Suchergebnisse

AbstractThis article explores how empowerment‐focused Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) traverse scales and perform brokerage functions in helping rural women from marginal groups to connect to and influence powerholders in Indonesia. It identifies three brokerage mechanisms activated by these CSOs: brokering marginal groups' power bases through strengthening organising structures and sources of knowledge/resources; brokering spaces for women's influence on powerholders; and brokering networks with other women and authoritative actors to build supporting coalitions. The article also illustrates that contexts shape how CSO interventions affect change: heavy, resource‐intensive 'thick' brokerage strategies were important in deeply patriarchal contexts, whereas 'thin' brokerage strategies had some effects in places already more conducive to improving gender equity.

This paper examines the empirical evidence on social cohesion and perceived horizontal inequalities in two neighbouring districts in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Despite having similar sized groups (religiously polarised, ethnically fragmented) and the opportunity to mobilise during the national political transition beginning in 1998, only one of the districts had serious violence. First, the evidence suggests that such violence was linked to perceived horizontal inequalities in terms of access to the state, particularly in terms of religious identity in the district affected by conflict. In the same district, there was also evidence of weaker social cohesion: there were more pervasive negative stereotypes of other groups along religious lines, and the least inter-religious mixing in terms of everyday interaction and friendships. These attitudes and less frequent mixing were more likely, too, among the group that was initially marginalised from the state when power-sharing arrangements broke down. Meanwhile, in the district with less violence, there was more frequent inter-religious group mixing overall but particularly on the part of the group that did not dominate the state. That is, frequent inter-religious group mixing and the absence of negative attitudes on the part of this group towards others may have signalled that it was not a viable group to be mobilised for political gain. Instead, in this more peaceful district, ethnic identity was the more salient form of political capital, but demographically the district is ethnically fragmented. Inter-ethnic rather than religious mixing was less frequent in this district, but it was worst among the dominant political group along religious and ethnic lines. Yet, the negative attitudes and stronger in-group (rather than out-group) bonds between members of the dominant political group did not translate into violent conflict because there were minimal challenges to their power during the transition. Finally, the evidence suggests that the associational membership of mixed ethnic or religious organisations is less likely to explain violence prevention, given that membership of such organisations was greater in the conflict-affected district. The evidence overall suggests that demographic divides are not always an indicator of political divides and the propensity for conflict, but rather this is related to the politics of exclusion. Furthermore, it indicates that to some extent increased cross-group contact can act as an indirect conflict intervention mechanism.

The impact of decentralization on conflict dynamics is as important as its impact on service delivery and growth, as violent conflict can undo development gains. This paper argues that the impact of decentralization has been twofold. It has relieved centre-periphery tensions around long-standing grievances towards nationalist agendas in Indonesia. The evidence suggests, through examining the case of conflict-affected Central Sulawesi, that decentralization has also to some extent addressed long-standing inter-group tensions and horizontal inequalities at the local level, particularly where geographically concentrated ethnoreligious grouops have previously been marginalized from government. It has also reduced grievances by increasing local autonomy and participation in decision-making through direct elections of district heads, now a hotly contested arena of local politics. However, significant structural and institutional change can result in new tensions, particularly when poorly planned for or monitored. Decentralization has stimulated changes in population demographics in some areas in Indonesia, resulting in ethnoreligious segregation through splitting of subnational administrative units into increasing numbers of regions. Groups with previous minority status have found a safe-haven as majorities, setting the scene for how future rights of access and representation play out. Tensions run high when high-stakes local elections are contested along sensitive identity lines, or when district governments are not inclusive of minorities in their regions. This is not to say that the demographic, structural and institutional changes with decentralization will necessarily lead to violent conflict, but rather due attention should be given to ensuring appropriate conflict management mechanisms are in place. (Ethnopolitics)

Many domains of transnational policy are now governed through dynamic, multilevel governance processes, encompassing transnational, national, and subnational scales. In such settings, both membership of policy communities and distributions of authority within them become more fluid and openly contested—increasing the importance of the politics of legitimation as a basis for distributing influence over policy processes and outcomes. Drawing on insights from theories of organizational and institutional legitimation, this article theorizes three distinctive strategies of policy influence exercised by transnational actors in multilevel governance settings, through which strategic efforts to legitimize transnational actors and forums are deployed as means of transnational policy influence. The three strategies involve: transnational field building, localized network building, and role adaptation. The effects of these influencing strategies on policy processes and outcomes are illustrated with reference to the case of Indonesian land governance, in which highly dynamic, contested, and multiscalar governance processes lend our theorized strategies particular salience.

This pathbreaking book grapples with an established reality: well-intentioned international development programs often generate local conflict, some of which escalates to violence. To understand how such conflicts can be managed peacefully, the authors have undertaken a comprehensive mixed-methods analysis of one of the world's largest participatory development projects, the highly successful Kecamatan Development Program (KDP), which was launched by the World Bank and the Indonesian government in the late 1990s and now operates in every district across Indonesia

This pathbreaking book grapples with an established reality: well-intentioned international development programs often generate local conflict, some of which escalates to violence. To understand how such conflicts can be managed peacefully, the authors have undertaken a comprehensive mixed-methods analysis of one of the world's largest participatory development projects, the highly successful Kecamatan Development Program (KDP), which was launched by the World Bank and the Indonesian government in the late 1990s and now operates in every district across Indonesia.