The weakness of local strongmen in post-New Order Indonesian politics

29/05/2008 - 15:30

29 May 2008
15.30 - 17.00 hrs

Seminar by Michael Buehler, MA (Department of Government The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) London, UK)

Two major institutional changes were adopted in Indonesia after 1998. One, most political power was shifted from the centre to the districts. Two, the newly empowered regents were to be elected directly by the people. These two reforms caused widespread concern about the rise of local strongmen. However, since the onset of direct elections of local executives, there has been little indication that such concern is warranted, given high rates of turnover and little evidence of entrenchment of "local authoritarianism" around the archipelago. The presentation will shed light on this puzzle by analyzing the regents' elections in Indonesia since 2005.

Michael Buehler specializes in the analysis of local politics under conditions of democratization and decentralization in the developing world. He has a special interest in political corruption, machine politics and local elections. In addition, his work also engages with the literature on Islamist movements, formalist Islam and Islamic law, always with a special focus on Southeast Asia. His current research and applied work in Southeast Asia focus on the comparative analysis of local politics in Indonesia where he conducted in-depth research over a period of 24 months in 2005-2007.

Venue
KITLV, Room 138
Reuvensplaats 2
2311 BE, Leiden

For information
For more information on this seminar please contact Yayah Siegers at siegers@kitlv.nl or 071-527 2295

The Leiden Southeast Asia Seminar is a cooperation of the IIAS, ISIM, VVI, KITLV and the Department of Cultural Anthropology & Development Sociology, Leiden University