Map
showing Jewish-owned land as of 31 December 1944, including land owned
in full, shared in undivided land and State Lands under concession. This
constituted 6% of the total land area, of which more than half was held
by the JNF and PICA
Jewish land purchase in Palestine was the acquisition of land in Ottoman and Mandatory Palestine by Jews from the 1880s until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. By far the largest such arrangement was known as the Sursock Purchase. As of April 1, 1945, Jews had acquired 5.67% of the land in Palestine.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the creation of the Zionist movement resulted in many European Jews immigrating to Palestine. Most land purchases between the late 1880s and the 1930s were located in the coastal plain
area, including "Acre to the North and Rehovoth to the South, the
Esdraelon (Jezreel) and Jordan Valleys and to the lesser extent in
Galilee". The migration affected Palestine in many ways, including economically, socially, and politically.
The Talmud mentions the religious duty of settling the Land of Israel. It also allows for the lifting of certain religious restrictions of Sabbath observance to further its acquisition and settlement.
Land purchases
KKL collection boxes to fund land purchases in Palestine were distributed among Jews from 1904
In the first half of the 19th century, no foreigners were allowed to purchase land in Palestine. This was official Ottoman policy until 1856 and in practice until 1867. When it came to the national aspirations of the Zionist movement, the Ottoman Empire
opposed the idea of Jewish self-rule in Palestine, fearing it might
lose control of Palestine after recently having lost other territories
to various European powers. It also took issue with the Jews, as many
came from Russia, which sought the empire's demise. In 1881 the Ottoman governmental administration (the Sublime Porte)
decreed that foreign Jews could immigrate to and settle anywhere within
the Ottoman Empire, except in Palestine and from 1882 until their
defeat in 1918, the Ottomans continuously restricted Jewish immigration
and land purchases in Palestine. In 1892, the Ottoman government decided to prohibit the sale of land in Palestine to Jews, even if they were Ottoman citizens.
Nevertheless, during the late 19th century and the beginning of the
20th century, many successful land purchases were made through
organizations such as the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (PJCA), Palestine Land Development Company and the Jewish National Fund.
Jewish rabbis purchasing land from an Arab landowner, 1920s.
The Ottoman Land Code
of 1858 "brought about the appropriation by the influential and rich
families of Beirut, Damascus, and to a lesser extent Jerusalem and Jaffa
and other sub-district capitals, of vast tracts of land in Syria and
Palestine and their registration in the name of these families in the
land registers".
According to Palestinian-American anthropologist Nasser Abufarha,
"In 1858 the Ottoman Authority introduced the law of tabu to fix rights
of ownership of the land. Land owners were instructed to have their
property inscribed in the land register. The tabu was resisted by the
fellahin. They saw a threat to their community in registering their land
for two main reasons: 1) the cultivated fields were classified as ardh
ameriyeh (the land of the Emarit) and were taxed. Owners of registered
fertile land were forced to pay tax on it; 2) data from the land
register were used by the Turkish Army for the purpose of the draft.
Owners of registered lands were often drafted to fight with the Turkish
Army in Russia."
In 1918, after the British conquest of Palestine, the military
administration closed the Land Register and prohibited all sale of land.
The Register was reopened in 1920, but to prevent speculation and
ensure a livelihood for the fellahin, an edict was issued forbidding the
sale of more than 300 dunams of land or the sale of land valued at more than 3000 Palestine pounds without the approval of the High Commissioner.
From the 1880s to the 1930s, most Jewish land purchases were made in the coastal plain, the Jezreel Valley, the Jordan Valley and to a lesser extent the Galilee. This was due to a preference for land that was cheap and without tenants.
There were two main reasons why these areas were sparsely populated.
The first reason being when the Ottoman power in the rural areas began
to diminish in the seventeenth century, many people moved to more
centralized areas to secure protection against the Bedouin tribes.
The second reason for the sparsely populated areas of the coastal
plains was the soil type. The soil, covered in a layer of sand, made it
impossible to grow the staple crop of Palestine, corn. As a result, this area remained uncultivated and underpopulated.
"The sparse Arab population in the areas where the Jews usually bought
their land enabled the Jews to carry out their purchase without
engendering a massive displacement and eviction of Arab tenants".
In the 1930s, most of the land was bought from landowners. Of the
land that the Jews bought, 52.6% were bought from non-Palestinian
landowners, 24.6% from Palestinian landowners, 13.4% from government,
churches, and foreign companies, and only 9.4% from fellaheen (farmers).
On 31 December 1944, out of 1,732.63 dunums of land owned in
Palestine by large Jewish Corporations and private owners, about 44% was
in possession of Jewish National Fund.
The table below shows the land ownership of Palestine by large Jewish Corporations (in square kilometres) on 31 December 1945.
Land ownership of Palestine by large Jewish Corporations (in square kilometres) on 31 December 1945
By the end of the British Mandate period in 1948, Jewish farmers
had cultivated 425,450 dunams of land, while arab palestinian farmers
had 5,484,700 dunams of land under cultivation.
