually be pinpointed to an event or series of events, and .which is perceived as an abrupt shift in the founding 702 / Review for Religious, I/olume 34, 1975/5 person's identity and a timeless moment in which a vision or dream is received. Contained in the transforming experience is a new appreciation of the message of Jesus which leads to innovative insight on how the condition of the Church or society could be dramatically improved or how a totally new kind of future could be launched. A new impetus to live the religious life in all the totality of its demands is felt, and a new theory emerges that is at once a critique of the present, an appropriation of the past, a compelling image of the future, and a basis for novel strategies. The founding person's transforming experience is followed by the initial emergence of the community. A fortuitous encounter takes place between the founder or foundress and some contemporary men or women in which the founding experience, the innovative insight, the emerging theory, and the call to holiness are shared. The group unites under the guidance of the founding person to search for and invent new arrangements for living the Gospel together and working toward the realization of the Kingdom of God. The foundation period may last ten to twenty years or longer and fre-quently coincides with the last part of the founding person's lifetime. Integra-tion and cohesion center on the founding person and still more deeply on the person of Christ. The structural identity of the community appears in seminal form, and authority in the community springs from the wisdom of the found-ing person. Founding events of religious communities have a uniqueness about them which has caused them to be especially treasured as significant moments in the Church's past. Examples of founding persons and their visions readily come to mind: Angela Merici's dream of a new kind of religious life for women that centered on an active apostolate; the hopes of Robert of Molesme to restore fervor through the primitive observance of Benedict's Rule in the wilderness of C~teaux; Don Bosco's contagious vision of loving Christ and joyfully serving the poor. The more striking cases of founding persons receiving their in-spirations have become part of the common heritage of all religious: Anthony hearing in a Sunday Gospel the words which were the key to his life's aim; Ignatius retiring to Manresa to receive his visions. For the most part the foundation period is a time of grace and charism for a new religious community. But there are also crises that must be faced. The crisis of direction forces the community to decide which undertakings are im-portant and which must be sacrificed. The crisis of leadership confronts the community with the problem of finding out how it will live beyond the time of its founding person. The crisis of legitimization engulfs the nascent community in the question of whether or not the Church will approve it as an authentic form of religious life. The Waldensians, for example, showed some signs of becoming a new religious order on the pattern of the mendicants, but they never overcame the crisis of iegitimization. Instead of becoming a religious community, they ended up as renegades who had to hide out in the woods of medieval Europe. The Recovery of Religious Life / 70a 2. The Expansion Period When the community has emerged from the foundation period, it un-dergoes a fairly long period of expansion, during which the founding charism is institutionalized in a variety of ways. A community cult and belief system solidifies, a community polity is fashioned, and community norms and customs take hold. As members of the community's second generation mature and grow older, they recount stories of the foundation, which they have heard from the pioneers or have themselves experienced in their youth. These stories enshrine decisive events which set the community's direction or establish its characteristic traits. Gradually, rituals and symbols which express and com-memorate the most treasured facets of the foundation are fused with the.iore of the older members into a sort of sacred memory and cult that begins to be passed on from generation to generation as the community's "founding myth." Attempts are made at thinking through the founding myth and expressing it in terms of contemporary thought patterns. Eventually these efforts result in theories, interpretations, and social models which coalesce into a belief system and give a rational structure to the more intuitive thrust of the founding myth. Simultaneously, procedures are devised for community decision making and communication, and bit by bit the community's polity.takes shape. Norms are set down and customs emerge which cover all aspects of the community's life, such as membership criteria, leadership standards, and apostolic priorities. The members of the young community experience an excitement about the growth and success which characterizes the expansion period. Large numbers join the community, and new works are rapidly taken on which enhance the possibility of a still broader recruitment. Major interpreters of the founding vi-sion are recognized. Patterns of spiritual practice are determined, and the community's spirituality is made concrete in manuals of direction or other written documents. With expansion come certain organizational crises. How is authority to be delegated? What means will be used to integrate and tie together the rapidly expanding network of establishments and the burgeoning membership. When Bernard joined the Cistercians thirteen years after their foundation, he led the community through this kind of organizational crisis. In the process, a new en-tity, the general chapter, was invented to cope with the situation, and this in-novation is still a standard feature.of most religious orders today. Another crisis of this period centers on maintaining the pristine vigor of the founding vision. As rival interpretations arise, which will be discarded? A classic exam-ple of this kind of crisis occurred in the great debates about poverty among the early Franciscans just after Francis died. 3. The Stabilization Period After a fairly long expansion, which may last two to three generations or "/04 / Review for Religious, l/olume 34, 1975/5 longer, there ensues a period of stabilization. Numerical increase in membership may continue, but geographical expansion usually slows down. The stabilization period may last a century or more, but it is sometimes as brief as fifty years or so. A feeling of success pervades the community during the stabilization period. Members experience a high degree of personal satisfaction from simply being in the community. The prevailing image of religious life is clear and accepted. It provides a basis for describing unambiguous social roles for religious. The community is accomplishing its purpose and this purpose is self-evident. The need to improve is not seen as a need to change things but simply to do better what is already being done. Gradually, as stabilization sets in, more and more of the community assumes that religious life has always been the way it is now and that it will always remain so in the future. There is little need to elaborate the understanding of the founding vision or penetrate into it more deeply. It is simply accepted and repeated to new members who join. No one is left in the community who knew the founding person or the first dis-ciples personally. Memory of the founding events takes on the cast of past his(ory that is separate from the present moment. Formation of new members emphasizes their conformity to standard patterns of external behavior that are seen as the best means of cultivating interior commitment. The over-all feeling of success which is so typical of the stabilization period is not illusory. There is in fact a job that is being done and done well by the many generous religious who devote themselves to its accomplishment. The kinds of crises that Crop up during the stabilization period are linked to the other characteristics of the period. The crisis of activism occurs. Members become so absorbed in work that they lose sight of its spiritual and apostolic underpinning. They allow the satisfactions of accomplishment to dis-place a centeredness in Christ. Loss of intensity is another crisis of the stabilization period. Is it possible to maintain the intensity of vision and com-mitment among members, now that the community has become so highly in-stitutionalized? They can often be simply carried along by the sheer inertia of the community's activity and held in place by the pressure of social expecta-tion placed on their role as religious from people in the Church. Another danger stems from the crisis of adaptation. In the midst of success the com-munity is seldom open to adaptation, and any changes that have to be made are fraught with difficulty. Quite often, even the most legitimate changes are rejected, and their proponents are righteously and intolerantly silenced. The failure of later Jesuit missionaries to implement the ideas of Matteo Ricci con-cerning Confucian practices among Chinese Catholics is perhaps a good ex-ample of the sort of resistance to adaptation that can be found during the stabilization period. 4. The Breakdown Period Eventually the seeming immutabilities of the stabilization period start to give, and the religious community enters the breakdown period. The The Recovery of Religious Life / 705 breakdown may be gradual and last a half a century or more, or it may be rapid and run its course in a few decades. In either case, what happens is a dis-mantling of the institutional structures and belief systems that arose in the ex-pansion period and served the community so well during the stabilization period. This collective decline gives rise, in turn, to stress and doubt in the in-dividual members. Initially .a number of persons become dissatisfied with the current state of the community. Perhaps they are simply struck by what they judge to be the silliness of some of the community's customs or procedures. Or they may come to see that the community's life and work are not equipped to handle im-portant new challenges. Unanswered questions about the function and purpose of the community begin to accumulate and start to raise doubts. Levels of in-dividual stress increase slowly at the beginning, but then rise rapidly as doubt spreads to more and more levels of the community's social structure. To handle the growing problems, standard remedies are tied. All that is needed, it seems, is to get back to doing well what has always been done and to renew commitment to the community's mission. However, the usual problem-solving techniques become increasingly ineffective. A sense of crisis grows as community authority and decision-making structures become confused. The community's belief system begins to appear archaic and bound in by the trap-pings and articulations of a bygone age. The founding experience and myth, which had been internalized by the community's early generations, is no longer felt by the members. As the community loses its sense of identity and purpose, service to the Church becomes haphazard and lacks direction. Moral norms in the com-munity are relaxed and some members perhaps distract themselves with sex and a misuse of wealth. There is a net loss of membership through increased withdrawals and decreased recruitment of new members. The crises that arise during the breakdown period center on the various phenomena of decline in the community. The crisis of polarization can become acute when those who have faith in the community as it was align themselves against those who in varying degrees reject the community as it is. The crisis of collapsing institutions sets in as the community is forced to stop doing "business as usual" and abandon long-established works. The resulting demoralization leads to the crisis of the community's impending death. What is to be done as the chilling awareness grows in the community that it is inex-orably listing into disintegration on all sides? 