Eve Warburton - Böcker

In Resource Nationalism in Indonesia, Eve Warburton traces nationalist policy trajectories in Indonesia back to the preferences of big local business interests. Commodity booms often prompt more nationalist policy styles in resource-rich countries. Usually, this nationalist push weakens once a boom is over. But in Indonesia, a major global exporter of coal, palm oil, nickel, and other minerals, the intensity of nationalist policy interventions increased after the early twenty-first-century commodity boom came to an end. Equally puzzling, the state applied nationalist policies unevenly across the land and resource sectors. Resource Nationalism in Indonesia explains these trends by examining the economic and political benefits that accrue to domestic business actors when commodity prices soar. Warburton shows how the centrality of patronage to Indonesia's democratic political economy, and the growing importance of mining and palm oil as drivers of export earnings, enhanced both the instrumental and structural power of major domestic companies, giving them new influence over the direction of nationalist change.

In Resource Nationalism in Indonesia, Eve Warburton traces nationalist policy trajectories in Indonesia back to the preferences of big local business interests. Commodity booms often prompt more nationalist policy styles in resource-rich countries. Usually, this nationalist push weakens once a boom is over. But in Indonesia, a major global exporter of coal, palm oil, nickel, and other minerals, the intensity of nationalist policy interventions increased after the early twenty-first-century commodity boom came to an end. Equally puzzling, the state applied nationalist policies unevenly across the land and resource sectors. Resource Nationalism in Indonesia explains these trends by examining the economic and political benefits that accrue to domestic business actors when commodity prices soar. Warburton shows how the centrality of patronage to Indonesia's democratic political economy, and the growing importance of mining and palm oil as drivers of export earnings, enhanced both the instrumental and structural power of major domestic companies, giving them new influence over the direction of nationalist change.

Indonesia has long been hailed as a rare case of democratic transition and persistence in an era of global democratic setbacks. But as the country enters its third decade of democracy, such laudatory assessments have become increasingly untenable. The stagnation that characterized Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s second presidential term has given way to a more far-reaching pattern of democratic regression under his successor, Joko Widodo. This volume is the first comprehensive study of Indonesia’s contemporary democratic decline. Its contributors identify, explain and debate the signs of regression, including arbitrary state crackdowns on freedom of speech and organization, the rise of vigilantism, deepening political polarization, populist mobilization, the dysfunction of key democratic institutions, and the erosion of checks and balances on executive power. They ask why Indonesia, until recently considered a beacon of democratic exceptionalism, increasingly conforms to the global pattern of democracy in retreat.

Indonesia has long been hailed as a rare case of democratic transition and persistence in an era of global democratic setbacks. But as the country enters its third decade of democracy, such laudatory assessments have become increasingly untenable. The stagnation that characterized Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s second presidential term has given way to a more far-reaching pattern of democratic regression under his successor, Joko Widodo. This volume is the first comprehensive study of Indonesia’s contemporary democratic decline. Its contributors identify, explain and debate the signs of regression, including arbitrary state crackdowns on freedom of speech and organization, the rise of vigilantism, deepening political polarization, populist mobilization, the dysfunction of key democratic institutions, and the erosion of checks and balances on executive power. They ask why Indonesia, until recently considered a beacon of democratic exceptionalism, increasingly conforms to the global pattern of democracy in retreat.

The rise of Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to the presidency in 2014 marked an optimistic turn in Indonesia. At a time when politics were dominated by oligarchs, New Order–era holdovers and corrupt politicians, Jokowi’s populist style and humble origins embodied the change that many Indonesians desired. He promised the public a cleaner style of government and fast-paced development, and his progressive allies believed he would protect Indonesia’s young democratic institutions. Yet when Jokowi stepped down from office a decade later, he left behind a fragile economy and a hollow democracy.This volume examines Jokowi’s political evolution and the mark he left on Indonesia. It casts Jokowi’s decade in office as one of authoritarian revival that saw the return of statist developmentalism in the economic sphere, and the resurrection of New Order–era tactics of co-optation and repression in the political sphere. The volume brings together experts from a wide range of fields, including foreign policy, security, economics, politics, law and human rights. In different ways, all contributors view Jokowi as a disruptive president, whose ambitious developmental agenda came at a high cost for Indonesia’s democracy.