Anti-Zionist demonstration at Damascus Gate, 8 March 1920
Peel Commission
In 1936 the British government appointed the Peel Commission to investigate the reasons for the civil unrest in Palestine. Lord Peel's findings on land purchase were as follows:
A summary of land legislation
enacted during the Civil Administration shows the efforts made to
fulfill the Mandatory obligation in this matter. The Commission point to
serious difficulties in connection with the legislation proposed by the
Palestine Government for the protection of small owners. The Palestine
Order in Council and, if necessary, the Mandate should be amended to
permit of legislation empowering the High Commissioner to prohibit the
transfer of land in any stated area to Jews, so that the obligation to
safeguard the right and position of the Arabs may be carried out. Until
survey and settlement are complete, the Commission would welcome the
prohibition of the sale of isolated and comparatively small plots of
land to Jews.
Up till now the Arab cultivator has benefited on the whole both
from the work of the British Administration and the presence of Jews in
the country, but the greatest care must now be exercised to see that in
the event of further sales of land by Arabs to Jews the rights of any
Arab tenants or cultivators are preserved. Thus, alienation of land
should only be allowed where it is possible to replace extensive by
intensive cultivation. In the hill districts there can be no expectation
of finding accommodation for any large increase in the rural
population. At present, and for many years to come, the Mandatory Power
should not attempt to facilitate the close settlement of the Jews in the
hill districts generally.
The shortage of land is due less to purchase by Jews than to the
increase in the Arab population. The Arab claims that the Jews have
obtained too large a proportion of good land cannot be maintained. Much
of the land now carrying orange groves was sand dunes or swamps and
uncultivated when it was bought.
Legislation vesting surface water in the High Commissioner is essential.
An increase in staff and equipment for exploratory investigations with a
view to increasing irrigation is recommended.
— Report of the Palestine Royal Commission, July 1937
Economic impact
The
fellahin who sold land in an attempt to turn "vegetable tracts into
citrus groves became dependent on world markets and on the availability
of maritime transportation. A decrease in the world market demand for
citrus or a lack of means of transportation severely jeopardized the
economic situation of these people".
Influence on population
Director of Development Lewis French established a register of landless Arabs in 1931. Out of 3,271 applicants, only 664 were admitted and the remainder rejected.
Porath suggests that the number of displaced Arabs may have been
considerably larger, since French's definition of "landless Arab"
excluded those who had sold their own land, those who owned land
elsewhere, those who had since obtained tenancy of other land even if
they were unable to cultivate it due to poverty or debt, and displaced
persons who were not cultivators but had occupations such as ploughman
or laborer.
Third culture kids (TCK) or third culture individuals (TCI) are people who were raised in a culture
other than their parents' or the culture of their country of
nationality, and also live in a different environment during a
significant part of their child development years.
They typically are exposed to a greater volume and variety of cultural
influences than those who grow up in one particular cultural setting. The term applies to both adults and children, as the term kid refers to the individual's formative or developmental years. However, for clarification, sometimes the term adult third culture kid (ATCK) is used.
TCKs move between cultures before they have had the opportunity to fully develop their personal and cultural identity.
The first culture of such individuals refers to the culture of the
country from which the parents originated, the second culture refers to
the culture in which the family currently resides, and the third culture
refers to the distinct cultural ties among all third culture
individuals that share no connection to the first two cultures.
In the early 21st century, the number of bilingual children in the world was about the same as the number of monolingual children. TCKs are often exposed to a second (or third, fourth, etc.) language while living in their host culture,
being physically exposed to the environment where the native language
is used in practical aspects of life. "TCKs learn some languages in
schools abroad and some in their homes or in the marketplaces of a
foreign land. ... Some pick up languages from the nannies in the home or
from playmates in the neighborhood". This language immersion is why TCKs are often bilingual, and sometimes even multilingual.
Origins
A banner from the National Multicultural Festival in Canberra, Australia
The term third culture kid was first coined by researchers John and Ruth Useem in the 1950s, who used it to describe the children of American citizens working and living abroad. Ruth Useem first used the term after her second year-long visit to India with her fellow sociologist/anthropologist husband and three children.
Useem et al. (1963) depicted individuals who have undergone such
an experience as having distinct standards of interpersonal behavior,
work-related norms, codes of lifestyle and perspectives,
and communication. This creates a new cultural group that does not fall
into their home or host culture, but rather share a culture with all
other TCKs. In 1993 she wrote:
In summarizing that which we had
observed in our cross-cultural encounters, we began to use the term
"third culture" as a generic term to cover the styles of life created,
shared, and learned by persons who are in the process of relating their
societies, or sections thereof, to each other. The term "Third Culture
Kids" or TCKs was coined to refer to the children who accompany their
parents into another society.
In 1984, author and researcher Norma McCaig used the term global nomad, in order to take into account that the child's situation was as a result of a parent or parents' career or life choice(s).
Kay Branaman Eakin, the former Education Counselor for the United States Department of State,
worked with American families returning to the United States after
having lived abroad. She described a TCK as "someone who, as a child,
has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other
than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and
their own birth culture, into a third culture."
