Assessing countries’ social-ecological resilience to shifting marine commercial species

Climate change is already impacting fisheries with species moving across fishing areas, crossing institutional borders, and thus creating conflicts over fisheries management. In this scenario, scholars agree that adaptation to climate change requires that fisheries increase their social, institutional, and ecological resilience. The resilience or capacity of a fishery to be maintained without shifting to a different state (e.g., collapse) is at stake under climate change impacts and overexploitation. Despite this urgent need, applying the resilience concept in a spatially explicit and quantitative manner to inform policy remains unexplored. We take a resilience approach and operationalize the concept in industrial fisheries for two species that have been observed to significantly shift distribution in European waters: hake (Merluccius merluccius) and cod (Gadus morhua), in the context of the European Union institutional settings. With a set of resilience factors from the literature and by means of contemporary and historic data, we select indicators that are combined into an index that measures resilience on the ecologic, socioeconomic, and institutional dimensions of the fishery. We find that the resilience index varies among species and countries, with lower resilience levels in the socioeconomic dimension of the fisheries. We also see that resilience largely depends on the overexploitation status of the fishery. The results highlight the need to address social and institutional settings to enhance fisheries adaptation to climate change and allow to inform on climate resilient adaptation pathways for the fisheries.

The Legal Position of Waqf for Non-Muslims in Efforts to Increase Waqf Assets in Indonesia

This study examines the legal standing of waqf for non-Muslims contributing to the increase of waqf assets in Indonesia. It turns out that raising waqf funds can be accessed from non-Muslim funds that sympathize with the economic value of Islamic philanthropy. Waqf is a deed that is part goodness of Islam and has a socioeconomic dimension. The essence of waqf is to hold the core of waqf and develop the outcome, so that waqf assets do not just disappear. The form of waqf is exciting and has great benefits so that not only a Muslim who is interested in waqf, many non-Muslims also contribute through donations. However, scholars differ in opinions about non-Muslim waqf laws; besides that, the waqf law also does not mention the specificity of waqf only for Muslims. This research is qualitative research through a normative juridical approach through literature in analyzing the data obtained. So, the difference in opinion of the madzhab scholars is essentially allowing non-Muslim endowments if it is not intended for religious facilities such as mosques.

Characterization and Typology of Backyard Small Pig Farms in Jipijapa, Ecuador

To characterize the traditional systems of small pig producers in Jipijapa (Manabí, Ecuador) and to classify farms into representative categories, we interviewed fifty-five farmers from seven communities considering four dimensions: social, organizational, production methods, and local food resources. Multiple correspondence analyses and hierarchical clusters were carried out using the Ward method. The analysis differentiated communities based on social, productive, and local resource variables, showing three factors that accounted for 85.3% of the total variance: the socioeconomic dimension, related to the welfare of families, explained 34.4% of the variation, the care provided to animals explained 30.9%, and the management practices for the supply of food explained 20%. We identified five clusters that shared common characteristics: Group 1 included farmers from Albajacal, wage workers, and Creole pig breeders, Group 2 included farmers raising pigs under lockdown conditions, Group 3 typified traditional farms from the La Cuesta community, Group 4 included landowners, and Group 5 included professionalized farmers in Colón Alfaro. We also studied the supplied alternative food formulations made up of crop surpluses. The role of small pig farmers is a social activity linked to the location, the crops of each area, and the specific practices for the care of animals.

Understanding the Wicked Problem of Providing Accessible Housing for the Ageing Population in Sweden

While accessible housing is known as important to promote healthy ageing, the societal issue of providing accessible housing for the ageing population bears the characteristics of a “wicked problem”. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of crucial variables for decision-making about the provision of accessible housing for the ageing population in Sweden. Materials used for a deductive content analysis were elicited through a research circle involving three researchers and twelve non-academic representatives. Brown and colleagues’ conceptual five-dimension framework to address wicked problems was used for the understanding of crucial variables in decision-making about housing provision. The findings show that such reasoning is dominated by the socioeconomic dimension. Findings in the biophysical dimension reveal well-known challenges pertaining to the definition and interpretation of the concept of accessibility and its operationalization. The dimensions are intertwined in a complex manner, which is essential for effective and efficient decision-making. The findings could make decision-makers aware of the diversity of individual thinking involved when addressing this wicked problem. Acting upon the crucial variables identified in this study could contribute to progressive decision-making and more efficient ways to develop and provide accessible housing to promote health ageing.

Soil Degradation and Socioeconomic Systems’ Complexity: Uncovering the Latent Nexus

Understanding Soil Degradation Processes (SDPs) is a fundamental issue for humankind. Soil degradation involves complex processes that are influenced by a multifaceted ensemble of socioeconomic and ecological factors at vastly different spatial scales. Desertification risk (the ultimate outcome of soil degradation, seen as an irreversible process of natural resource destruction) and socioeconomic trends have been recently analyzed assuming “resilience thinking” as an appropriate interpretative paradigm. In a purely socioeconomic dimension, resilience is defined as the ability of a local system to react to external signals and to promote future development. This ability is intrinsically bonded with the socio-ecological dynamics characteristic of environmentally homogeneous districts. However, an evaluation of the relationship between SDPs and socioeconomic resilience in local systems is missing in mainstream literature. Our commentary formulates an exploratory framework for the assessment of soil degradation, intended as a dynamic process of natural resource depletion, and the level of socioeconomic resilience in local systems. Such a framework is intended to provide a suitable background to sustainability science and regional policies at the base of truly resilient local systems.