5. The Transition Period The breakdown is followed by a period of transition. Three outcomes are possible for religious communities during this period: extinction, minimal sur-vival, or revitalization. Extinction, the first of these outcomes, occurs when all the members of a community either withdraw or die and it simply passes out of existence. This happened, for example, to 76% of all men's religious orders founded before 706 / Review for Religious, l/olume 34, 1975/5 1500 and to 64% of those founded before 1800. From a historical perspective, then, a reasonable expectation would seem to be that most religious com-munities in the Church today will eventually become extinct. A religious community which does not die out may go into a long period of low-level or minimal survival. If the membership pattern of presently existing religious orders founded before the French Revolution is examined, one finds that most of them enter into a period lasting across several centuries in which the number of members is very low. In fact, only 5% of all men's orders founded before 1500 and only 11% of the orders founded before 1800 have a current membership which is larger than 2,000. The Minims (Figure 1) are typical of the orders which once were quite large and now have a small membership. This type of outcome should not be interpreted as a dis-appearance of vitality in every case. The Carthusians, for example, follow this membership pattern. Yet they seem to be living UP to their reputation of never having relaxed their observance--never reformed and never needing reform. To this day the order's spiritual impact appears greater than its numerical strength. There is also a small percentage of religious communities which survive the breakdown period a~d enter into a period of revitalization. At least three characteristics can be singled out in all communities which have been revitalized in this way: a transforming response to the signs of the times; a reappropriation of the founding charism; and a profound renewal of the life of prayer, faith, and centeredness in Christ. The time in history fn which revitalization occurs seems to make a difference. If the revitalization occurs during one of the shifts in the dominant image of religious life singled out in the historical model above, the com-munity takes on many of the characteristics of the emerging image, and the transforming response to the signs of the times seems central to the revitaliza-tion. If the revitalization occurs midway during one of the major eras in the history of religious life identified earlier in this article, the revitalization takes on the characteristics of a reform with the reappropriation of the founding charism playing a central role. In either case the community experiences the revitalization as a second foundation. Personal transformation or conversion is central to revitalization. With personal transformation comes innovative insight and a new centering in the person of Christ. The innovative insight allows the transformed individuals within the community to develop critical awareness of the assumptions un-derlying the traditional meaning of the community and functioning of that community within the Church and the world. This innovative insight brings with it a focusing of energies through a new positive vision of what the com-munity should be in the future. The vision allows the emergence of a new theory which gives meaning to the experiences of individuals and the shared events lived within the community and spurs the community to building and creating its future. Such a new theory guides the community in the search for The Recovery of Religious Life / 707 and the invention of new models ~of living together as a community bound by. the evangelical conditions of discipleship in the service of the Church. A more complete sketch of the human dynamics of revitalization will be given in the last section of this article. The essential components of this dynamic, namely, insight and vision, and new theory and new models, are mentioned at this point to complete the picture of the life cycle of a religious community. Some limitations of this sociological model and the historical model of the previous section are given in the next section together with some generalizations that can be drawn from the models. IV. Some Limitations and Generalizations A. Limitations of the Models Before proceeding, some concluding and cautionary remarks must be made. Evidently the rapid overview of the history of religious life given in the first portion of this article should not be taken as anything more than a demonstration of how the evolution of religious life can be interpreted so as to fit the model of the five main eras that are being postulated in the proposed historical model. The account is far too compressed and over-simplified to provide an adequate and proi~erly nuanced telling of the story of religious life. For example, little attention was given to the Canons Regular, who constituted a significant portion of men religious from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. There was no discussion of the medieval military orders nor of Orthodox monasticism. A still more gaping lacuna is the almost complete absence of any analysis of the way women's religious life differed from or followed the same pattern as that of the men. It may be that the sources used in this study were not sensitive to the distinctive role women actually played in the evolution of religious life. On the other hand, it may be that up to the present time the trends of women's religious life have been very parallel to those in the men's orders. The models proposed for the evolution of religious life and for the life-cycle of a religious community are also both simplifications. Some might validly question, for example, whether there were just five major eras in the history of religious life and whether the transitions between the eras occurred as clearly as the historical model suggests. The description of the dominant image of religious life for each era is a simplification of what was in every case a rather complex phenomenon. Hopefully, the liberties that have been taken are justified by the intention of trying to synopsize the history of religious life in such a way as to make some tentative insights more easily accessible to someone who is not a professional historian. Similarly, the breaks between the successive periods in the life cycle of a religious community are nowhere near as clear-cut as the proposed sociological model suggests. In .history, breakdowns sometimes occur within one order in different geographical locales at different times. Revitalizations often occur in some places for an order, while it decays elsewhere. At times 708 / Review for Religious, Volume 34, 1975/5 there are orders in which the role of the founding person is rather minor and does not have the decisiveness described in the model. Some communities have been founded in rather modest historical circumstances that were not accom-panied by the profound inspiration described in the model. These and similar qualifications must be kept in mind when the sociological model is used to in-terpret the life cycle of any particular community. B. Generalizations The models presented in the previous sections suggest some generalized conclusions. These conclusions can be helpful in exploring the present crisis of religious life. The historical evidence suggests that there have been significant shifts in the dominant image of religious life across the centuries. These shifts seem to occur when there are major societal changes astir and when the Church is un-dergoing major changes. The first transition happened as the Roman Empire fell in the West and feudal Europe was beginning; at the same time the rift between western and eastern Christianity was starting. The second transition occurred as feudal Europe was giving way to medieval urbanization and as the Church was gathering all of Europe into the unity of Christendom. The third transition took place at the start of the modern period of Western Civilization as the Church underwent the shock of the Reformation. The fourth transition resulted from a direct attack of society on the Church as a whole and on religious life in particular. Admittedly each of these changes in the culture and the Church differed from one another in many respects. However, the pattern seems clear enough at least to permit one to ask whether perhaps another shift in the dominant image of religious life would happen if major changes in society and the Church should come to pass. Although religious communities have been founded in almost every cen-tury of Christian history, it seems that each major shift in the dominant image of religious life is heralded by some significantly new foundations which em-body a new image in an especially striking way. This could be said of the earliest Benedictine monasteries for the first transition, of the Franciscans and Dominicans for the second transition, of the Jesuits for the third transition, and of the plethora of 19th century foundations for the fourth transition. It also seems to be the case that many communities go out of existence at each transition. Those that survive either continue in a diminished form or somehow blend the new dominant image with the charism of their own foun-dation to get another lease on life. The mendicant orders, for example, grew numerically stronger during the Era of Apostolic Orders as they adapted their own special gifts to the new style of religious life. The culture of the high Mid-dle Ages was rapidly and irretrievably passing away, but the mendicants adapted and flourished. One might ask, then, if the Church would witness the death of many religious communities and the foundation of new and different ones if a shift in the dominant image of religious life were to occur. The remainder of this article will explore the plausibility of maintaining that The Recovery of Religious Life / 709 another major transition has in fact begun in the history of religious life. Should this hypothesis be true, it would be appropriate to pose questions about h6w religious life is dying and how a recovery and revitalization might happen. Another observation that suggests itself from this brief survey concerns the continuity that underlies the shifts of the dominant image of religious life. As the image evolves it continues to hold up the impelling ideal of a radical following of the conditions set forth by Christ for an evangelical discipleship embedded in a life of prayer and deep faith. While the contemporary religious would probably not feel called to take on the externals of the life of the Desert Fathers, he or she will surely understand and be drawn to the stark beauty of the life of radical discipleship that moved Anthony to withdraw into the desert. Similar remarks could probably be made about the ultimate aims of the first Franciscans and the first rugged band of Jesuits. Through all the twists and turns in the make up and style of religious life, there is a deep core of seeking union with Christ in a special and total way that endures century after century. A great deal of historical precedent would have to be explained away by anyone who would wish to maintain that religious life is about to disappear as a separate and distinguishable way of life in the Church. The historical pattern seems to be one of repeated recovery. The present moment is indeed a time of trouble for religious communities, but religious life as a whole will doubtlessly survive. Turning to the sociological model, some further generalizations can be made. In the evolution of a religious community the non-rational elements of transforming experience, vision, and myth play a central role. This is es-pecially true during the periods of foundation and revitalization. Although necessary for each period in the life-cycle of a community, the techniques of rationality (long-range planning, leadership training, etc.) will never be suf-ficient to found a religious community or to revitalize one. The renewed vitality that comes to some religious communities during the time of transition finds its source in plumbing the depths of.the mythic and non-rational and in-tegrating them with the more rational dimensions of human life. A central insight of the myth of original sin is that humankind is not capable of sustained development; breakdown and disintegration are ever-recurring manifestations of the human condition. Since religious men and women exist within the human condition, it should not be surprising that, from time to time, all religious communities experience an extensive period of significant breakdown and disintegration. These bleak realities should be em-braced with humble acceptance of th~ human condition and a faith-filled hope that the Lord will in time resurrect life-giving initiatives from the death-dealing processes of breakdown. V. Where Does Religious Life Stand Today? In the previous sections of this article, the history of the religious-life movement in the Church and of particular religious communities was ex-amined to determine the major factors within culture, the Church, and 710 / Review for Religious, Volume 34, 1975/5 religious communities themselves that significantly influence the evolution of this movement. Generalizations from the proposed models indicate that major. transitions are likely to occur in religious life when secular culture is in the midst of a major crisis, and when religious life has experienced a period of major breakdown. The factors can serve as a useful matrix for answering the question, "Where does religious life stand today?" As was mentioned in the in-troduction, the answer proposed in this article is that religious life is undergo-ing a pervasive transition that will last for the next twenty to twenty-five years and which will significantly change the style of life and service of religious communities. The plausibility of this assertion is developed in this section. A. Signs of Transition in Secular Culture Many writers have noted that contemporary culture is in the midst of a societal transition. Some compare the present time to the Renaissance. Others claim that the present multifaceted change is equal to if not greater in magnitude than the agricultural and industrial revolutions. Many strands of societal transition have been pointed out. Spiritual, intellectual, philosophical, psychological, political, economic, and many other crises in society have been described by writers from a wide range of disciplines. For the purposes of this article, a cluster of these difficulties, which might be broadly termed the socio-economic crisis, will be summarized below as a sample of the sort of comment on contemporary society being made today. Catastrophic events and critical trends are continually reported by the news media. These reports range from widespread famine in the Sahel and South Asia to the continued downward spiral of the national economy. Careful analysts and writers have noted that these events and trends are a manifestation of the parallel growth of a set of interrelated critical issues which they have designated as the "world problematique.''7 A list of the critical issues that make up the "world problematique" would include: Energy Problems: Runaway growth in domestic and worldwide use of energy; shortages and scarcity of energy; insufficient capital resources to develop new energy sources. Food Problems: Food supply unable to meet the demand for food; worsening of weather conditions through pollution; increasing food prices due to food scarcity and increasing cost and consumption of energy; deterioration of arable land through increased urbaniza-tion and ecological undermining; actual widespread famine; potential long term problems of hunger and famine. Pollution Problems: Rise of pollution-induced illness; exponential increhse in the pollu-tion of the air and seas; denuding of natural environment through strip mining. 