David C. Pollock and Ruth Van Reken pioneered the TCK profile
with the publishing of their book, Growing Up Among Worlds (first
edition 1999),
which brought to light the emotional and psychological realities that
come with the TCK journey, often resulting in feelings of rootlessness
and grief but also an increased confidence and ability to interact with
many cultures. Their definition of what it means to be a TCK is widely
referenced: "[A] person who has spent a significant part of his or her
developmental years outside the parents' culture. The TCK builds
relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in
any. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into the TCK's
life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of
the same background." Through interviews and personal writings, this
seminal work explored the challenges and benefits that TCKs encounter.
Later editions widened the net to discuss the experiences of CCKs
(cross-cultural kids) who may be immigrants, international adoptees or
the children of biracial or bicultural parents.
General characteristics
Third culture individuals are particularly adept at building relationships with other cultures while not possessing a cultural identity of their own. They can also be referred to as cultural hybrids, cultural chameleons, and global nomads.
It has been discussed in the past that the characteristics that have
been put forth by prominent researchers in the TCK field have only been
discussed when referring to American children who have lived abroad.
However, there has been further research done on TCKs that shows that
the same characteristics described by Pollock and Useem in the most
prominent TCK literature also apply to individuals from other nations
who have also lived abroad for extended periods of time during their
developmental years.
There are benefits and challenges to being a TCK according to various researchers on the subject. The term TCKs may be applied to all social classes and includes immigrant and refugee students (Dewaele 8c van Oudenhoven, 2009).
Benefits
Expanded worldview:
TCKs have an understanding that there is more than one way to look at
situations that they are exposed to or experience. This can also be a
challenge however, when TCKs return to a culture that is homogeneous in their belief system, as an expanded worldview is perceived as offensive or useless.
Third-dimensional view of the world: With an increased number of hands-on experiences in multiple cultures, there is a difference in the way that the world is perceived. For example, there has been an increase in cross-cultural authors, such as Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, who have received awards for their works that are written from a multicultural
perspective. These authors are able to provide vivid descriptions about
the cultures they have directly experienced and thus their work appears
to be "three-dimensional."
Interpersonal sensitivity: Increased exposure to a variety of
perceptions and lifestyles allows TCKs to monitor their emotions, and
register societal norms and cues more adeptly so as to produce higher sensitivity to other cultures and ways of life.
Cross-cultural competence or cultural intelligence: the capacity to function effectively across national, ethnic, and organizational cultures.
TCK have been found to have higher levels of general adjustment as opposed to mono-cultural children. Cultural adaptability is also a benefit, although may also come as a challenge which results from lack of cultural balance.
The major benefit is related to language exposure, according to Tracy Tokuhama-Espinosa.
Challenges
Confused loyalties: Third culture kids can experience a lot of confusion with politics and values. This is especially the case when moving from collectivist to individualist cultures, or vice versa, as the values within each culture are different from the other. This issue is also related with the identity crisis,
on a cultural level, not being able to feel a sense of oneness with any
one nationality or culture. Oftentimes, TCKs cannot answer the
question: "Where is home?"
Painful awareness of reality: difficulty adjusting to cultures where the only culture that is discussed or focused on is itself.
Ignorance of home culture: TCKs are often lacking in knowledge about
their home nation, culture, town, and/or family. With current
technology leading to the globalization of information, this is becoming
increasingly less of a challenge provided the TCKs use modern
technology in their host cultures to connect to their home culture.
Understanding a culture's sense of humor, however, is a commonly cited
difficulty with the transition back to a home culture. There are also
general societal norms and practices that will not be known when a TCK
is first re-introduced to his/her home culture but those are eventually
learned.
Difficulties with adjusting to adult life: the mixture of influences
from the various cultures that the individual has lived can create
challenges in developing an identity as well as with a sense of
belonging. Feelings of rootlessness and restlessness can make the
transition to adulthood a challenging period for TCKs.
"American ATCKs reported significantly higher levels of prejudice
than non-American ATCKs on the Cognitive subscale of the QDI and the
Social Dominance Orientation scale (SDO)."
There is a need for special attention for young TCKs in educational
settings to make sure they are supported when and if entering a new
school. This would allow for an optimal learning experience for the
child.
"Walters and Auton-Cuff (2009) found that female TCKs hesitate to
develop relationships and have less emotional affect as compared to
non-TCKs. Furthermore, female TCKs' identity development was delayed
because of their focus on adjusting rather than creating a sense of
belonging (Walters & Auton-Cuff, 2009)."
Psychological effect
Identity
One of the challenges of being a third culture individual is developing a sense of belonging, commitment, and attachment to a culture. These factors play a strong role in one's self-esteem and identity, and are especially apparent as present or not present among TCKs.
There are psychological benefits to being a bi-culturally competent
individual, meaning that adjustment to the host culture and repatriation
do not pose a difficulty for the individual. Individuals who do not
experience this same smooth transition into the new culture are referred
to as "culturally rootless" and "cultural homelessness". Culturally
homeless (CH) individuals often experience confusion over their identity
and especially because the TCK is frequently abroad during the
adolescent development years when identity is most solidified
psychologically.
