This is an intensive study of Indonesian politics from the attainment of
full independence in December 1949 to the proclamation of martial law in
March 1957, and President Soekarnos subsequent establishment of "guided
democracy". It is intended as a contribution to the ongoing discussion of
democracy in the new states of Asia and Africa, of the ways in which Western
political institutions are transformed when employed in non-Western social
settings, and of the obstacles to be overcome if such institutions are to
operate in consonance with the authority systems of new nations and with
their...

This collection of more than one hundred excerpts from speeches, lectures, articles, and pamphlets, most of the not previously available in English, is regarded as the principal source book on Indonesian politics for the post-revolution period of 1945-1965.Chosen to define and illuminate the country's complex issues, the selections provide a balanced, comprehensive, and well-ordered survey of Indonesian political thinking from just before independence to the fall of Sukarno. After an introduction by Herbert Feith in which he discusses the Indonesian intellectual and his place in politics, the...