7.Some sources used to examine the "world problematique" were Kenneth E. F. Watt, The Titanic Effect: Planning for the Unthinkable (Stanford, Conn.: Sinauer Associates, Inc.); Donella H. Meadows, et al., The Limits to Growth (Washington: Potomac Associates, 1972); Mihajlo Mesarovic and Eduard Pestel, Mankind at the Turning Point (New York: Reader's Digest Press, 1974); Lester R. Brown, In the Human Interest (New York: W. W. Norton, 1974); and Lester R. Brown with Eric P. Eckholm, By Bread Alone (New York: Praeger, 1974). The Recovery of Religious Life / 711 Economic Problems: Growing world inflation; market saturation (e.g. airplanes, elec-tronic equipment, automobiles); instability and manipulation of monetary system, lack of alternatives to growth economics; increasing gap between the "have's" and the "have not's." Work Problems: Increasing unemployment and underemployment; saturation of the labor market; decreased productivity; increasing alienation and dissatisfaction with work; depersonalization of work environments. Problems of Urban Areas: Deterioration of urban areas; increasing crime rates; in-creasing cost of essential urban services. Problems of International Order." Hazards of international competition and war; com-petitive economic policies. What makes the "world problematique" different from problems en-countered in previous eras is its complexity and the pervasive interrelationship of its elements. Hence, the "world problematique" is not amenable to normal methods of problem solving. Attempts to address such critical issues in a singular or joint fashion introduce fundamental dilemmas that do not appear resolvable within conventional modes of thought. Among such dilemmas which seem to be plaguing the contemporary politico-economic situation, four might be singled out: the dilemmas of growth, guidance, global justice, and social roles.8 These dilemmas are delineated more fully in Table 6. One may ask if these problems and dilemmas have not been present during most of the Industrial Era. Are not the problems of the 20's and 30's very much the same as those of the 70's and 80's? What makes the above mentioned problems and dilemmas different is that they have not been ameliorated through the use of conventional wisdom and standard problem-solving ap-proaches. In fact, one may argue that application of these approaches has led to many unanticipated and undesirable consequences. Resolution of the problems and dilemmas is dependent upon a thorough-going shift in social perceptions, involving restructuring of beliefs, images, and human aspirations at a fundamental level. B. Crisis in the Church and the Breakdown in Religious Life The Catholic Church in America has been profoundly influenced by con-temporary change. For at least fifteen years the Church has been experiencing a transition of its life. The Second Vatican Council (1962-1964) was a result of the early stages of this transition and a triggering event for its later stages. The Church began to open itself to a world which was undergoing a dramatic secularization. This opening up or aggiornamento had significant impact on all dimensions of Church life. Parish life and parochial education are no longer the only shapers of the values and beliefs of American Catholics. The once-clear norms and social roles ~vithin the Church no longer seem to serve their original purpose. For example, the Vatican's official position on birth 8The schematization presented in Table 6 is based on the work of Bill Harmon, Director of the Center for the Study of Social Policy, Stanford Research Institute. 712 / Review for Religious, I~'olume 34, 1975/5 TABLE 6: SOME DILEMMAS OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY Growth The fundamental "new scarcity" of fossil fuels, minerals, fresh water, arable land, habitable surface area, waste-absorbing capacity of the natural environment, fresh air, and food come from approaching the finite limits of the earth. These limits demand a radical slow down or leveling off in material.growth and energy-use curves of the past.' Yet, the present economic and political system is built around a growth hypothesis. The economic and political consequences of limiting growth appear unbearable. Guidance Dilemma Ecological considerations along with awesome power of modern technology to change any and all aspects of the human environment establish a mandate for greater guidance of technological and social innovation. Yet, the political price of such guidance is very high. Such guidance is perceived as con-trary to man's fundamental right to freedom and as an inhibition to economic growth. Global Justice Dilemma Further advances by the industrialized nations make the rich nations richer and the poor nations relatively poorer. The impressive ac-complishments of the industrial economy are largely built on a base of cleverness plus cheap energy, the latter from the world's limited stockpile of fossil fuels. Yet, the costs of not redressing these inequities may be serious political and economic world instabilities as well as widespread famine and inhuman suffering in the poorer nations. Social Roles Dilemma Present economic system is failing to provide Yet, the absence of satisfying and personally an adequate number of satisfying social roles meaningful roles for women, youth, the especially for women and minorities. The aged, and minorities along with worker employment market is saturated; there is a dissatisfaction in general results in in-need to keep youth and the aged out of the creased I~ersonal alienation and erodes labor market, the morale of the nation. control is considered unacceptableto an increasingly large number of Catholics. Difficulties are arising in the functioning of such Church structures as the priesthood and the traditional role of the laity and of such Church institutions as parishes, schoo|s, and hospitals. Their once-unquestioned role within the Church no longer seems to satisfy the needs of an increasingly large number of church members. This crisis and transition within the Church has had a dramatic effect on religious communities of women and men. Religious communities have begun to experience all of the signs of entering into the breakdown and disintegration period described earlier in this article. There has been a sharp decline in membership due to increased withdrawals and a decrease in new recruits. Re- The Recovery of Religious Life / 713 cent literature9 gives a statistical picture of this breakdown in the United States. - A recent National Opinion Research Center study indicated there is a larger relative number of resignees among those already established in church careers than in any other equivalent period of time since the French Revolution. - For the years between 1965 and 1972 66% of the yearly decrease in communities of religious women was due to dispensation or termination of vows. In communities of religious women the average annual net increase over these years was approximately 768 members, the average annual net decrease was 3841, with only one-third of that loss caused by deaths. - The total number of Sisters in 1974 had declined 17% from 1960 and 23% since their peak membership year in 1966. - The total number of religious Brothers in 1974 had decreased 12% since 1960 and 26.5% since their peak membership year in 1966. The purposes of religious communities which were once clear and widely understood have become vague and meaningless to some in the midst of the modern church crisis. The structures of authority and process of communica-tion and decision making within religious communities seem no longer to fit the needs of the individuals within the community or suit the evolving work of the communities. The processes of formation to religious community have sometimes become disorganized and seem to lack purpose. These and other signs indicate that the last fifteen to twenty years have been a time when most religious com-munities have begun to experience breakdown. This cluster of the signs of breakdown in virtually all communities seems to indicate that we are ap-proaching the end of another major era in the history of religious life. C. Restatement of the Bias This review of the transitions in secular culture as well as the current crisis of the Church allows us to use the historical and sociological models of the evolution of religious life and religious communities outlined in the previous sections to answer the question "Where does religious life stand today?" In the introduction of this article, an answer was given in what was called the fun-damental bias of the article, namely, that religious life in America is undergo-ing a profound transition, which will take another twenty or twenty-five years to run its full course. The arguments leading up to this bias can be set forth as follows: 1. The dominant image of religious life has undergone several major tran-sitions as religious life has evolved as a movement within the Church. 2. The occurrence of these major transitions is associated with a number 9Carroll W. Trageson and Pat Holden, "Existence and Analysis of the 'Vocation Crisis' in Religious Careers," (pp. 1-3) in Carroll W. Trageson, John P. Koval, and Willis E. Bartlett (eds.), Report on Study of Church Vo

This study seeks to offer a historical sociolinguistic reconstruction of Colloquial Singapore English (CSE), a widespread contact variety of English spoken in Singapore, which shows traces of all other ethnic languages spoken in the region such as Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. So far, scholarly work has been dedicated to the phonological and grammatical features of CSE (Deterding 2007; Lim 2004; Wee 2004b), as well as the social conditions that determine their occurrences (Leimgruber, Siemund und Terassa 2018; Lim, Pakir und Wee 2010). Various models have been postulated to capture the emergence of CSE and its relationship to Standard Singapore English (Platt 1975; Gupta 1989; Alsagoff 2007, 2010; Leimgruber 2009, 2013) as well as its Chinese substrates (Bao 2005, 2015; Bao and Hong 2006). However, there is relatively little research that probes into its history, mainly due to a scarcity of historical data. The main purpose of this study is to work towards a diachronic reconstruction of CSE by exploring a novel historical data source, namely the Oral History Interviews held by the National Archives of Singapore (OHI-NAS 2020). The database allows a significant step back in time, as the majority of the speakers sampled were born between the 1890s and 1950s. The study first provides a sociohistorical account of Singapore with personal recollections chosen from OHI, which elucidates the language-related policy and the ethnic dynamics in Singapore. Since it is impossible to provide a comprehensive picture of the development of CSE, the present study focuses on four salient grammatical markers of CSE, namely the aspectual marker already, the additive marker also, the experiential marker ever, and the emphatic marker one. These CSE expressions differ significantly from native Englishes in terms of their semantic functions and syntactic positions, but they mirror – to a large extent – the usages of the Chinese substrates. The study asks to