When individuals who have spent a significant number of their
developmental years in a host culture and have not been able to adapt,
develop an identity, and do not feel as though they belong, they are
considered "culturally homeless". Cultural homelessness has been found
to have both advantages and disadvantages, at times to being associated
with low self-esteem, perceiving less control over one's own life, and
an unsatisfactory level of experience with belonging and attachment.
Research
Though research initially largely focused on children in missionary families or children of diplomats,
it has since expanded to other populations, including non-U.S.
citizens. The researchers who pioneered the TCK research, such as Ruth
Useem, were not expecting to find as many participants as they did.
Useem and Cottrell, for example, were seeking at least 100 participants
to respond to a survey that they believed to be "unconsciously long" but
instead had 680 participants (ranging in age from 25 to 84 years)
respond to the questionnaire.
Instances like this one indicate to researchers the potential in
exploring a subject matter that is still open to much research.
Increased tolerance
From the research that has been conducted on TCKs, it has been found that subjects are generally more tolerant
of different cultures and of people of different backgrounds than
subjects from the same home country who are not TCKs. In addition, TCKs
generally feel that they are better able to adapt to new cultures and
understand how to behave appropriately in these new environments. Researcher and teacher Wenda Sheard surveyed some of her multi-cultural students, most of whom were fluent
in two or more languages, and found that many felt that they had an
increased tolerance of other cultures. However, as one student
explained, part of this tolerance was out of necessity for maintaining a
healthy social life in one's new environment and culture.
In a study by Dewaele and van Oudenhoven (2009), it was found
that TCKs scored higher on the open-mindedness scale on the
Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). According to the study,
"this dimension [of the test] evaluates for open and unprejudiced
attitudes toward out-group members, as well as diverse cultural norms
and values."
Intellectual effect
Though
the intellectual effect of being a TCK has not yet been widely
explored, there has been some research in the area. One particular study
by Lee and Bain (2007) that was found to have significant findings was
conducted on young native Koreans
who had recently moved to the United States and were attending school
in America. The researchers were looking to see how these students would
respond to explicit instruction aimed to work with their originality and fluency and that is specific to TCKs. This was measured through the level of creativity
demonstrated in assigned tasks given to the students. TCKs were found
to be able to demonstrate significantly higher levels of creativity and
originality for problem solving
than TCKs not given this same explicit instruction. This study has
implications for the ways that TCKs can be instructed differently from
the traditional curriculum to enhance their creativity and problem solving abilities because of their third culture experience.
Intellectual effect is also possible through differences in choosing to continue studies in higher education after high school. In 2001, it was found by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
that 61.7 percent of 2001 high school graduates were enrolled in
college. That same year, it was found that 95 percent of the TCK
population were either enrolled or had some college education.
Twenty-nine percent of this population had received an advanced degree,
which is also higher than the percentage of the general population.
Gender differences
Much
of the literature and research surrounding TCKs has found that these
individuals are more open to learning new languages, demonstrate more
flexibility when interacting with a novel culture than their monoculture
peers, and a greater interest in continuing a global nomad lifestyle,
which includes an interest in international careers. It has been found that women are more inclined to seek out interpersonal relationships while men are more task-oriented in their relationships and choices. Such findings were used in the hypothesis of a study conducted by Gerner & Perry (2000) that predicted that gender differences would also be found in the cultural acceptance and experiences of TCKs.
Both non-U.S. citizen females and U.S. citizen females were found
to have more positive ratings of cultural acceptance, acquisition or
exposure to a new language, travel, and interest in going into an
international career in the future and were less prone to stereotypes.
Education and counseling
With
the growing number of international business, military placements, and
immigration, there has been a growing number of TCKs. Third culture kids
are being educated in a culture that is not their own. Schools and
teachers need to be aware of the culture differences these students
face. Studies have found that educators and counselors should be
culturally competent and possess the knowledge to properly educate these
types of students. This would create an effective and optimal
environment for their learning and adjusting abilities. Research has
indicated that TCKs need special attention during their transition
phase. The stress and grief students feel during transitional phases can
distort their psycho-social development, which can affect their grades
and school work. Therefore, TCKs need a comfortable and inviting school
setting to offset the effect of their transition. The best way for
counselors to work with TCKs is to have sound knowledge about the
students and their unique characteristics.
Emotions
Empirical
research was done by Katholiki Georgiades, Michael H. Boyle, and Kelly
A. Fife on emotional and behavior problems among adolescent students,
specifically immigrant students. They examined the relationship between
immigrants and racial/ethnic congruence in school. They hypothesized
that school belonging
is the connection between congruency and emotional problems. Although
their study was unable to find enough evidence to support their
hypothesis, they agree that school belonging influences
emotional-behavioral problems.
According to other studies, TCKs are proven to have less emotional
stability than those who grew up in more culturally and socially stable
environments.
Careers that lead to third culture kids
Military
TCKs
who have parents or guardians affiliated with the military have varying
levels of exposure to local culture. This is due to the possibility of
living on-base or off-base. TCKs who live off-base or who are not
closely affiliated with the military (such as contractors) will have
higher exposure and cultural shaping, while those who spend the majority
of their time on the base will have lower exposure and minimal cultural
shaping.
