Territorial autonomy in Indonesia and beyond

Crawford School of Public Policy | Arndt-Corden Department of Economics | Indonesia Project

Event details

Indonesia Study Group

Date & time

Wednesday 27 November 2019
12.30pm–2.00pm

Venue

McDonald Room, Menzies Library entry level, RG Menzies Building #2, ANU

Speaker

Shane Barter, Soka University of America

Contacts

ANU Indonesia Project
+61 2 6125 5954

Territorial autonomy, in which regionally concentrated minorities gain the ability to govern their territory with special administrative powers, is an increasingly important political compromise around the world. It is increasingly the go-to option for overcoming separatist conflicts and protecting minority rights, enabling national minorities to see themselves as majorities and to develop their national identity. However, when it is imposed and conflicts have not been resolved, autonomy can serve to worsen conflicts. Even when autonomy is in the hands of more legitimate leaders, it still suffers from some shortcomings. Despite being a form of decentralisation, autonomous regions tend to be highly centralised, and despite supporting minority rights, autonomy tends to sow tensions with local minorities.

This presentation explores these themes in Indonesia. Here, Papua and pre-MoU Aceh illustrate the ineffectiveness of imposed autonomy. Meanwhile, post-conflict Aceh sees political centralisation and pressures on internal, second-order minorities. In these and other cases, territorial autonomy falls short of living up to its full promise, demanding that we rethink territorial autonomy.

Shane Barter is a political scientist at Soka University of America. His research and teaching interests related to politics in Southeast Asia, armed conflict, state and society, democratisation and religious politics. He is visiting The Australian National University in November 2019.

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