This book explores the forces reconfiguring local resource governance in Indonesia since 1998, drawing together original field research undertaken in a decade of dramatic political change. Case studies from across Indonesia’s diverse cultural and ecological landscapes focus on the most significant resource sectors – agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining and tourism –providing a rare in-depth view of the dynamics shaping social and environmental outcomes in these varied contexts.

Debates surrounding the ‘tragedy of the commons’ and environmental governance have...

Competitive elections have become an institutionalized feature of contemporary Indonesia’s politics. This, together with other considerations, makes it reasonable to call Indonesia the world’s third largest democracy. Nonetheless, democratic elections in Indonesia are both more complex and interesting than is commonly understood. This book explores how local elections in Indonesia have affected the development and dynamics of Indonesia’s fledgling democracy. Based on fine-grained analyses of elections in five localities, the book shows how Indonesia’s transition to direct elections...

Timor-Leste’s long journey to nationhood spans 450 years of colonial rule by Portugal, a short-lived independence in 1975, and a 24-year occupation by Indonesia. This book examines the history of nation-building and national identity in Timor-Leste, and the evolution of a collective identity through two consecutive colonial occupations, and into the post-independence era. It charts the evolution of the idea of an East Timorese nation: its origins, its sources, and its competitors in traditional understandings of political community, and the distinct colonial visions imposed by Portugal...

Using the high-profile 2017 blasphemy trial of the former governor of Jakarta, Basuki ‘Ahok’ Tjahaja Purnama, as its sole case study, this book assesses whether Indonesia’s liberal democratic human rights legal regime can withstand the rise of growing Islamist majoritarian sentiment.

Specifically, this book analyses whether a 2010 decision of Indonesia’s Constitutional Court has rendered the liberal democratic human rights guarantees contained in Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution ineffective. Key legal documents, including the indictment issued by the North Jakarta...

Indonesia is currently affected by many serious conflicts which have arisen as a result of a variety of ethnic, religious and regional tensions.

Presenting important new thinking on violent conflict in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, this book examines a selection of conflicts in detail and discusses the nature of violence and the reasons behind violent outbreaks. Chapters include analysis of conflicts in Aceh, East Timor, Maluku, Java, West Kalimantan, West Papua and elsewhere. The contributors provide analysis of political, ethnic and nationalistic...