Military children who are immersed in local culture from birth tend to
show an extremely high level of cultural shaping, and upon relocation
they are likely to experience culture shock
and cling to said culture for years, if not for life. Relocation for
these particular TCKs has shown to be particularly marring for them
emotionally.
See also Military brat (U.S. subculture).
Non-military government
Some of these TCKs may grow up moving from country to country in the diplomatic corps (see Foreign Service brat) while others may live their lives near military bases.
Religious
Missionary kids
(MKs) typically spend the most time overseas, of any TCKs, in one
country. 85% of MKs spend more than 10 years in foreign countries and
72% lived in only one foreign country. Of all TCKs, MKs generally have
the most interaction with the local populace and the least interaction
with people from their passport country. They are also the most likely
of the TCKs to integrate themselves into the local culture. 83% of missionary kids have at least one parent with an advanced degree.
Missionary kids struggle to adjust to the parents' culture; the majority
of MKs identify mostly with the country in which their parents served.
Business
Another
career that can lead to TCKs is a career in business. Sixty-three
percent of business TCKs have lived in foreign countries at least 10
years but are more likely than children in missionary families to live
in multiple countries. Business TCKs have fairly high interaction with
both their host nationals and people from their host country.
Other
Not all TCK
families have one of the four careers listed above. Other careers
include working for an intergovernmental agency (for example, the Nuclear Energy Agency, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the International Agency of the Francophonie),
an international public or non-governmental organization (for example,
an international school or serving as international staff of the United
Nations or one of their agencies), and a local organization such as a hospital. Working in media or athletic industries (for example, Wally Szczerbiak) can also mean being moved abroad. Like most of the other careers that send employees abroad, involvement with the host culture can vary greatly.
Recent research into the 'other' category has identified a
subgroup of TCKs now labelled EdKids. These are children who relocate to
various countries with their parents who are educators in international
schools. This creates a unique paradigm of a nuclear family whose
family-work-school-social experiences are intertwined.
Career decisions
Effect on the workforce
Third culture individuals, with their international experience, generally value the international aspect of their lives. In a survey
given to TCKs in 2001, there was a strong interest among TCK
participants to continue to travel as they move into adulthood and their
future careers, and many continued to maintain their internationally
acquired languages. It was also found in these surveys that
approximately half of the participants continue to travel at least once a
year and that just a little under 15 percent travel for business.
TCKs have also been found to report selecting to study majors while in
college that could have the options of having international careers.
Some of these fields of study include business, nursing, and teaching English as a foreign language.
Below are tables showing some of the fields that TCK go into.
Most international TCKs are expected to speak English and some
countries require their expatriate families to be proficient with the
English language. This is largely because most international schools use the English language as the norm.
Families tend to seek out schools whose principal languages they
share, and ideally one which mirrors their own educational system. Many
countries have American schools, French schools, British schools, German
Schools and 'International Schools' which often follow one of the three
International Baccalaureate programs. These will be populated by expatriates'
children and some children of the local upper middle class. They do
this in an effort to maintain linguistic stability and to ensure that
their children do not fall behind due to linguistic problems. Where
their own language is not available, families will often choose
English-speaking schools for their children. They do this because of the
linguistic and cultural opportunities being immersed in English might
provide their children when they are adults, and because their children
are more likely to have prior exposure to English than to other
international languages. This poses the potential for non-English
speaking TCKs to have a significantly different experience from TCKs for
whom English is a native language.
Research on TCKs from Japan, Denmark, Italy, Germany, the United States
and Africa has shown that TCKs from different countries share more in
common with other TCKs than they do with their own peer group from their
passport country.
A few sociologists studying TCKs, however, argue that the
commonality found in international TCKs is not the result of true
commonality, but rather the researcher's bias projecting expectations
upon the studied subculture. They believe that some of the superficial
attributes may mirror each other, but that TCKs from different countries
are really different from one another. The exteriors may be the same, but that the understanding of the world around them differs.
Kikokushijo
In Japan, the use of the term third culture kids
to refer to children returned from living overseas is not universally
accepted; they are typically referred to both in Japanese and in English
as kikokushijo, literally 'returnee children', a term which has different implications. Public awareness of kikokushijo
is much more widespread in Japan than awareness of TCKs in the United
States, and government reports as early as 1966 recognised the need for
the school system to adapt to them. However, views of kikokushijo
have not always been positive; in the 1970s, especially, they were
characterised in media reports and even by their own parents as
"educational orphans" in need of "rescue" to reduce their foreignness
and successfully reintegrate them into Japanese society.
Statistics (U.S. TCKs)
Research has been done on American TCKs to identify various characteristics:
Cognitive and emotional development
Teenage TCKs are more mature than non-TCKs, but in their twenties take longer than their peers to focus their aims.
Depression is comparatively prevalent among TCKs.
TCKs' sense of identity and well-being is directly and negatively affected by repatriation.