what extent the usages of already, also, ever, and one can be related to their Chinese substrates and which social factors can explain the variation among individual speakers in using CSE markers. Furthermore, this study explores whether CSE speakers replicate a grammaticalization model into CSE that exists in the Chinese substrates based on the use of already, also, ever, and one (Heine and Kuteva 2003, 2005 on replica grammaticalization). The study is based on 100 interviews from OHI conducted between 1979 and 2009 amongst speakers born between 1899 and 1983. These speakers were divided into seven groups depending on their ethnic background, i.e. Chinese, Indian, Peranakan, Malay, British, Eurasian, and other. Furthermore, speakers were further differentiated based on gender and level of education received (low = primary education; medium = secondary education; high = university education). Multiple linear regression analyses were applied to examine the four CSE expressions – already, also, ever, and one – in relation to the social background of the speaker, including gender, year of birth, level of education, and ethnic background. For the establishment of a diachronic reconstruction of these four CSE expressions, the results obtained from OHI were further compared with the Singaporean component of the International Corpus of English (ICE-SG), a well-explored corpus of Singapore English, which represents a more recent sample of CSE among university students starting from 1997 (Nelson 2002:3). Furthermore, the study compares the functional extension and/or grammaticalization of the four CSE expressions with that of their equivalents in Chinese by using corpus data drawn from the Center for Chinese Linguistics (CCL) at Peking University as well as secondary data from the scholarly circle on the grammaticalization of 了le, 过guò, 也/都yě/dōu, and 的de. This study builds on the Dynamic Model of Schneider (2007), which proposes that Singapore English in general has reached stage 4 (endonormative stabilization), in which linguistic innovations become increasingly accepted. It is possible that CSE is moving towards stage 5, in which "internal differentiation" emerges (Schneider 2007:54). Internal differentiation refers to "differences within a society and between individuals with respect to their economic status, social categories and personal predilections" (Schneider 2007:53). The findings of this study suggest that CSE remains relatively stable, apparently undergoing no substantial changes, at least judging from the use of already, also, ever and one. Furthermore, among the social variables under investigation, the most important factors in determining the frequencies of the substrate-influenced tokens are ethnicity and educational level. To a large extent, the Sinitic languages have provided the extended semantic functions and syntactic features for the CSE expressions. In some cases, the influence from Chinese in the CSE expressions is so strong that the entire CSE sentence no longer meets the surface structural requirements of English (see Bao 2005, 2015 on systemic transfer and lexifier filters). With regards to replica grammaticalization (Heine and Kuteva 2003, 2005), the findings suggest that the pathways of grammaticalization of the aspectual markers already and ever do not match those of their Chinese counterparts. However, emphatic one and additive also seem to have replicated the grammaticalization models into CSE that already existed in Chinese. The sociolinguistic variation found in this study based on the historical data of CSE reveals that social factors such as ethnic background and level of education as well as individual speaker preference may have been present from very early on. It suggests that further studies on CSE and other new varieties of English – both synchronic and diachronic – should continue to investigate these social variables of the individual speakers in the diverse local contexts. ; Diese Studie stellt eine historische soziolinguistische Rekonstruktion des "Colloquial Singapore English" (CSE) dar. CSE ist eine Kontaktvarietät des in Singapur gesprochenen Englisch, die Spuren aller anderen in der Region gesprochenen ethnischen Sprachen wie Chinesisch, Malaiisch und Tamilisch aufweist. Bisher widmete sich die Forschung überwiegend den phonologischen und grammatikalischen Charakeristiken von CSE (Deterding 2007; Lim 2004; Wee 2004b) sowie den sozioökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen, die ihr Auftreten determinieren (Leimgruber, Siemund und Terassa 2018; Lim, Pakir und Wee 2010). Es wurden verschiedene Modelle postuliert, um die Entstehung von CSE und seine Beziehung zu "Standard Singapore English" (Platt 1975; Gupta 1989; Alsagoff 2007, 2010; Leimgruber 2009, 2013) sowie seinen chinesischen Substraten zu erfassen (Bao 2005, 2015; Bao und Hong 2006). Es wurden bis heute jedoch wenige Studien publiziert, die sich mit der historischen Entwicklung befassen, was hauptsächlich auf den Mangel an historischen Daten zurückzuführen ist. Das Ziel dieser Studie besteht darin, eine diachrone Rekonstruktion des CSE zu etablieren, hinzuarbeiten, die auf der Erforschung der historische Datenquelle "Oral History Interviews des National Archives of Singapore" (OHI-NAS 2020) basiert. Diese Datenbank ermöglicht die Erforschung des CSE in einem historischen Kontext, da die Mehrheit der befragten Sprecher und Sprecherinnen zwischen den 1890er und 1950er Jahren geboren wurde. Die Studie liefert zunächst einen soziohistorischen Bericht über Singapur mit persönlichen Erinnerungen, die aus den OHIs ausgewählt wurden, um die sprachbezogene Politik und die ethnische Dynamik in Singapur zu erläutern. Da es unmöglich ist, ein umfassendes Bild der Entwicklung des CSE zu rekonstruieren, fokussiert sich die vorliegende Studie auf vier herausragende grammatikalische Marker von CSE, nämlich den Aspektmarker already 'bereits' oder 'schon', den additiven Marker also 'auch', 'ebenfalls' oder 'außerdem', den experientiellen Aspektmarker ever 'jemals', und den emphatischen Marker one 'eins'. Diese CSE-Ausdrücke unterscheiden sich in ihren semantischen Funktionen und syntaktischen Positionen erheblich von den muttersprachlichen Varietäten, spiegeln jedoch weitgehend die Verwendung der chinesischen Substrate wider. Die Studie stellt ferner die Frage, inwieweit die Verwendung von already, also, ever und one mit ihren chinesischen Substraten zusammenhängt und welche sozialen Faktoren die Unterschiede zwischen einzelnen Sprechern bei der Verwendung von CSE-Markern erklären können. Die Studie basiert auf 100 Interviews des OHI-NAS, die zwischen 1979 und 2009 mit Sprecherinnen und Sprechern durchgeführt wurden, die zwischen 1899 und 1983 geboren wurden. Diese Sprecher und Sprecherinnen wurden entsprechend ihrem ethnischen Hintergrund in sieben Gruppen eingeteilt, nämlich Chinesisch, Indisch, Peranakanisch, Malaiisch, Britisch, Eurasisch, und andere. Darüber hinaus wurde zwischen weiblichen Sprecherinnen und männlichen Sprechern sowie zwischen niedrigem (Grundschulbildung), mittlerem (Sekundarschulbildung) und hohem Bildungsniveau (Universitätsausbildung) unterschieden. Multilineare Regressionsmodelle wurden angewendet, um die oben genannten vier CSE-Ausdrücke in Bezug auf den sozialen Hintergrund der Sprecherinnen und Sprecher zu untersuchen, einschließlich Geschlecht, Geburtsjahr, Bildungsniveau und ethnischen Hintergrund. Für die Etablierung einer diachronen Rekonstruktion der oben genannten CSE-Ausdrücke wurden die Ergebnisse basierend auf den OHI mit der singapurischen Komponente des International Corpus of English (ICE-SG) verglichen. ICE-SG stellt ein gut erforschtes Korpus singapurischen Englischs dar, welches gesprochene Sprache von Universitätsstudierenden ab 1997 enthält und somit neuere Daten von CSE liefert (Nelson 2002:3). Darüber hinaus vergleicht die Studie die funktionale Erweiterung und / oder Grammatikalisierung der vier CSE-Ausdrücke mit denen ihrer Äquivalente im Chinesischen unter Verwendung von Korpusdaten aus dem Center for Chinese Linguistics (CCL) ('Zentrum für chinesische Linguistik') der Universität Peking sowie Sekundärdaten aus dem wissenschaftlichen Kreis zur Grammatikalisierung von 了le, 过guò, 也/都yě/dōu und 的de. Die Studie untersucht weiter, ob CSE-Sprecher und Sprecherinnen ein Grammatikalisierungsmodell in CSE replizieren, das auf dem chinesischen Substrat aufbaut, basierend auf der Verwendung von already, also, ever und one (Heine und Kuteva 2003, 2005 zur Replika-Grammatikalisierung). Diese Studie baut auf dem "Dynamic Model" von Schneider (2007) auf, der postuliert, dass "Singapore English" generell Phase 4 (endonormative Stabilisierung) erreicht hat, in dem sprachliche Innovationen zunehmend akzeptiert werden. Möglicherweise bewegt sich CSE in Richtung Phase 5, in der eine "interne Differenzierung" auftritt (Schneider 2007: 54, eigene Übersetzung). Interne Differenzierung bezieht sich dort auf "Unterschiede innerhalb einer Gesellschaft und zwischen Individuen hinsichtlich ihres wirtschaftlichen Status, ihrer sozialen Kategorien und ihrer persönlichen Vorlieben" (Schneider 2007: 53, eigene Übersetzung). Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie legen nahe, dass CSE relativ stabil ist und anscheinend keine wesentlichen Veränderungen erfährt, zumindest basierend auf der Verwendung von already, also, ever und one. Abgesehen davon scheint es schon sehr früh zu soziolinguistischen Variationen gekommen sein. Unter den untersuchten sozialen Variablen sind die wichtigsten Faktoren, die die bei Häufigkeit der vom Substrat beeinflussten Tokens determinieren, die ethnische Zugehörigkeit und das Bildungsniveau. Die sinitischen Sprachen haben weitgehend die erweiterten semantischen Funktionen und syntaktischen Merkmale für die CSE-Ausdrücke bereitgestellt. In einigen Fällen ist der Einfluss des Chinesischen auf die CSE-Ausdrücke so stark, dass der ganze CSE-Satz nicht mehr den Anforderungen der englischen Oberflächenstruktur entspricht (vgl. "systemic transfer and lexifier filter" Bao 2005, 2015). In Bezug auf die Replika-Grammatikalisierung (Heine und Kuteva 2003, 2005) legen die Ergebnisse nahe, dass die Wege der Grammatikalisierung der Aspektmarker already und ever nicht mit denen ihres jeweiligen chinesischen Äquivalents übereinstimmen. Bei emphatischem one und additivem also scheinen jedoch die Grammatikalisierungsmodelle in CSE repliziert worden zu sein, die bereits im Chinesisch existierten. Die soziolinguistische Variation, die in dieser Studie auf der Grundlage der historischen Daten von CSE gefunden wurde, zeigt, dass soziale Faktoren wie ethnischer Hintergrund und Bildungsniveau sowie bestimmte Präferenzen einzelner Sprecher und Sprecherinnen möglicherweise schon sehr früh existierten. Diese Erkenntnisse lassen darauf schließen, dass weitere Studien zu CSE und anderen neuen Varietäten des Englischen – sowohl synchron als auch diachron – erforderlich sind, um diese sozialen Variablen der einzelnen Sprecher und Sprecherinnen in den verschiedenen lokalen Kontexten weiter zu untersuchen.

Over the past dozen years, policymakers have largely abandoned long-standing popular approaches for addressing risk in agriculture without fully resolving the question of how best to manage the negative consequences of volatile agricultural markets. The article reviews the transition from past policies and describes current approaches that distinguish between the trade-related fiscal consequences of commodity market volatility and the consequences of price and production risks for vulnerable rural households and communities. Current policies rely more heavily on markets, even though markets for risk are incomplete in numerous ways. The benefits and limitations of market-based instruments are examined in the context of risk management strategies, and innovative approaches to extend the reach of risk markets are discussed.

Cotton is an important cash crop in many developing economies, supporting the livelihoods of millions of poor households. In some countries it contributes as much as 40 percent of merchandise exports and more than 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The global cotton market, however, has been subject to numerous policy interventions, to the detriment of nonsubsidized producers. This examination of the global cotton market and trade policies reaches four main conclusions. First, rich cotton-producing countries should stop supporting their cotton sectors; as an interim step, transfers to the cotton sector should be fully decoupled from current production decisions. Second, many cotton-producing (and often cotton-dependent) developing economies need to complete their unfinished reform agenda. Third, new technologies, especially genetically modified seed varieties, should be embraced by developing economies; this will entail extensive research to identify varieties appropriate to local growing conditions and the establishment of the proper legislative and regulatory framework. Finally, cotton promotion is needed to reverse or at least arrest cotton s decline as a share of total fiber consumption.

