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Begin New Search Topic Democratization Political Geography Indonesia Content Type Policy Brief Publication Year within 25 Years

1. Indonesia: Averting Election Violence in Aceh

Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
In less than two months, on 9 April, Aceh will go to the polls to elect a governor and vice governor, as well as seventeen district heads and deputies. Despite rhetorical commitments on the part of all contenders to a peaceful election, the potential for isolated acts of violence between now and then is high; the potential for trouble after the results are announced may be even higher, especially if it is a close election. Getting as many trained monitors to Aceh as possible in the coming weeks is critical.
Topic:
Political Violence, Democratization, Armed Struggle, and Insurgency
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Southeast Asia

2. Indonesia's Blasphemy Law: Bleak Outlook for Minority Religions

Author:
Melissa Crouch
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
One of the major challenges for any government is how to manage religious diversity, and how to provide for religious minorities in particular. In Indonesia there are six officially recognized religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism. In addition, a wide range of other indigenous religions and beliefs exist outside of these groups. Melissa Crouch, Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School writes that "While Indonesia's transition to democracy in 1998 brought about greater freedoms for all religious groups, there has also been a dramatic increase in convictions of 'deviant' groups for blasphemy."
Topic:
Democratization, Government, Islam, and Sectarianism
Political Geography:
Indonesia

3. Executive Accountability in Southeast Asia: The Role of Legislatures in New Democracies and Under Electoral Authoritarianism

Author:
William Case
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
In an influential study, Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig argue that “overarching institutional designs” (i.e., presidential, parliamentary, and dual systems) tell us less about the prospects of a new democracy than does the particular strength of the legislature. Specifically, executive abuses are best checked where legislatures are powerful, generating horizontal accountability. Indeed, Fish and Kroenig suggest that with judiciaries and watchdog agencies weak in most new democracies, the legislature is the only institution by which accountability can be imposed. What is more, ordinary citizens are better informed by the robust party systems that strong legislatures support, fostering vertical accountability. In comparing Freedom House scores with their Parliamentary Powers Index (PPI), Fish and Kroenig show clear correlations, leading them to conclude that democracies are made strong by legislatures that are empowered.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Indonesia, Malaysia, Asia, Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia

4. India and Indonesia: Renewing Asia's Collective Destiny

Author:
Sourabh Gupta
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
Civilizational, cultural, and geographic neighbors, India and Indonesia share striking commonalities in their modern historical trajectories. In both societies, European powers, the Dutch and the British, benefited from the decline of tired Islamic land empires to graft colonial modes of exploitation that progressed fitfully from coast to hinterland to interior. Following proto-nationalist revolt s, the Indian Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 and the Java War of 1825-30, both the Dutch and the British skillfully engineered a buffer of indigenous elite collaborators. This strategy succeeded to such an extent that their faraway possessions were governed by less than two hundred and a thousand expatriate administrators, respectively.
Topic:
Democratization, Development, Post Colonialism, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Indonesia, India, and Asia

5. The Great Arab Revolution: Challenges, Dilemmas and Opportunities?

Author:
Graeme P. Herd
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Beyond noting the fluidity, ambiguity and ambivalence associated with the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, there is little consensus on causes and likely consequences. Do these geopolitical earthquakes constitute an “Arab Spring” leading to transition democratization, akin to 1989 in Central and Eastern Europe? Or should we look to 1979 in Iran, and the prospect of Sunni rather than Shia theocracy taking hold? Might the wider Muslim world – Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey – provide alternative potential governance models for the MENA region, given indigenous variants appear exhausted and no longer able to self-reproduce? What are the lessons which other MENA incumbent regimes and the international community will identify? How might those lessons be learned?
Topic:
Democratization, Regime Change, and Insurgency
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, Middle East, and Arabia

6. Differentiated Policies: Indonesia's International Leadership and Internal Challenges

Author:
Alistair D.B. Cook
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
Indonesia's position as a regional champion of democracy and human rights has become prominent in international forums since the resignation of President Suharto in 1998 and the subsequent period of internal democratic reform. Its proactive foreign policy culminated in the establishment of the Bali Democracy Forum in 2008 to promote and strengthen democracy and the rule of law in Asia through a process of learning and sharing. While Indonesia's proactive foreign policy continues, significant internal challenges remain. This policy brief offers an insight into one of Indonesia's longest running internal challenges, Papua, and suggests the use of the human security lens as an alternative to the dominant traditional security lens used by many policymakers, in an effort to promote conflict resolution and match developments at home with its proactive strategies abroad.
Topic:
Security, Democratization, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Indonesia, Asia, and Southeast Asia

7. Indonesia and the 2011 ASEAN Chairmanship: Priorities and Prospects

Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
As of 1 January 2011, Indonesia assumed the chairmanship of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). With the growing importance of Southeast Asia in the global arena, hopes are high that Indonesia will seize the opportunity to push for concrete improvements toward the establishment of the ASEAN Community in 2015, as well as to promote democratic values and respect for human rights in the region. At the start of its chairmanship, Indonesia has proposed three main agendas, namely: to ensure progress in the implementation of ASEAN Community Blueprints; to enhance ASEAN's roles in regional architecture; and to develop an ASEAN community vision in a global community of nations.
Topic:
Democratization, Human Rights, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Southeast Asia

8. Indonesia: Debate Over a New Intelligence Bill

Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
A controversial bill defining the role and functions of Indonesian intelligence agencies has top priority in the Indonesian parliament. It was originally scheduled for enactment in July 2011 but will now be delayed until September or October. It would be better to put the bill on hold even longer until there is a more comprehensive assessment of security needs and how to address them.
Topic:
Security, Democratization, Development, and Intelligence
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Southeast Asia

9. Indonesia: Deep Distrust in Aceh as Elections Approach

Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Tensions in Aceh are high as elections approach, although they have receded somewhat from a peak in mid-February. The murders of three former combatants of the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM), other shootings and numerous grenade attacks over the last two months – all with unidentified perpetrators – have set the province on edge, and there remains a risk of sporadic, low-level violence before and after general elections on 9 April. Disputes over the results, with 44 parties competing for seats in district, provincial and national legislatures using a new and complicated system of voting, are also likely. There is little danger in the short term of violence escalating out of control, let alone a return to armed conflict, but the underlying causes of the tensions are not just election-related and need to be addressed if peace is to be preserved in the long term.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Political Violence, and Democratization
Political Geography:
Indonesia, Asia, Australia/Pacific, and Southeast Asia

10. Local Election Disputes in Indonesia: The Case of North Maluku

Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
The election for governor in Indonesia's North Maluku province was one of the most bitterly contested since direct elections for local government heads were introduced in 2005. Held in November 2007, it remains in dispute more than a year later, although a winner has been named and inaugurated. At one point it seemed as if violence between the two sides could escalate into serious communal conflict, in an area where thousands had died in religious violence a decade earlier. By early 2009, however, it looked as though Indonesia's democratic institutions would be resilient enough to cope with an election gone wrong, and the dispute would be quietly resolved in the Constitutional Court. The Court's decision is expected in early February. The dispute that many thought could trigger further turmoil may prove instead to be a minor wrangle in Indonesia's largely successful effort to choose local government leaders by direct popular vote.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Civil Society, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Asia