The severity of the effect from repatriation may also depend on the
degree of cultural and linguistic differences between the TCK's place of
recent residence and place of repatriation
TCKs are highly linguistically adept (not as true for military TCKs).
A study whose subjects were all "career military brats"—those
who had a parent in the military from birth through high school—shows
that brats are linguistically adept.
Like all children, TCKs may experience stress and even grief from the relocation experience.
Education and career
In the US, TCKs are four times as likely as non-TCKs to earn a bachelor's degree (81% vs 21%)
44 percent earned undergraduate degree after the age of 22.
Education, medicine, business management, self-employment, and
highly skilled positions are the most common professions for TCKs.
A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, but they are corporations owned by a government
or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in some
cases minimal) extent provided for in the creating legislation.
Bodies described in the English language as "statutory
corporations" exist in the following countries in accordance with the
associated descriptions (where provided).
Australia
In Australia, statutory corporations are a type of statutory authority created by Acts of state or federal parliaments.
A statutory corporation is defined in the federal Department of Finance's
glossary as a "statutory body that is a body corporate, including an
entity created under section 87 of the PGPA Act" (i.e. a statutory
authority may also be a statutory corporation). An earlier definition describes a statutory corporation as "a statutory authority that is a body corporate", and the New South Wales Government's Land Registry Services defines a state-owned corporation as "a statutory authority that has corporate status".
Current statutory corporations include Australia Post, Airservices Australia, the Australian Rail Track Corporation and the Australian Egg Corporation.
The purpose of their separation from normal government operations is to
ensure profitability, and in theory, independence of decision making
from the state or national government (to ensure that decisions are made
on a commercial basis with less or no political interference.) As
statutory corporations, their regulatory and business conditions may be
significantly different from private-sector companies.
A significant number of the statutory corporations are private
commercial operations, a number of which have been privatised, in part
or in whole, since the 1980s: these have included the national airline Qantas, Telstra (also previously known as Telecom Australia) and the Commonwealth Bank.
Germany
A statutory corporation in Germany is called a Körperschaft des öffentlichen Rechts (KdöR). An example of a statutory corporation is a Kassenärztliche Vereinigung,
a body involved in the provision of out-patient medical services in a
German state. Other examples include public broadcasters, Jewish
communities and Christian churches established in Germany and some
public transport providers (depending on jurisdiction).
Statutory corporations are government establishments
brought into existence by a Special Act of the Parliament. The Act
defines its powers and functions, rules and regulations governing its
employees and its relationship with government departments.
This is a body corporate created by the legislature with defined
powers and functions and is financially independent with a clear control
over a specified area or a particular type of commercial activity. It
is a corporate person
and has the capacity of acting in its own name. Statutory corporations
therefore have the power of the government and the considerable amount
of operating flexibility of private enterprises.
A few are:
Generally financed by the central or state government.
May borrow funds from the public and government organisation through statutory sources.
They have separate legal entity.
They have to frame their own policies and procedures within the scope of state legislature.
Provide better services to public and make adequate profit.
They are autonomous in their functioning, thus, they enjoy operational flexibility.
They can recruit and appoint their employees with their service condition, since they are a corporate body.
They have to follow the special statute strictly.
There is less government interference in matters of the corporation.
The members of the corporation have limited liability.
a public corporation is public body incorporated under a separate statue
Which define its objectives, power and duties. It is created by a special law
Of parliament. It may be established by the central government are also known as National corporations.
In the Republic of Ireland, a statutory corporation is a body corporate, which is created under a particular Act of the Oireachtas. Some statutory corporations are expected to operate as if they were a commercial company (with or without a subsidy from the Exchequer, depending on whether or not it would make a profit without one). Such bodies do not have shareholders,
but are typically boards appointed by a sponsor minister. The
provisions of the Companies' Acts do not typically directly apply to
such bodies, although their founding legislation may specify similar
requirements.
In the Netherlands, the term "public body" is the general denomination for administrative divisions within the Dutch state or certain other types of governmental organisations.
At the state level, municipal corporations and counties are often created by legislative acts. Some organizations such as a transit district or special purpose corporations such as a university,
are also created by statute. In some states, a city or county can be
created by petition of a certain number or percentage of voters or
landholders of the affected area, which then causes a municipal
corporation to be chartered as a result of compliance with the
appropriate law. Corporations to be established for most other purposes
are usually just incorporated as any other non-profit corporation, by filing the paperwork with the appropriate agency as part of the formation of the entity.
At the Federal level, a small number of corporations are created by Congress. Prior to the District of Columbia
being granted the ability to issue corporate charters in the late 19th
century, corporations operating in the District required a congressional charter.
With limited exceptions, most corporations created by Congress are not
federally chartered, but are simply created as District of Columbia
corporations as a result of the enabling law.
There are a number of federally chartered corporations that still exist. Some relatively famous ones include the Boy Scouts of America, each of the Federal Reserve Banks, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The basic advantage for being federally chartered is that no other
corporation anywhere in the United States is allowed to have the same
name.
A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to statewide government monopolies.