The Beras untuk Rakyat Miskin (Raskin) program was introduced as an emergency food security program in 1998; it delivers rice to be purchased at subsidized prices, prioritized to poor and near-poor households. In terms of government expenditure, Raskin remains the largest permanent social assistance transfer targeted to poor households in Indonesia. Though developed as a response to crisis, Raskin has become a permanent program and in real expenditure terms is one of the few social assistance programs with a larger budget in 2010 than in 2005. In 2010 Raskin accounted for nearly 53 percent of all household-targeted social assistance spending carried out by the central government. Over 2000 to 2010, the amount of rice allocated by the Raskin program has averaged over 2 million tons per year; in 2010 the almost 3 million tons allocated could have delivered between 30 and 40 kilograms per month to the approximately 6.2 million households at or below the poverty line. The distribution of Raskin rice does not closely align with the objectives laid out in program manuals and official documentation for at least three reasons. First, not all of the rice procured for the Raskin program makes it to households. In the three most recent years for which there is audited budget data (2007 through 2009), nationally representative household surveys indicate that only half (or less) of the rice procured for Raskin is purchased by households. The readily-available budget and administrative records cannot indicate where the bulk of this "missing" rice exits the delivery chain, and no single agency or authority is in charge of Raskin rice from procurement to household purchase. This note assesses the operation and implementation of the Raskin program to determine how well poor households are served by the program and the overall cost of program resources. The note provides quantitative analysis of the coverage, incidence, and average benefit levels of Raskin to determine both the progressivity of the program's targeting and the adequacy of benefit levels. Qualitative information on program delivery and program operations will also shed light on areas for reform. An evidence-based appraisal of the household-based transfer currently consuming over 50 percent of the entire social assistance budget envelope can provide inputs to the Government of Indonesia (GOI) as it continues to try to achieve both Pro-Poor development for all Indonesians and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Pareciera ser que ha fracasado la política de empleabilidad, pues existe desem- pleo en especializados, profesionales, tecnólogos, técnicos y las medidas de inter- vención social para hacer que las personas alcancen las condiciones necesarias para acceder a un empleo sostenible no son suficientes. Aun así, las políticas de generación de ingresos del Gobierno Nacional Colom- biano están diseñadas para incrementar el potencial productivo de la población po- bre extrema y desplazada, potenciando sus capacidades y creando las oportunida- des para que puedan acceder y acumular activos necesarios para alcanzar la esta- bilización socioeconómica. Estas políticas tienen dos componentes: empleabilidad y emprendimiento, la presente investigación trata sobre empleabilidad. Las políticas de empleabilidad están diseñadas a partir de la formación de las personas, entendido esto, como una dotación de capital humano que el aparato educativo diseña en configuración al aparato productivo, con el objetivo de que las personas tengan la formación que el aparato productivo requiere, y así, aumentar la productividad a través del esquema de la empleabilidad. Por su parte el emprendi- miento surge a través del fortalecimiento del capital humano e incentivos de capital semilla o microcrédito. La política de empleabilidad es una política activa del mercado del trabajo, que se fundamenta en el fortalecimiento del capital humano y la flexibilización laboral, para la creación de estrategias de intervención social a través de la cualificación de mano de obra, que se supone, debe ser insertada a un mundo laboral sin rigideces. Este esquema de mercado laboral sin rigideces o "flexibilizado", ha derivado en el uso de empleos atípicos, por ejemplo, nuevas formas de trabajo a domicilio, trabajos por turno, trabajos por días, trabajo a tiempo parcial, salarios por debajo del mínimo vital; arreglos individuales entre trabajador y empleador, que como resultado, ha dejado un sistema de protección quebrado. Aun así, países como Colombia, Chile, México, Argentina, han reforzado y sofis- ticado la implementación de diversos programas orientados al fortalecimiento de estrategias de empleabilidad como la intermediación laboral, capacitación de mano de obra, programas de formación para el empleo a grupos focalizados, intermedia- ción laboral, asistencia y orientación vocacional, subsidios al empleo, etc., las cuales presentan débiles resultados en términos de inserción laboral. Sumado a lo anterior, se ha identificado que la concepción teórica sobre el desa- rrollo a través del fortalecimiento al capital humano, tiene deficiencias en la medida que presenta principios de exclusión social y desigualdad ante el contexto laboral, en aspectos como: apariencia física de los competidores, edad, nivel educativo, perfiles laborales, tiempos en la formación, estigmatización de grupos desfavoreci- dos o vulnerables que encuentran diversos impedimentos debido a factores étnicos, de género como grupos LGBTI, de discapacidad, de salud como portadores del VIH, inmigrantes, expresidiarios, extoxicómanos, excombatientes, etc. Es así que las estrategias de empleabilidad, buscan a través de capacitaciones pertinentes aumentar el capital humano, así, como la capacidad de adaptación al entorno laboral y conectar la población formada a través de un mercado específico y flexibilizado de trabajo; Esperando de esta manera, facilitar la consecución de em- pleo y aumentar las oportunidades de la población pobre extrema y/o desplazada para incorporarse de manera efectiva al mercado laboral. No obstante, el gobierno de Colombia durante la administración Santos (2010 – 2018) aplicó programas de empleabilidad amparados en el planteamiento que a mayor acceso a conocimiento y desarrollo de habilidades mayor es la capacidad del individuo para emplearse en un mercado laboral flexibilizado, pero estas iniciativas han tenido resultados débiles que de fondo no garantizan sostenibilidad en los empleos. Sumado a lo anterior, lo que se observa es que no necesariamente las personas convocadas acceden a estos procesos, los que deciden participar generalmente no los terminan, los que los terminan no necesariamente quedan empleados y los que quedan empleados acceden a precarios contratos temporales, flexibilizados que no garantizan sosteni- bilidad en el tiempo. Lo anterior conduce la formulación de la pregunta por ¿Cuáles factores afectan la política de empleabilidad en Colombia? Algunos autores como Rosanvallon, Pérez, Novick, Castel y otros plantean que el malestar social está asociado a la pauperización del empleo, el desempleo ma- sivo, la incertidumbre sobre el futuro y no a la falta de capital humano, sugiriendo la necesidad de una reestructuración estatal frente al fracaso de la política de empleo, exponiéndose la falsa relación entre acumulación de capital humano y generación de ingresos como la única forma en que se puede romper el ciclo de la pobreza. Esta situación ha demostrado visibles puntos débiles de la política de empleabi- lidad, que han impactado a la familia la cual debe suministrar la protección social que se pierde con la exclusión del mercado laboral. Vastos sectores de la economía ante la crisis del empleo caen en la informalidad, no como un fenómeno nuevo en América Latina, sino como única alternativa de participación económica y fuente importante de acceso a ingresos para la familia, eximiendo al Estado de proveer de forma colectiva condiciones de bienestar social. Los excluidos del mercado laboral están obligados a depender de la familia, lo que a su vez, limita la capacidad del grupo familiar a ahorrar para futuras catástrofes sociales, vulnerando la capacidad de protegerse contra una crisis prolongada. Estas nuevas desigualdades afectan más bien a las familias jóvenes y al bienestar de sus niños. Los bajos salarios y el empleo precario se concentran en adultos jóvenes y, por tanto, un creciente porcentaje de niños viven en hogares "frágiles". Es así que la crisis convierte a la familia en la única institución de protección social frente a los eventos traumáticos, haciéndose cargo de niños, adultos desem- pleados, ancianos, enfermos y personas con discapacidad. La familia termina asumiendo la responsabilidad del fracaso de la política de empleabilidad y no el Estado. El trabajo de campo, evidencia que esta forma de intervención social a través de herramientas de empleabilidad para la política social, no ha sido exitosa, pues refleja la reducción del individuo a una forma de capital devaluada y excluida al mundo del trabajo informalidad, hallando casos en que grupos familiares excluidos ven como alternativa la transformación de su conjunto familiar en una unidad económica, para poder garantizar en la informalidad la subsistencia de su grupo. Esta es la realidad del empleo, la cual no presenta alternativas alentadoras frente al fracaso de la política de empleabilidad en Colombia. Por lo anterior, éste documento se presenta en cuatro capítulos: el primero busca un acercamiento teórico al concepto de empleabilidad y cómo éste término, sus- tentado ideológicamente en la inversión en capital humano y la flexibilización labo- ral, se instala en la lógica de la formulación de las políticas activas del mercado del trabajo en América Latina; el segundo capítulo, presenta las implicaciones que ha tenido el fracaso de la política de empleabilidad en la familia, conduciéndola a cho- ques internos, sobrecargándola de tensiones y responsabilidades, obligándola a ac- tivar formas de apoyo como el uso productivo de hijos menores, apoyo de la pareja, subsidios del estado y formas de generación de ingresos en la esfera de la informa- lidad como pequeñas actividades comerciales de productos y/o artesanías para po- der garantizar la supervivencia de sus miembros. En un tercer capítulo, se presenta el resultado del trabajo de campo, se concluye que existe mucho capital humano excluido del mercado de trabajo, evidenciando la ineficiencia de esta lógica para el acceso a empleo, y por ende, el fracaso de la política de empleabilidad y su impacto en el debilitamiento de la familia por las te- nues intervenciones Estatales. Finalmente, en el cuarto capítulo se presentan las conclusiones de la presente investigación la cual evidencia que la política de empleabilidad aún no resuelve el malestar social del desempleo. Ni el fortalecimiento del capital humano ni la flexibi- lización laboral fueron la ecuación correcta para enfrentar el desempleo, compro- bando la ineficiencia de esta lógica para el acceso a empleo, y por ende, el fracaso de la política de empleabilidad y su impacto en el debilitamiento de la familia por las tenues intervenciones Estatales. ; It seems that the employability policy has failed, since there is unemployment among specialized professionals, technologists, technicians and social intervention measures to make people reach the necessary conditions to access sustainable employment are not enough. Even so, the income generation policies of the Colombian National Government are designed to increase the productive potential of the extreme poor and displaced population, strengthening their capacities and creating opportunities for them to access and accumulate the assets needed to achieve socioeconomic stabilization. These policies have two components: employability and entrepreneurship, this research is about employability. The employability policies are designed from the training of people, understood this, as a human capital endowment that the educational system designs in configuration to the productive apparatus, with the aim that people have the training that the productive apparatus requires , and thus, increase productivity through the employability scheme. On the other hand, entrepreneurship arises through the strengthening of human capital and incentives for seed capital or microcredit. The employability policy is an active labor market policy, which is based on the strengthening of human capital and labor flexibility, for the creation of social intervention strategies through the qualification of labor, which is supposed to be be inserted into a world of work without rigidities. This labor market scheme without rigidities or "flexibilized", has led to the use of atypical jobs, for example, new forms of work at home, shift work, work per day, part-time work, wages below the minimum wage ; individual arrangements between worker and employer, which as a result, has left a broken protection system. Even so, countries such as Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Argentina have reinforced and sophis- ticated the implementation of various programs aimed at strengthening employability strategies such as labor intermediation, labor training, training programs for group employment. focused, labor intermediation, vocational assistance and orientation, employment subsidies, etc., which present weak results in terms of labor insertion. In addition to the above, it has been identified that the theoretical conception of development through the strengthening of human capital has shortcomings insofar as it presents principles of social exclusion and inequality before the labor context, in aspects such as: physical appearance of the competitors, age, educational level, job profiles, training times, stigmatization of disadvantaged or vulnerable groups that encounter various obstacles due to ethnic, gender factors such as LGBTI groups, disability, health as HIV carriers, immigrants , ex-prisoners, former drug addicts, ex-combatants, etc. Thus, employability strategies seek, through relevant training, to increase human capital, as well as the ability to adapt to the work environment and connect the population formed through a specific and flexible labor market; Waiting in this way, to facilitate the attainment of employment and increase the opportunities of the extreme poor and / or displaced population to incorporate effectively into the labor market. However, the government of Colombia during the Santos administration (2010 - 2018) applied employability programs protected by the approach that the greater access to knowledge and skills development the greater the individual's capacity to employ in a flexible labor market, but these initiatives have had weak results that do not guarantee sustainability in jobs. Added to the above, what is observed is that not necessarily the people called access to these processes, those who decide to participate usually do not finish them, those who finish do not necessarily remain employed and those who remain employees access precarious temporary contracts, flexibilized that do not guarantee sustainability over time. This leads to the formulation of the question by what factors affect the employability policy in Colombia? Some authors such as Rosanvallon, Pérez, Novick, Castel and others argue that social unrest is associated with the pauperization of employment, massive unemployment, uncertainty about the future and not the lack of human capital, suggesting the need for State restructuring in the face of the failure of employment policy, exposing the false relationship between the accumulation of human capital and income generation as the only way in which the cycle of poverty can be broken. This situation has shown visible weaknesses in the employability policy, which have impacted the family, which must provide the social protection that is lost through exclusion from the labor market. Vast sectors of the economy facing the employment crisis fall into informality, not as a new phenomenon in Latin America, but as the only alternativeparticipación economic participation and important source of access to income for the family, exempting the State from providing collective welfare conditions. Those excluded from the labor market are obliged to depend on the family, which, in turn, limits the ability of the family group to save for future social catastrophes, undermining the ability to protect against a prolonged crisis. These new inequalities affect young families and the well-being of their children. Low wages and precarious employment are concentrated in young adults and, therefore, an increasing percentage of children live in "fragile" households. Thus, the crisis turns the family into the only institution of social protection in the face of traumatic events, taking charge of children, unemployed adults, the elderly, the sick and people with disabilities. The family ends up taking responsibility for the failure of the employability policy and not the State. The fieldwork, evidence that this form of social intervention through employability tools for social policy, has not been successful, because it reflects the reduction of the individual to a devalued form of capital and excluded from the world of work informality, finding cases in which excluded family groups see the transformation of their family as an alternative into an economic unit, in order to guarantee the subsistence of their group in the informal sector. This is the reality of employment, which does not present encouraging alternatives to the failure of the employability policy in Colombia. Therefore, this document is presented in four chapters: the first seeks a theoretical approach to the concept of employability and how this term ideologically tempted in the investment in human capital and labor flexibility, it is installed in the logic of the formulation of active labor market policies in Latin America; the second chapter presents the implications of the failure of the employability policy in the family, leading to internal shocks, overloading it with tensions and responsibilities, forcing it to activate forms of support such as the productive use of minor children, support from the couple, state subsidies and forms of income generation in the sphere of informa- tion as small commercial activities of products and / or crafts to be able to guarantee the survival of its members. In a third chapter, the results of the field work are presented, it is concluded that there is a lot of human capital excluded from the labor market, evidencing the inefficiency of this logic for access to employment, and therefore, the failure of the employability policy and its impact on the weakening of the family by the State interventions. Finally, the fourth chapter presents the conclusions of the present investigation which shows that the employability policy still does not solve the social malaise of unemployment. Neither the strengthening of human capital nor labor flexibilization were the correct equation to face unemployment, proving the inefficiency of this logic for access to employment, and therefore, the failure of the employability policy and its impact on employment. the weakening of the family by the tenuous State interventions.

