Deepening and decentralising the study of politics in Indonesia

Maribeth Erb & Priyambudi Sulistiyanto (eds). 2009. Deepening Democracy in Indonesia: direct elections for local leaders (Pilkada). Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asia Studies. 392 pages, ISBN: 9789812308405 (paperback)

Coen J.G. Holtzappel & Martin Ramstedt (eds). 2010. Decentralisation and Regional Autonomy in Indonesia: implementation and challenges. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Leiden: Institute for Asian Studies. 433 pages, ISBN: 9789812308207 (hardback)

Politics, off the agendas of both public life and research in Indonesia for thirty years, has returned with a vengeance in Indonesia since the end of the Suharto regime in 1998. Within Indonesia there is lively debate of politics in the media every day and this has been mirrored internationally by a growing stream of academic studies. Do we need more? Is there anything new or interesting to say? These two recent publications address themes already well-established, but also reflect substantive changes in Indonesia as well as the benefits of a longer-term view of complex processes unfolding over time.

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