Public utilities are meant to supply goods and services that are considered essential; water, gas, electricity, telephone, waste disposal, and other communication systems represent much of the public utility market. The transmission lines used in the transportation of electricity, or natural gas pipelines, have natural monopoly
characteristics. A monopoly can occur when it finds the best way to
minimize its costs through economies of scale to the point where other
companies cannot compete with it.
For example, if many companies are already offering electricity, the
additional installation of a power plant will only disadvantage the
consumer as prices could be increased. If the infrastructure already
exists in a given area, minimal benefit is gained through competing. In
other words, these industries are characterized by economies of scale in production.
Though it can be mentioned that these natural monopolies are handled or
watched by a public utilities commission, or an institution that
represents the government.
There are many different types of public utilities. Some, especially large companies,
offer multiple products, such as electricity and natural gas. Other
companies specialize in one specific product, such as water. Modern
public utilities may also be partially (or completely) sourced from
clean and renewable energy in order to produce sustainable electricity. Of these, wind turbines and solar panels are those used most frequently.
Whether broadband internet access should be a public utility is a
question that was being discussed with the rise of internet usage. This
is a question that was being asked due to the telephone service being
considered a public utility. Since arguably broadband internet access
has taken over telephone service, perhaps it should be a public utility.
The Federal Communications Commission in the United States in 2015 made
their stance on this issue clear.
Due to the telephone service having been considered a public utility,
the Federal Communications Commission made broadband internet access a
public utility in the United States.
Management
Public utilities have historically been considered to be a natural monopoly.
This school of thought holds that the most cost-efficient way of doing
business is through a single firm because these are capital-intensive
businesses with unusually large economies of scale and high fixed costs
associated with building and operating the infrastructure, e.g. power
plants, telephone lines and water treatment facilities. However, over the past several decades, traditional public utilities' monopoly position has eroded. For instance, wholesale electricity generation markets, electric transmission networks, electricity retailing and customer choice, telecommunication, some types of public transit and postal services have become competitive in some countries and the trend towards liberalization, deregulation and privatization
of public utilities is growing. However, the infrastructure used to
distribute most utility products and services has remained largely
monopolistic.
Key players in the public utility sector include:
Generators produce or collect the specific product to be used by customers: for example, electricity or water.
Network operators (grid operators, regional network
operators, and distribution network operators) sell access to their
networks to retail service providers, who deliver the product to the end
user.
Traders and marketers buy and sell the actual product and
create further complex structured products, combined services and
derivatives products. Depending on the product structure, these
companies may provide utilities and businesses with a reliable supply of
a product like electricity at a stable, predictable price, or a shorter
term supply at a more volatile price.
Service providers and retailers are the last segment in the supply chain, selling directly to the final consumer. In some markets, final consumers can choose their own retail service provider.
Public utilities must pursue the following objective given the social responsibility their services attribute to them:
Ensuring services are of the highest quality and responsive to the needs and wishes of patients;
Ensuring that health services are effectively targeted so as to improve the health of local populations;
Improving the efficiency of the services so the volume of well-targeted effective services is the widest, given the available resources.
The management of public utilities continues to be important for local and general governments.
By creating, expanding, and improving upon public utilities, a
governmental body may attempt to improve its image or attract
investment. Traditionally, public services have been provided by public
legal entities, which operate much like corporations, but differ in that
profit is not necessary for a functional business. A significant factor
in government ownership has been to reduce the risk that an activity, if left to private initiative, may be considered not sufficiently profitable
and neglected. Many utilities are essential for human life, national
defense, or commerce, and the risk of public harm with mismanagement is
considerably greater than with other goods. The principle of universality of utilities maintains that these services are best owned by, and operating for, the public. The government and the society
itself would like to see these services being economically accessible
to all or most of the population. Furthermore, other economic reasons
based the idea: public services need huge investments in infrastructures, crucial for competitiveness but with a slow return of capital; last, technical difficulties can occur in the management of plurality of networks, example in the city subsoil.
Public pressure for renewable energy
as a replacement for legacy fossil fuel power has steadily increased
since the 1980s. As the technology needed to source the necessary amount
of energy from renewable sources is still under study, public energy policy has been focused on short term alternatives such as natural gas (which still produces substantial carbon dioxide) or Nuclear power. In 2021 a power and utilities industry outlook report by Deloitte identified a number of trends for the utilities industry:
Enhanced competition, sparked by regulations such as FERC's Order 2222 that open up the market to smaller, innovative firms using renewable energy sources, like wind or solar power
Expansions in infrastructure, to manage new renewable energy sources
Greater electrification of transportation, and longer-range batteries for cars and trucks
Oil companies and other traditional-energy players entering the renewable-energy field
A greater emphasis on disaster readiness
Finance
Issues faced by public utilities include:
Service area: regulators need to balance the economic needs of the companies and the social equity needed to guarantee to everyone the access to primary services.
Autonomy: Economic efficiency requires that markets be left to work by themselves with little intervention. Such instances are often not equitable for some consumers that might be priced out of the market.
Pricing: Equity requires that all citizens get the service at a fair price.
Alternative pricing methods include:
Average production costs: the utility calculates the break-even point and then set the prices equal to average costs. The equity issue is basically overcome since most of the market is being served. As a defect regulated firms do not have incentives to minimize costs.