Africa's growing demand for food has been met increasingly by imports from the global market. This, coupled with rising global food prices, brings ever-mounting food import bills. In addition, population growth and changing demand patterns will double demands over the next 10 years. Two key issues must be addressed: (a) establishing a consistent and stable policy environment for regional trade in fertilizers; and (b) investing in institutions that reduce the transaction costs of coordination failures. Many countries have enacted new fertilizer laws in recent years, but few have provided the resources to define and enforce regulations through standards and testing capacity. This report shows that reducing regulatory burdens on fertilizers and the consequent increase in use of fertilizers will have substantial impacts on returns to farmers, with consequent impacts on poverty. The report highlights the range of barriers to food trade in Africa along the entire value chain. The issues pertain to many ministries and agencies within government: trade, agricultural, health and safety, transport, and finance. This in turn requires a "whole of government' approach to freeing up food trade, which will require strong and effective leadership to articulate the rationale and sustain the momentum for reform. Leaders must also address the hard choices that will arise in dealing with the political economy constraints that have until now blocked the capacity of Africa to exploit its enormous potential to feed Africans.

This note aims to build understanding of the existing disaster risk financing and insurance (DRFI) tools in use in The Marshall Islands and to identify gaps where potential engagement could further develop financial resilience. The likelihood that a hazardous event will have a significant impact on the Marshall Islands has risen with the increasing levels of population and assets in the urban areas of Majuro and Ebeye. The low-lying atolls are at risk of damage to both assets and people as a result of storm surges and tsunamis. The Marshall Islands is expected to incur, on average over the long term, annual losses of US$3 million due to earthquakes and tropical cyclones. In the next 50 years, the Marshall Islands has a 50 percent chance of experiencing a loss exceeding US$53 million. The government takes an ex-ante approach to financing the cost of disasters, but the resources available are limited. The Marshall Islands has a maximum amount of US$15.6 million potentially available in ex-ante instruments to facilitate disaster response. The government s post-disaster budget execution process relies on a variety of financial tools, but the size of the economy limits access to immediate post-disaster cash resources. A number of options for improving disaster risk financing and insurance are presented here for consideration: (a) develop an integrated disaster risk financing and insurance strategy; (b) assess the domestic insurance market for both public and private assets to establish what products are currently offered and to determine their level of uptake; (c) carry out a quantitative analysis to determine whether contingent credit could be an effective tool to access additional liquidity post-disaster; and (d) investigate the possibility of establishing policies for financial assistance to disaster victims in remote communities.

La popolazione mondiale è in continua espansione e la crescita demografica ed economica inducono allo sfruttamento progressivo dell'ambiente ed al depauperamento delle risorse naturali (acqua ed energia in particolare), con conseguenti impatti potenzialmente importanti sul cambiamento globale. Si rende, pertanto, necessaria ed urgente una più efficiente gestione delle risorse basata sulla rielaborazione di obiettivi sostenibili di politiche e strategie ambientali e sulla riduzione del consumo delle risorse, promuovendo la transizione da un modello di economia lineare ad uno circolare, costituito da un ciclo continuo di sviluppo positivo che preserva e migliora il capitale naturale, ottimizzando l'utilizzo delle risorse a tutte le scale. Come noto, l'Ingegneria Naturalistica (IN) utilizza le piante come materiale da costruzione nelle opere per la riqualificazione ambientale e paesaggistica del territorio. Le opere di IN sono infatti a basso impatto ambientale ed in grado di innescare processi di rinaturalizzazione che favoriscono la biodiversità, offrendo una promettente strategia di mitigazione e adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici. Fondamentale per il raggiungimento di questi obiettivi, risulta essere quindi l'uso di materiali adeguati, sostenibili, di facile reperimento e basso costo. Tenuto conto della grande disponibilità dei residui derivanti dalla potatura annuale delle viti (sarmenti) e dallo spiaggiamento annuale delle foglie di Posidonia oceanica (banquette) in Sicilia, la presente tesi ha come obiettivo principale la descrizione e l'analisi di questi nuovi materiali organici di scarto in relazione alla possibilità di uso degli stessi in opere di Ingegneria Naturalistica. Ogni anno infatti la potatura dei vigneti produce un elevato quantitativo di residui (sarmenti), che rappresentano una biomassa da smaltire; nel contempo, il fenomeno dello spiaggiamento dei residui di P. oceanica è percepito come un disagio dai cittadini, entrando in conflitto con alcune attività economiche (turismo, stabilimenti balneari, ecc). Nonostante il fondamentale ruolo ecologico che rivestono le fanerogame marine sia per limitare l'erosione della costa che per favorire la formazione del sistema dunale costiero, la presenza di residui di P. oceanica lungo la costa può comportare la riduzione del valore turistico delle spiagge; conseguentemente è richiesta alle amministrazioni locali la rimozione delle banquette ed il loro conferimento in discarica. L'utilizzo della biomassa prodotta comporta quindi un duplice vantaggio: la risoluzione del problema dello smaltimento dei residui prodotti e la creazione di nuovi prodotti, locali ed a basso costo, riutilizzabili anche nel campo del risanamento ambientale. La biomassa residuale viene vista in questo modo come una risorsa e non più un rifiuto, acquisendo un valore sia dal punto di vista ecologico che dal punto di vista economico Nell'ottica dell'economia circolare, i sarmenti sono stati assemblati in forma di fascina per costituire l'elemento base per realizzare il modulo di una fascinata, opera lineare di IN con funzioni antierosive, consolidanti e di stabilizzazione, mentre, i residui di P. oceanica sono stati utilizzati come substrato di coltivazione per rendere "viva" l'opera dopo la messa a dimora di specie autoctone al suo interno. Nella tesi sono state eseguite una serie di analisi e sperimentazioni volte: i) a caratterizzare i due materiali per valutarne l'idoneità come costituenti della fascina, ii) ad individuare le specie vegetali biotecnicamente più idonee a rendere viva l'opera, iii) ad eseguire una prima valutazione sulla funzionalità dell'opera nel suo insieme utilizzando osservazioni fatte su un piccolo prototipo di fascinata messa in opera nei campi sperimentali dell'Università di Palermo. Viene infine presentata una tecnica costruttiva innovativa delle fascinate oggetto di brevettazione da parte dell'Università degli Studi di Palermo e sviluppata nel corso delle attività di questo dottorato di ricerca. Con l'obiettivo di stimare indicatori di resistenza e durabilità delle fascine sperimentali sono state, in primo luogo, individuate quattro aziende vitivinicole che operano nel territorio siciliano, disponibili a fornire a titolo gratuito i sarmenti appena potati. Le prove meccaniche di resistenza a flessione (valutazione di tensioni di rottura e modulo di elasticità) sono state quindi eseguite su 122 provini di 8 differenti cultivar di sarmento (Cabernet, Inzolia, Nero d'Avola, Grecanico, Grillo, Chardonnay, Sirah e Catarratto). I provini di sarmento, di lunghezza L=10 cm ed umidità "normale" (12%), sono stati selezionati con criterio di assenza di nodi ed imperfezioni, uniformità di diametro ed asse longitudinale rettilineo (cilindricità). Sotto l'ipotesi di validità della legge di Hook, le prove di resistenza a flessione eseguite secondo lo schema a tre punti (3 point bending test) sino alla rottura delle fibre inferiori dei provini, hanno permesso di ricavare il modulo di elasticità longitudinale (lungo le fibre), E, e la tensione di rottura sulla base dei diagrammi sforzo/deformazione e della forza a rottura. Dai primi risultati si rileva come i vitigni Cabernet, Grillo e Sirah presentino le migliori caratteristiche di resistenza flessionale (maggiore rigidità) con netta prevalenza del Sirah (4878.6 MPa), mentre più deformabili risultano essere i sarmenti di Grecanico, Chardonnay, Catarratto e Nero d'Avola (1200 - 2000 MPa). I valori maggiori di tensioni di rottura si riscontrano invece per il Cabernet (70 MPa). Nel complesso, mettendo in relazione le tensioni di rottura campionarie ai corrispondenti moduli di elasticità, le migliori caratteristiche di resistenza e di maggiore durabilità riscontrate sono quelle del Cabernet e dello Chardonnay, che possono quindi trovare potenziale impiego come materiale da costruzione nelle opere di Ingegneria Naturalistica. Pertanto, i sarmenti di Cabernet sono stati utilizzati per il confezionamento delle fascine nell'installazione sperimentale, insieme al Catarratto che è la cultivar maggiormente coltivata nella regione e che, conseguentemente, produce il maggior quantitativo di biomassa annuale. L'area di prelievo dei residui di P. oceanica è stata individuata nella costa prospicente l'abitato di Custonaci in provincia di Trapani. La banquette dalla quale sono stati prelevati i residui presenta un'altezza di 4 m e si estende per centinaia di metri lungo la costa rocciosa alle spalle di Monte Cofano. I residui di P. oceanica spiaggiata sono stati rimossi meccanicamente e depositati in un'area di stoccaggio appositamente realizzata nel vicino Parco Sub urbano di Custonaci. Allo scopo di valutare l'abbattimento della salinità a mezzo dilavamento naturale è stato studiato il processo di infiltrazione che si attua nei residui di P. oceanica accumulata nei siti di stoccaggio. Un contributo alla caratterizzazione idrologica dei residui di P. oceanica è stato fornito eseguendo una sperimentazione su campioni di residui sottoposti ad una pioggia di fissata intensità, al fine di mettere a punto un modello semplificato di infiltrazione, valido per ammassi porosi altamente permeabili. Più precisamente il modello di infiltrazione a base fisica adottato stima il tempo di ritardo, (o di primo gocciolamento) ovvero il tempo necessario affinchè il fronte di umidità, a partire dall'inizio dell'evento piovoso, raggiunga la base dell'ammasso. Il protocollo di sperimentazione è stato studiato in modo da variare progressivamente le condizioni iniziali di umidità sullo stesso campione così da non alterare le caratteristiche fisiche del campione stesso rendendo omogenei i risultati. I campioni di residui di P. oceanica, preparati in laboratorio con una densità apparente, pari a quella misurata su campioni indisturbati nel sito di stoccaggio, sono stati posti in anelli metallici di diametro, D = 200 mm liberamente drenanti al fondo, chiusi con tessuto non tessuto e rete metallica di contenimento. Le prove di infiltrazione sono state condotte con un simulatore di pioggia di diametro pari a quello degli anelli, alimentato con una bottiglia di Mariotte (pressione costante). Nella sequenza delle prove le condizioni iniziali di umidità sono variate da 0.030 a 0.197, mentre il volume drenato, si è incrementato da 0.030 a 0.32. La condizione iniziale di umidità ha influenzato i tempi di ritardo che sono passati dai 3.87 minuti della prima prova ai 13.62 minuti dell'ultima prova. La densità apparente, stimata empiricamente in funzione dell'altezza H del campione, ha mostrato una variazione, da 0.130 a 0.140 g/cm3 che ha comportato una riduzione della porosità. Dalle prove eseguite è emerso come la compattazione dei residui di Posidonia abbia giocato un ruolo determinante durante il processo di infiltrazione. Sulla base di questa osservazione il modello teorico di infiltrazione adottato, valido su