Suchergebnisse

The situation in East Timor is turbulent and future growth prospects are indeterminate. This paper discusses the economic challenges facing East Timor. Most inhabitants depend on subsistence farming and there is a need to both modernize agriculture and to foster a modern sector that can generate employment for the growing population. Public expenditures play an important role in this development and East Timor is fortunate to have a large petroleum fund to utilize for economic growth and development. Unfortunately, the fund is about to dry up. There are also clear signs that a large part of investments and development efforts are misplaced. Political conflicts and weak institutions are explaining some of the failures to generate a more growth enhancing economic environment.

Examines struggle for self-determination of the people of East Timor, under Indonesian occupation since 1975, failure of the United Nations to implement the right of self-determination, and growing international support for East Timor's independence.

Circumstances that resulted in the United Nation's failed attempt to establish sustainable democratic institutions in East Timor are examined. An overview of traditional East Timorese political dynamics is provided, indicating that authority was conventionally divided between political & ritual authorities, not local & national governments. After reviewing factors that prompted the fragmentation of the National Counsel of Timorese Resistance & the subsequent assumption of political authority by Fretilin, it is stressed that divisions between the legislature & the executive-military forces further complicated East Timorese democratization. It is subsequently asserted that the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor failed to recognize the import of local political & ritual traditions, particularly those concerning legitimate authority, in its attempt to implement Western democratic institutions at the national level. Recommendations for revitalizing East Timor's state-building processes are also offered, eg, gradually integrating local institutions into the democratic state. J. W. Parker