Democratization in Post-Suharto Indonesia

In May 1998 the fall of Suharto marked the beginning of a difficult and multi-layered transition process. It was accompanied by intensified conflict in the political arena, a dramatic increase of ethnic and religious violence and the danger of national disintegration. Ten years after the collapse of the New Order, Indonesia has made significant progress, however the quality of democracy is still low. Theoretically innovative and empirically sound, this book is an in-depth analysis of the Indonesian reform process since 1998. Marco Bünte and Andreas Ufen bring together a selection of noted Indonesia experts to provide new insights into the restructuring of core state institutions, the empowerment of Parliament, the slow and difficult evolution of the rule of law, and the transfer of power to locally elected regional governments (decentralization). Based on the results of extensive fieldwork, Democratization in Post-Suharto Indonesia will be an important read for scholars engaged in research on Indonesia and the politics of Southeast Asia.

Marco Bünte and Andreas Ufen are both Senior Research Fellows at the Institute of Asian Studies, German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg, Germany.

1. The New Order and its Legacy: Reflections on Democratization in Indonesia Marco Bünte and Andreas Ufen Part 1: The Restructuring of Core State Institutions 2. The Indonesian Legislature and its Impact on Democratic Consolidation Patrick Ziegenhain 3. Indonesia's Struggle for Rule of Law Petra Stockmann 4. Government Policies and Civil Society Initiatives against Corruption Sofie Arjon Schütte 5. Indonesia's Protracted Decentralization: Contested Reforms and their Unintended Consequences Marco Bünte 6. Indonesia and the Pitfalls of Low-Quality Democracy: A Case Study of the Gubernatorial Elections in North Sulawesi Marcus Mietzner Part 2: The Intermediate Level: Political Parties 7. Political Parties and Democratization in Indonesia Andreas Ufen 8. Uneven Party Institutionalization, Protracted Transition and the Remarkable Resilience of Golkar Dirk Tomsa Part 3: Resistance of New Order Stalwarts 9. Capitalist Consolidation, Consolidated Capitalists: Indonesia's Conglomerates between Authoritarianism and Democracy Christian Chua 10. From Dwifungsi to NKRI: Regime Change and Political Activism of the Indonesian Military Jun Honna Part 4: Civil and 'Uncivil' Society 11. Civil Society and the Challenges of the Post-Suharto Era Mikaela Nyman 12. From 'Heroes' to 'Troublemakers'? Civil Society and Democratization in Indonesia Bob S. Hadiwinata 13. Two Sides of the same Coin? Separatism and Democratization in Post-Suharto Indonesia Felix Heiduk