mezzi altamente porosi ma a porosità costante, è stato modificato introducendo sia l'effetto della compattazione che quello della parzializzazione della superficie effettivamente interessata dal processo di infiltrazione. La legge di infiltrazione tarata sui dati sperimentali per valori dell'intensità di pioggia variabili da i=20 a i=100 mm/h, per un ammasso di P. oceanica, messa a confronto con l'analoga legge di infiltrazione relativa ad un terreno con stesse caratteristiche idrologiche della P. oceanica, ha evidenziato in definitiva la differenza di comportamento dei due media. I residui di P. oceanica mostrano rispetto al terreno, tempi di ritardo molto brevi (infiltrazione veloce), poco variabili sia con l'intensità che con le condizioni iniziali di umidità. Per condizioni di umidità iniziale superiori a 0.15 i tempi di ritardo per il campione dei residui di P. oceanica tendono a crescere all'aumentare dell'umidità indicando, in questo campo, una lieve riduzione della permeabilità del mezzo. L'abbattimento della salinità nei residui di P. oceanica è stato valutato in laboratorio simulando in un campione un processo di lavaggio a pressione costante. I campioni di residui di P. oceanica appena spiaggiati mostrano un elevato valore di conducibilità elettrica (CE) iniziale nell'acqua di drenaggio ( 20 mS/cm) ed un rapido abbattimento del contenuto in sali già con i primi tre lavaggi unitari (di peso pari al peso del materiale dilavato). Gli ulteriori sei lavaggi hanno affinato la riduzione di CE fino al raggiungimento di valori accettabili all'utilizzo agricolo ( 2 mS/cm). Assunta una densità della P. oceanica pari a 0,1 g/cm3 un lavaggio unitario di un ammasso alto un metro corrisponde allora ad un volume d'acqua specifico di 100 mm. I valori estremi del processo di lavaggio dei residui appena spiaggiati sono stati confermati da analisi di salinità svolte secondo metodo standard con diluizione 1:20. L'abbattimento del contenuto salino dei residui di P. oceanica accumulati nel deposito all'aperto di Custonaci è avvenuto, in modo sostenibile, a mezzo di un dilavamento naturale durato poco più di un anno che ha ridotto il valore di CE a 2,8 mS/cm. Tale riduzione concorda con le sperimentazioni fatte, infatti, tenuto conto che la precipitazione media annua alla stazione pluviografica di S. Vito Lo Capo vale 474 mm e che lo spessore medio dell'ammasso è di 1 m, il deposito è stato soggetto a circa 6 lavaggi unitari che sono bastati per abbattere significativamente il valore di CE. Ulteriori lavaggi unitari applicati ad un campione di P. oceanica prelevato dal deposito hanno portato ad un CE pari a 1,8 mS/cm, dopo il primo lavaggio, che si è ridotto ulteriormente del 33,3% (CE=1,2 mS/cm) al terzo lavaggio unitario. L'individuazione delle specie vegetali biotecnicamente più idonee a rendere viva l'opera è stata condotta a mezzo di prove di resistenza a trazione, Tr, delle radici. Il prelievo delle specie vegetali autoctone da utilizzare per rendere vive le fascine è stato eseguito in 5 differenti stazioni nella provincia di Palermo. Gli elevati valori di tensioni di rottura delle radici delle specie vegetali prese in esame nello studio (A. mauritanicus, O. miliaceum, H. coronarium. M. lupulina, L. spartum, B. distachyon, R. officinalis, R. coriaria e S. junceum) confermano la loro adeguatezza nel campo del ripristino ambientale, della stabilizzazione dei versanti e nella prevenzione delle frane. In particolare S. junceum ha mostrato le migliori caratteristiche biotecniche in termini di legge tensioni/diametri e quindi è stato individuato come materiale da utilizzare preferibilmente per rendere vive le fascine. Da un'analisi più approfondita delle radici di S. junceum che crescono nelle due differenti giaciture di piano e di pendenza (22°- 28°- 40°), è stato possibile evidenziare come la giacitura in pendenza influenzi significativamente sia l'architettura complessiva del sistema radicale che lo stato tensionale dello stesso. L'indagine è stata eseguita in tre siti di prelievo (A, B e C) tutti in provincia di Palermo Nelle prove di trazione effettuate, in accordo con il maggiore sviluppo e la differente architettura radicale, i campioni di S. junceum prelevati in giacitura di pendenza hanno presentato i valori di tensione a rottura mediamente più alti. In corrispondenza dei diametri più bassi (0,5 mm) i valori di tensione a rottura sono risultati molto simili (61-70 MPa) nelle due giaciture mentre in corrispondenza dei diametri maggiori (>1 mm) la tensione a rottura dei campioni in piano risulta minore rispetto ai campioni in pendenza. Il test di covarianza (ANCOVA) applicato al campione delle tensioni di rottura con covariata il Diametro e variabili indipendenti il sito (A, B, C) e la giacitura (piano, pendenza) ha permesso di considerare non significativa la differenza tra i siti (suoli) e significativa la differenza tra le due giaciture. Nell'installazione delle fascine sperimentali si è stimata la crescita delle piantine in fitocella di S. junceum messe a dimora in diversi substrati. Dalle prime evidenze le piante cresciute sul substrato costituito dai residui di P. oceanica hanno presentato la maggior percentuale di attecchimento e la maggiore crescita epigea. Tale risultato può essere, con buona probabilità, attribuito alle proprietà fisiche ed alla capacità isolante dei residui. Difatti, la maggiore capacità drenante del substrato costituito dai residui di P. oceanica, rilevato durante le prove di infiltrazione, sembra aver giocato un ruolo positivo nell'attecchimento e sviluppo della pianta. Il controllo del microclima all'interno delle fascine è stato eseguito con misure di temperatura rilevate ad intervalli di 30 minuti da sensori hobo data logger inseriti ad una profondità di 5 cm, lasciati indisturbati per tutta la durata delle misure (dal 14.07.2017 al 20.11.2017). I dati sono stati misurati: a) nell'ambiente atmosferico, b) all'interno dei residui di P. oceanica contenuti nelle fascine e c) nel terreno contiguo all'istallazione. In totale sono stati raccolti 6201 valori di temperatura per ognuno dei tre sensori. Le misure di temperatura hanno evidenziato l'elevata capacità isolante dei residui di P. oceanica che si è manifestata con una significativa attenuazione, a livello dell'apparato radicale, delle temperature massime (36.6°C) nei residui di Posidonia e minime giornaliere (9.7°C), rispetto alle temperature massime (55.1°C) e minime (5.6°C) misurate nell'ambiente esterno nei due periodi considerati (estate e autunno). Le temperature medie più basse si sono registrate nei residui di Posidonia all'interno delle fascine, sia nel periodo estivo (25.7±3.6) che nell'arco temporale delle misure (21.8±5.2). È interessante osservare come il ruolo che tale materiale ha nel campo dell'edilizia come isolante termico possa risultare di interesse anche nel campo della coltivazione di specie vegetali. Infine, la ricerca svolta nei tre anni di dottorato ed i risultati conseguiti hanno portato al miglioramento della tecnica di realizzazione della fascinata le cui metodologie sono oggetto di una domanda di brevetto depositata dall'Università di Palermo. I vantaggi della nuova metodologia rispetto alle tecnologie attuali, possono sintetizzarsi come segue: • Riutilizzo sostenibile di materiali organici di scarto (sarmenti e P. oceanica spiaggiata e dilavata) con conseguente economia di realizzazione di una fascinata (opera I.N. lineare di consolidamento e protezione idrogeologica). • Meccanizzazione della produzione dei manufatti modulari (fascina) costituenti l'opera, che nell'attuale pratica prevede un assemblaggio solo di tipo manuale, con conseguente riduzione dei tempi di costruzione e dei costi ad esso associati. • Il prodotto proposto rende "strutturale", con un sistema di collegamento dei moduli, un'opera che staticamente non è resistente alle azioni di spinta delle terre. • Riduzione dei tempi di messa in opera del manufatto lineare. Con la tecnica innovativa avanzata, grazie alla caratteristica strutturale del manufatto, si potranno realizzare opere su più piani (non più di tre) o opere chiuse. I residui di potatura della vite ed i residui di P. oceanica sono stati utilizzati anche nell'ambito di un progetto, finanziato dalla Comunità Europea, al Comune di Custonaci dal titolo "Primi interventi finalizzati a contenere il fenomeno della desertificazione del territorio Comunale Parco sub-urbano Portella del Cerriolo". Recenti controlli di qualità dell'Unione Europea sulle opere realizzate con i suddetti materiali di scarto nel Parco sub-urbano Portella del Cerriolo a Custonaci, hanno evidenziato gli ottimi risultati raggiunti dal progetto. Per tale motivazione, La UE ha proposto la candidatura del suddetto progetto come best practices nell'area mediterranea per la lotta al fenomeno della desertificazione. L'uso dei due materiali, che rappresentano uno scarto di produzione agricola ed un rifiuto solido, ampiamente presenti sia in Sicilia che nella maggior parte dell'area mediterranea, si inquadra in un uso efficiente delle risorse (riuso sostenibile), nel risparmio economico ed energetico e nel pieno rispetto dell'ambiente. ; The world population is expanding continuously, and economic and demographic growth are leading to the exploitation of the environment and the reduction of natural resources (water and energy in particular), with potentially important impacts on global climate change. Therefore, more efficient management of resources is necessary, based on the reworking of sustainable objectives of environmental policies and strategies and lower consumption of resources, thus promoting the transition from a linear economy model to a circular one, consisting of a continuous positive development cycle that preserves and improves natural capital, optimizing the use of resources. Soil and Water Bioengineering uses plants as living building material in environmental and landscape development works. Such works with low environmental impact, promote biodiversity and, in addition, offer a promising strategy for mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Thus, the use of adequate, sustainable, easy to find and low-cost materials are essential for the achievement of these objectives. Considering the great availability of residues resulting from the annual pruning of vines and the annual cleaning of beaches from the leaves of Posidonia oceanica in Sicily, the aim of this thesis is to describe and apply innovative Soil and Water Bioengineering techniques that involve the construction of modular structures made with organic waste materials, namely, the residues of vine pruning (vine shoots) and beachside P. oceanica (banquette). In fact, every year, the pruning of vines produces high quantity residues (vine shoots), which represent a biomass to be disposed. At the same time, the beaching of P. oceanica residues is considered a problem by the population. It conflicts with a number of economic activities (tourism, bathing establishments, etc.). Even though seagrasses have a fundamental ecological role to play in limiting coastal erosion and promoting the formation of the coastal dune system, the presence of P. oceanica residues along the coast can reduce the tourism value of beaches. As a result, local authorities are required to remove banquette and dispose of them in landfills. Therefore, the use of this biomass has a double beneficial effect. It constitutes a solution to the problem of waste disposal and an opportunity for the creation of local and low-cost new products. Moreover, this waste can also be used in the field of environmental restoration. Therefore, the residual biomass considered a resource and no longer as waste, and has ecological and economic value. From the viewpoint of the circular economy, vine shoots were assembled in the form of fascines to constitute the basic element used to create a fascinate module, a linear Soil and Water Bioengineering work with anti-erosive, consolidation and stabilization functions, while the residues of P. oceanica were used as a growing medium to render the work "alive" after planting with native species. A series of analyses and experiments were carried within the framework of the thesis, in order to i) characterize both materials and evaluate their