Agricultural Climate Change Adaptation in Kebumen, Central Java, Indonesia

Productive agricultural areas in Kebumen, Central Java, Indonesia are potentially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. We surveyed small-scale farmers to assess climate change-related perceptions and adaptations in the agriculture sector. The majority of the respondents agreed that there were changes in climatological variables affecting their farming activities, especially in terms of precipitation and temperature. However, the results also revealed that only 13% of respondents believed that human activities play a significant role. Three forms of adaptations have been developed by the farmers, namely: (1) agricultural diversification, (2) agricultural intensification, and (3) socioeconomic adaptation. Changing crops to more climate-tolerant varieties was one of the most common agricultural diversification practices (implemented by 88% of farmers). Most of the farmers also tried to maintain agricultural productivity by adjusting a local planting calendar (implemented by 94% of farmers). The use of machinery to intensify farming practice was an uncommon strategy (implemented by only 30% of farmers) because of expensive maintenance and small cultivation areas. The results suggested the importance of increasing farmers’ knowledge and technological know-how related to climate change and its implications, developing effective adaptation and mitigation efforts, and constructing climate-resilient infrastructure in the agricultural sector.

PULL FACTORS OF LABOR MIGRATION FROM THE ARAB WORLD TO EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Pull factors (“attracting”) of labor migration to Europe are considered in application to migrants from Arab countries. Features of Arab labor migration and socioeconomic adaptation of Arabs in Europe are given. According to the author’s classification of pull factors, they are grouped into three groups: selection stage factors, conditional dominants, and extra- economic factors. Each of the groups, or levels, is preferred for a certain category of potential migrants. Special characteristics of Arab Diaspora business networks in European countries are revealed. The author describes an approach to labor migrants, in which they are considered not only as a labor force, but as social capital, which is in demand, first of all, within these networks. The problems of socio- cultural adaptation and economic integration are presented in the light of changes in the pull factors of migration. The key to solving a number of problems along this path is, according to the author, moving towards the withdrawal of business networks of Arab diasporas from their objective self-isolation, their focus on themselves and the business networks of their countries of origin as well in response to the unfamiliar and sometimes closed business environment in the host countries.

Competing Priorities, Ambiguous Loyalties: Challenges of Socioeconomic Adaptation and National Inclusion of the Interwar Bulgarian Refugees

From the estimated ten million refugees in interwar Europe, more than 250,000 were ethnic Bulgarians who found their way in the Bulgarian Kingdom following Bulgarian defeats in the Second Balkan War and World War One. For a country with a population of five and a half million in the mid-1920s, this refugee flow constituted a significant challenge from economic, political, social, and cultural viewpoints. Similarly to Germany, Hungary, and Austria, the refugee presence served as a constant reminder of national failure because Bulgaria lost territories, perceived as a part of the national homeland, to all of its neighbors. The Bulgarian state received refugees from the Ottoman Empire, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Romania, and the interwar governments were compelled to deal with a large and diverse population that suffered harsh socioeconomic problems and psychological traumas. Due to the Convention for Emigration of Minorities between Greece and Bulgaria of 1919 as well as the Greek-Turkish War of 1921–1922 and the obligatory population exchange it initiated in the period 1922–1924, refugee flows in the Balkans lasted well into the mid-1920s. Hence Bulgarians were on the move throughout 1924 and 1925. Despite these strenuous circumstances, interwar politicians boasted the successful integration of the refugees. Immediately after World War One, the government provided temporary assistance to the newcomers. In 1926, an international loan allowed the agricultural settlement of the most destitute new arrivals, and all refugees were granted the rights of Bulgarian citizens. A second loan in 1928 guaranteed the continuation of vital infrastructure projects. By the end of the 1930s, both domestic and international agencies involved in the refugee accommodation viewed the process as a successfully completed mission.

Problems and Prospects of Studying Immigrant Adaptation from the 1990 Population Census: From Generational Comparisons to the Process of “Becoming American”

With the loss of the question on parental birthplace in the 1980 and 1990 censuses, there are serious obstacles to current research on immigrant adaption based on the traditional logic of intergenerational progress. The tremendous diversity across contemporary immigrant streams from more dian 40 country/region-of-origin groups, however, reinforces the singular importance of census data for national studies of the post-1965 immigrants and their children. A potentially useful research strategy is to examine variations in socioeconomic adaptation by duration of American residence among immigrants who arrived as children or teenagers. Exploratory investigation using this framework reveals a dominant pattern of successful adaptation with greater exposure to American society (“becoming American”), but also some mixed patterns that are more consistent with the segmented assimilation model.