Ideas, Power, and Policy-Making: The Politics of Desentralisation Reforms in Indonesia's Transition, 1998 - 2006

Dear All

Velix Wanggai will be presenting his Pre-fieldwork Seminar - see abstract below - and would be pleased if you could attend. Monday, January 29th 3 pm - 4 pm, Seminar Room D

Pre-fieldwork Seminar

Velix Wanggai PhD candidate, Department of Political and Social Change,

Division of Political and International Relations,

Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS),

The Australian National University

Ideas, Power, and Policy-Making: The Politics of Decentralisation Reforms in Indonesia's Transition, 1998 - 2006

Dramatic political changes have taken place in Indonesia since 1998, including the introduction of dramatic new policies concerning regionalautonomy. As part of consolidating a new institutional structure, successive governments have reconstructed the relationship between the central and regional governments, including asymmetrical decentralisation for Papua and Aceh in 2001 and 2006. This dissertation examines how the transition todemocracy has changed the nature of the policy-making process in Indonesiaby asking how decentralisation reforms have been shaped.

In order to answer the major question above, this dissertation will examine the establishment of four decentralisation policies: (1) Law No.22/1999 on Regional Government; (2) Law No. 21/2001 on Special Autonomy forPapua; (3) Law No. 32/2004 on Regional Government; and (4) Law No.11/2006 onthe Government of Aceh. In analysing my case studies, I will explore three important aspects of the policy-making process: (1) the key actors in agenda setting, policy formation, and decision-making; (2) the nature of the motives, perceptions, and goals of the players; and (3) power relations and resource exchanges during the policy-making process, whether these have occured through negotiation, compromise, bargaining, lobbying, orco-optation, etc.

My hope in this research is to understand the patterns of policy-making processes in a democratic and decentralised Indonesia, to explore the dynamics of relations between the state and society during the policyprocess, and specifically to see the interplay between knowledge/ideas and interests in this process, as well as to achieve a deeper understanding of institutional design in the context of managing the unity of Indonesia in the transition era.

Anne Looker

Department of Political and Social Change

Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies

Coombs Building, Bldg. No. 9

The Australian National UniversityCanberra ACT 0200 Australia

T: +61 2 6125 3097F: +61 2 6125 5523

E: anne.looker@anu.edu.auW: http://rspas.anu.edu.au/