Beyond Oligarchy: Wealth, Power, and Contemporary Indonesian Politics

by Michele Ford (Editor), Thomas B. Pepinsky (Editor)

Overview

Beyond Oligarchy is a collection of essays by leading scholars of contemporary Indonesian politics and society, each addressing effects of material inequality on political power and contestation in democratic Indonesia. The contributors assess how critical concepts in the study of politics—oligarchy, inequality, power, democracy, and others—can be used to characterize the Indonesian case, and in turn, how the Indonesian experience informs conceptual and analytical debates in political science and related disciplines. In bringing together experts from around the world to engage with these themes, Beyond Oligarchy reclaims a tradition of focused intellectual debate across scholarly communities in Indonesian studies.

The collapse of Indonesia's New Order has proven a critical juncture in Indonesian political studies, launching new analyses about the drivers of regime change and the character of Indonesian democracy. It has also prompted a new groundswell of theoretical reflection among Indonesianists on concepts such as representation, competition, power, and inequality. As such, the onset of Indonesia’s second democratic period represents more than just new point of departure for comparative analyses of Indonesia as a democratizing state; it has also served as a catalyst for theoretical and conceptual development.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501719158
Publisher:	Southeast Asia Program Publications
Publication date:	06/25/2014
Series:	Cornell Modern Indonesia Project
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Michele Ford is Professor of Southeast Asian Studies and Director of the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre at the University of Sydney, where she holds an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. She is the author of Workers and Intellectuals: NGOs, Trade Unions and the Indonesian Labour Movement. Thomas B. Pepinsky is Associate Professor of Government at Cornell University and Associate Director of the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. He is the author of Economic Crises and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes: Indonesia and Malaysia in Comparative Perspective.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Preface ix

Introduction: Beyond Oligarchy? Michele Ford Thomas B. Pepinsky 1

Oligarchy and Democracy in Indonesia Jeffrey A. Winters 11

The Political Economy of Oligarchy and the Reorganization of Power in Indonesia Vedi R. Hadiz Richard Robison 35

Improving the Quality of Democracy in Indonesia: Toward a Theory of Action R. William Liddle 57

Pluralism and Political Conflict in Indonesia Thomas B. Pepinsley 79

Oligarchs, Politicians, and Activists: Contesting Party Politics in Post-Suharto Indonesia Marcus Mietzner 99

Popular Agency and Interests in Indonesia's Democratic Transition and Consolidation Edward Aspinall 117

Labor and Politics under Oligarchy Teri L. Caraway Michele Ford 139

Elite Competition and Changing State-Society Relations: Shari'a Policymaking in Indonesia Michael Buehler 157

Contributors 177

What People are Saying About This

Dan Slater

At long last, leading experts on Indonesian politics are arguing with each other again. At the heart of this new debate is the importance of material inequality and extreme wealth concentration in shaping the character of Indonesian politics. Beyond Oligarchy collects a series of first-rate essays that both express the power and explore the limitations of analyses that portray the fusion of wealth and domination as the defining deficiency of Indonesian democracy. In so doing, volume coeditors Michele Ford and Thomas Pepinsky boldly break down conventional barriers to scholarly conversations about the most pressing issues and developments in Indonesian political life. Beyond Oligarchy definitively sets a new tone—and arguably sets a new standard—for the study of Indonesian politics after Suharto.

Olle Tornquist

A brilliant and very useful collection in which advocates of the major theses in Australian and American scholarship on Indonesian democratization both present and reflect on their focus on oligarchic versus liberal and plural tendencies. A must-read also in wider circles and for those who try alternative perspectives.

Editorial Reviews

"A brilliant and very useful collection in which advocates of the major theses in Australian and American scholarship on Indonesian democratization both present and reflect on their focus on oligarchic versus liberal and plural tendencies. A must-read also in wider circles and for those who try alternative perspectives."

--Olle Tornquist, University of Oslo

"At long last, leading experts on Indonesian politics are arguing with each other again. At the heart of this new debate is the importance of material inequality and extreme wealth concentration in shaping the character of Indonesian politics. Beyond Oligarchy collects a series of first-rate essays that both express the power and explore the limitations of analyses that portray the fusion of wealth and domination as the defining deficiency of Indonesian democracy. In so doing, volume coeditors Michele Ford and Thomas Pepinsky boldly break down conventional barriers to scholarly conversations about the most pressing issues and developments in Indonesian political life. Beyond Oligarchy definitively sets a new tone--and arguably sets a new standard--for the study of Indonesian politics after Suharto."

--Dan Slater, University of Chicago, author of Ordering Power: Contentious Politics and Authoritarian Leviathans in Southeast Asia

From the Publisher

"At long last, leading experts on Indonesian politics are arguing with each other again. At the heart of this new debate is the importance of material inequality and extreme wealth concentration in shaping the character of Indonesian politics. Beyond Oligarchy collects a series of first-rate essays that both express the power and explore the limitations of analyses that portray the fusion of wealth and domination as the defining deficiency of Indonesian democracy. In so doing, volume coeditors Michele Ford and Thomas Pepinsky boldly break down conventional barriers to scholarly conversations about the most pressing issues and developments in Indonesian political life. Beyond Oligarchy definitively sets a new tone—and arguably sets a new standard—for the study of Indonesian politics after Suharto."

Dan Slater

"A brilliant and very useful collection in which advocates of the major theses in Australian and American scholarship on Indonesian democratization both present and reflect on their focus on oligarchic versus liberal and plural tendencies. A must-read also in wider circles and for those who try alternative perspectives."

Olle Tornquist