The Soviet past and party competition: using quantitative methods

The article analyses the place of the Soviet past issues in the interparty discussion in contemporary Russia. The methodology of the study is based on the cleavage theory and the issue dimensions theory which consider confrontation as the engine of the political life. The lists of issues and most active participants are formed on the base of issue salience and issue ownership criteria. Factor analysis of party positions on these issues revealed two divisions: ‘Communists vs Anticommunists’ and ‘Liberals vs Statists’. Factor loadings of these divisions are compared with parties' factor loadings in political dimensions on a wider range of issues: three main ones (systemic, authoritarian-democratic, socioeconomic) and seven additional – in three issues domains: domestic policy, social and economic policy, systemic domain (international relations + worldviews). It is detected that the ‘Communists vs Anticommunists’ division correlates well with the main socioeconomic dimension and its subtype ‘Communists vs Liberals’, but most strongly – with a sub-dimension ‘Soviet traditionalists vs Progressives’ from the systemic domain. The ‘Liberals vs Statists’ division appeared to correlate closely with the main authoritarian-democratic dimension, but much more – with the subtype ‘Liberals vs Loyalists’ from the domestic policy issue domain. It is concluded that the divisions on the issues of the Soviet past easily fit into the picture of political dimensions and even get lost in it. Comparison of divisions over the Soviet past with electoral cleavages shows that these issues are not very important for the mass mind. High correlation coefficients are devalued by high p-levels, indicating that there is a typical “third factor” effect in the case.

Inferring party positions across issue dimensions

In this article, we argue that voters use party positions on an issue dimension as a heuristic device to locate parties on other dimensions on which they have less information about. We confirm our argument by fielding two survey experiments in a context with two distinct issue dimensions: the left-right and national dimensions in Catalonia. We find that the position of a hypothetical (but plausible) candidate on a national dimension exerts a great deal of influence on where respondents locate him on the left-right dimension, as well as on a more narrowly-defined socioeconomic dimension, but that the left-right position does not affect the perceived placement on the national divide. This asymmetry can be partly explained by the different nature of these issue domains, and specifically by the distinct ability of the national dimension to activate social group cues that give rise to projection biases. These findings have important implications for our understanding of issue misperceptions and of the strategic choices available to parties in multidimensional policy spaces. The nature of the issue dimension could facilitate why some issue dimensions tend to function as cue givers and others as cue receivers. We discuss the implications of our findings in constraining the strategies available to parties in multidimensional contexts.

Left is right and right is left? Partisan difference on social welfare and particularistic benefits in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

This paper investigates elite-level partisan differences along the socioeconomic dimension in three developed East Asian democracies – Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. On the one hand, the mainstream literature in welfare studies and party politics expects left- and right-leaning parties should vary significantly in utilizing social policy promises. On the other hand, the path dependency logic tells us that left–right difference should be found over particularistic benefits, such as agricultural subsidies or construction projects, considering that these were central means for right-leaning parties to maintain their power during the developmental state period in the three countries. Using an original bill-sponsorship data set between 1987 and 2012, we find that there has not been any substantial difference in the agenda setting of conventional social welfare bills between left- and right-wing government periods. However, a clear elective affinity can be observed between established right-wing parties and particularistic benefits. The paper shows that contextualizing key political actors' preferences can lead to a more systematic understanding of political dynamics behind the socioeconomic dimension in non-Anglo-European countries.

Financial Inclusion and Achievements of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in ASEAN

Objective – Financial Inclusion is an essential agenda at the ASEAN level. Increasing financial inclusion aims to develop the economic capacity of the population to reduce poverty and encourage income distribution. This study aims to analyze the relationship of financial inclusion to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the aspect of poverty alleviation in ASEAN. Methodology/Technique – This study uses a quantitative approach. The data used is secondary data in the period between 2010 and 2018. Data processing uses multiple regression. The financial inclusion dimensions analyzed are the socioeconomic dimension and the infrastructure dimension. Findings – Financial Inclusion has a negative and significant relationship with the achievement of sustainable development goals (SGDs) in the aspect of poverty alleviation in ASEAN. Novelty – The statement that the development of countries in ASEAN to realize SDGs on poverty eradication becomes very important. This study is essential for policymakers regarding poverty alleviation and financial inclusion development. This study contributes to the financial inclusion literature in ASEAN with an emphasis on the socioeconomic dimension. Type of Paper: Empirical Keywords: Financial Inclusion; Sustainable Development Goals; Poverty; ASEAN. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Ma’ruf, A; Aryani, F. 2019. Financial Inclusion and Achievements of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in ASEAN, J. Bus. Econ. Review 4(4) 147 – 155 https://doi.org/10.35609/jber.2019.4.4(1) JEL Classification: G00, G28.