Rate of return regulation: regulators let the firms set and charge any price, as long as the rate of return on invested capital
does not exceed a certain rate. This method is flexible and allows for
pricing freedom, forcing regulators to monitor prices. The drawback is
that this method could lead to overcapitalization.
For example, if the rate of return is set at five percent, then the
firm can charge a higher price simply by investing more in capital than
what it is actually needed (i.e., 5% of $10 million is greater than 5%
of $6 million).
Price cap regulation: regulators directly set a limit on the
maximum price. This method can result in a loss of service area. One
benefit of this method is that it gives firms an incentive to seek
cost-reducing technologies as a strategy to increase utility Profits.
Utility stocks are considered stable investments because they typically provide regular dividends to shareholders and have low volatility. Even in periods of economic downturns characterized by low interest rates, such stocks are attractive because dividend yields are usually greater than those of other stocks, so the utility sector is often part of a long-term buy-and-hold strategy.
Utilities require expensive critical infrastructure which needs regular maintenance and replacement. Consequently, the industry is capital intensive, requiring regular access to the capital markets for external financing. A utility's capital structure may have a significant debt component, which exposes the company to interest rate risk. Should rates rise, the company must offer higher yields to attract bondinvestors,
driving up the utility's interest expenses. If the company's debt load
and interest expense becomes too large, its credit rating will
deteriorate, further increasing the cost of capital and potentially
limiting access to the capital markets.
The term can refer to the set of services provided by various
organizations that are used in everyday life by the public, such as: electricity generation, electricity retailing, electricity supplies, natural gas supplies, water supplies, sewage works, sewage systems and broadbandinternet services. They are regulated by Ofgem, Ofwat and Ofcom.
Disabled community transport services may occasionally be included
within the definition. They were mostly privatised in the UK during the
1980s.
In the U.S., public utilities provide services at the consumer
level, be it residential, commercial, or industrial consumer. Utilities,
merchant power producers and very large consumers buy and sell bulk
electricity at the wholesale level through a network of regional transmission organizations (RTO) and independent system operators (ISO) within one of three grids, the Eastern Interconnection, the Texas Interconnection, which is a single ISO, and the Western Interconnection.
U.S. utilities historically operated with a high degree of
financial leverage and low interest coverage ratios compared to
industrial companies. Investors accepted these credit characteristics
because of the regulation of the industry and the belief that there was
minimal bankruptcy risk because of the essential services they provide.
In recent decades several high-profile utility company bankruptcies have
challenged this perception.
Monopoly vs. competition
Public utilities were historically regarded as natural monopolies
because the infrastructure required to produce and deliver a product
such as electricity or water is very expensive to build and maintain.
Once assets such as power plants or transmission lines are in place, the
cost of adding another customer is small, and duplication of facilities
would be wasteful. As a result, utilities were either government monopolies, or if investor-owned, regulated by a public utilities commission.
In the electric utility industry, the monopoly approach began to change in the 1990s. In 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued its Order No. 888,
which mandated that electric utilities open access to their
transmission systems to enhance competition and "functionally unbundle"
their transmission service from their other operations. The order also
promoted the role of an independent system operator to manage power flow
on the electric grid. Later, FERC Order No. 889 established an electronic information system
called OASIS (open access same-time information system) which would give
new users of transmission lines access to the same information
available to the owner of the network.
The result of these and other regulatory rulings was the eventual
restructuring of the traditional monopoly-regulated regime to one in
which all bulk power sellers could compete. A further step in industry
restructuring, "customer choice", followed in some 19 states, giving
retail electric customers the option to be served by non-utility retail
power marketers.
Ownership structure
Public utilities can be privately owned or publicly owned. Publicly owned utilities include cooperative and municipal utilities. Municipal utilities may actually include territories outside of city limits or may not even serve the entire city. Cooperative utilities are owned by the customers they serve. They are usually found in rural areas. Publicly owned utilities are non-profit. Private utilities, also called investor-owned utilities, are owned by investors, and operate for profit, often referred to as a rate of return.
Regulation
A public utilities commission is a governmental agency in a particular jurisdiction that regulates the commercial activities related to associated electric, natural gas, telecommunications, water, railroad, rail transit, and/or passenger transportation companies. For example, the California Public Utilities Commission (or CPUC) and the Public Utility Commission of Texas
regulate the utility companies in California and Texas, respectively,
on behalf of their citizens and ratepayers (customers). These public
utility commissions (PUCs) are typically composed of commissioners, who
are appointed by their respective governors, and dedicated staff that
implement and enforce rules and regulations, approve or deny rate
increases, and monitor/report on relevant activities.
Ratemaking practice in the U.S. holds that rates paid by a
utility's customers should be set at a level which assures that the
utility can provide reliable service at reasonable cost.
Over the years, various changes have dramatically re-shaped the
mission and focus of many public utility commissions. Their focus has
typically shifted from the up-front regulation of rates and services to
the oversight of competitive marketplaces and enforcement of regulatory
compliance.
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