suitability as constituents of fascines, ii) identify the most biotechnically suitable plant species for rendering the work "alive", and iii) evaluate the functionality of the work as a whole using observations made on a small prototype of fascinate set up in experimental fields at the University of Palermo. Finally, an innovative fascinates construction technique is presented, which is the object of patenting by the University of Palermo and was developed during the activities of this research doctorate. First of all, we identified four wine-producing companies operating in Sicily and available to provide vine shoots just after pruning and free of charge. In order to estimate the durability of the experimental fascines, mechanical tests were carried out in the laboratory (tensile strength and modulus of elasticity) on 122 samples of 8 different vine shoot cultivars (Cabernet, Inzolia, Nero d' Avola, Grecanico, Grillo, Chardonnay, Sirah and Catarratto). The vine shoot samples, L=10 cm long and "normal" humidity (12%), were selected based on the criteria of absence of knots and imperfections, uniformity of diameter and straight longitudinal axis (cylindricality). The abiotic (mechanical) durability of the vine shoots was then estimated by means of flexural strength tests and measurement of tensile strength. Under the hypothesis of validity of Hook's law, flexural strength tests were carried out according to the three-point scheme up to the rupture of the lower fibres of the samples, which allowed to obtain the longitudinal elasticity modulus E (along the fibres) and the tensile strengthon the basis of the force/deformation diagram and tensile strength. The first results show that Cabernet, Grillo and Sirah vine shoots have the best flexural strength characteristics (greater rigidity) with a clear prevalence of Sirah (4878.6 MPa), while the vine shoots of Grecanico, Chardonnay, Catarratto and Nero d' Avola (1200 - 2000 MPa) are the most deformable. The highest values of tensile strength were found for the Cabernet (70 MPa). Consequently, by linking sample tensile strength to the corresponding elasticity modules, Cabernet and Chardonnay display the best resistance and durability characteristics, and could be used potentially as a building material in Soil and Water Bioengineering works. Therefore, Cabernet vine shoots have been suggested and used for the packaging of fascines in the experimental installation, together with Catarratto, which is the variety most cultivated in the region and, consequently, produces the largest quantity of annual biomass. P. oceanica residues were collected on the coast of Custonaci, Trapani (Southern of Italy). The "banquette" from which the residues were obtained is 4 metres high and extends hundreds of metres along the rocky coast behind Monte Cofano. P. oceanica residues were removed mechanically and deposited in a storage area created in the nearby Custonaci Park. In order to evaluate the reduction of salinity by natural runoff, the infiltration process that takes place in the residues of P. oceanica accumulated at the storage sites was studied. The investigation carried out on samples of P. oceanica residues subjected to rain of fixed intensity, allowed the development of a simplified theoretical model, valid for highly permeable porous storage. Furthermore, an analysis was performed in order to characterise P. oceanica residues from a physical and hydrological point of view and verify the applicability of a physical infiltration model for the estimation of delay time, starting from the beginning of the rainy event and ending with the storage site. The experimental protocol was studied in order to modify gradually the initial humidity conditions of the same sample and not modify the physical characteristics of the sample for the results to be homogeneous. The samples of P. oceanica residues, prepared in the laboratory with an apparent density equal to that measured on undisturbed samples at the storage site, were placed in metal rings, D = 200 mm, with free draining at the bottom, closed with non-textile and metal mesh containment. The infiltration tests were conducted with a rain simulator equal in diameter to that of the rings, and connected to a Mariotte bottle. In the test sequence, the initial humidity conditions varied from 0.030 to 0.197, while the drained volume increased from 0.030 to 0.32. Modification of the initial humidity condition had an effect on delay times. In particular, the times, with certain dispersion, increased by initial humidity conditions from the initial values of 3.87 minutes for the first test to 13.62 minutes for the last test. The apparent density empirically estimated as a function of the height H of the sample, showed a variation from 0.130g/cm3 to 0.140 g/cm3 which resulted in a reduction of porosity. The tests carried out showed that the compaction of P. oceanica residues played a decisive role during the infiltration process. Following this observation, the infiltration model on highly porous media was modified by introducing the effect of both compaction and that of the surface actually affected by the infiltration process. The infiltration law calibrated on the experimental data for rain intensity values varying from i=20 to i=100 mm/h, for P. oceanica storage, compared with the analogous infiltration law relative to soil with the same hydrological characteristics as stored P. oceanica. The difference in behaviour of the two media was revealed. P. oceanica residues show very short delay times in relation to soil (fast filtration); small differences are measured in the intensity and the initial humidity conditions. While the soil shows a typical monotonous reduction in delay times, for P. oceanica there is a slight increase in time after a given initial humidity condition, which indicates a slight reduction in permeability of the medium in this field. The reduction of salinity in P. oceanica residues was evaluated in the laboratory by means of a constant pressure washing process. P. oceanica residue samples show a high initial electrical conductivity (EC) value in drainage water (20 mS/cm) and a rapid reduction of the salt content with the first three unit washes. The six additional washings refined EC reduction to an acceptable level for agricultural use (2 mS/cm). The extreme values of the residue washing process were confirmed by salinity analysis using the standard method with dilution 1:20. The reduction of the salt content of P. oceanica residues was also achieved in a sustainable way by means of natural runoff in open storage for more than one year (≈ 500 mm/year of rain). The measurements taken at the first unit wash showed an EC of 1.8 mS/cm, which was reduced by 33.3% (CE=1.2 mS/cm) after the second unit wash. The most biotechnically suitable plant species were then identified to make the work "alive" by means of laboratory tests of Tr tensile strength of the roots. The native plant species used to make the fascine "alive" were collected at 5 different stations in the province of Palermo. The high tensile strength values of the roots of the plants considered in the study (A. mauritanicus, O. miliaceum, H. coronarium. M. lupulina, L. spartum, B. distachyon, R. officinalis, R. Coriaria and S. junceum) confirm their suitability in the field of environmental restoration, slope stabilization and landslide prevention. In particular, S. junceum displayed the best biotechnological characteristics in relation to the tension/diameter law and has therefore been identified as a material to be used for making fascine "alive". A more detailed analysis of the morphological parameters of S. junceum roots, growing at two different positions (plane and slope of 22°- 28°- 40°), showed that the position on the slope significantly influences the root system of the plant and the overall architecture of the root system at the three sampling sites (A, B and C). In the tensile strength tests carried out, in accordance with the greater development and the different radical architecture, the samples of break strength values taken in a slope position showed the highest break strength values. As regards the lowest diameters (0.5 mm), the break strength values are similar (61-70 MPa) in the two positions, while for larger diameters (2 mm) the break strength values of plane samples are lower than those of slope samples. In fact, they range from 20 MPa to almost 80 MPa at site A, 20 MPa to 50 MPa at site B, and 20 MPa to 40 MPa at site C. In the experimental installation, we estimated the growth of S. junceum planted in different substrates. The first evidence shows that the plants grown on the substrate consisting of P. oceanica residues showed the highest percentage of rooting and the greatest aerial growth (121.3 cm). This result can, most probably, be attributed to the physical properties and insulating capacity of the residues. In fact, the increased draining capacity of the substrate of P. oceanica residues, detected during infiltration tests, may have played a positive role in plant rooting and development. The micro-climate inside the fascines was estimated with temperature measurements using hobo data logger sensors inserted at a depth of 5 cm from 14.07.2017 to 20.11.2017, carried out continuously and with a time interval of 30 minutes. The data were recorded: a) in the external environment, b) inside the P. oceanica residues contained in fascines and c) in the land adjacent to the installation. A total of 6201 temperature values were collected by each of the three sensors. The temperature measurements showed the high insulating capacity of the P. oceanica residues, which manifested itself with a significant attenuation, at root level, of the maximum temperatures (36.6°C) in P. oceanica residues and daily minimum temperatures (9.7°C), compared to the maximum temperatures (55.1°C) and minimum temperatures (5.6°C) measured in the external environment during the two periods considered (summer and autumn). The lowest average temperatures were recorded in P. oceanica residues inside fascines, both in the summer period (25.7±3.6) and throughout the measurement period (21.8±5.2). It is interesting to note that the thermal insulation role of this material in the building industry also applies to agriculture. Finally, the research carried out during the three years of doctoral studies has led to the improvement of the fascinate production technique, and this methodology is subject to a patent application filed by the University of Palermo. The benefits of the new methodology compared to current technologies can be summarised as follows: • The proposed product makes "structural", with a module connection system, a work frequently used in Soil and Water Bioengineering that is not statically resistant to the actions of soil thrust. • Sustainable reuse of organic waste materials with consequent economy of construction. • Mechanisation of modular manufactured products, which in current practice provides for assembly only by hand with consequent reduction of construction time and costs. • Reduction of installation time for hydrogeological protection structures. The advanced innovative technique, to be developed with future experimental installations, has provided for the construction of a modular building made with eco-compatible materials at low cost; vine pruning residues (vine shoots) and Posidonia oceanica beaches (banquette). Vine pruning residues and P. oceanica residues were also used in a project, funded by the European Community, to the Municipality of Custonaci entitled " Primi interventi finalizzati a contenere il fenomeno della desertificazione del territorio Comunale Parco sub-urbano Portella del Cerriolo". European Union quality controls on these works has shown the excellent results achieved with the waste materials. For this reason, the EU has suggested project application as "best practices" in the mediterranean area for combating desertification. The use of these two materials, namely agricultural production waste and solid waste which are widely available in both in Sicily and most of the Mediterranean area, constitutes an efficient use of resources (sustainable use) that is low-cost, energy efficient and totally respects the environment.