Title: From van Heutsz to Soeharto: Repression and the Failure of Institutional DevelopmentSubmitted by: Howard Dick, University of Melbourne, AustraliaThe violence afflicting contemporary Indonesia, like that in the former Soviet Union, bespeaks the failure since Independence to develop robust institutions of the state and civil society. Indonesia's prolonged armed struggle for independence cast a very long shadow by weakening civilian authority and enhancing the power of the Armed Forces (Army), which in 1959 gained de facto control and in 1966 formal control of the state. Roots can be traced further back to the militarism of the Japanese occupation and the repressive institutions and ideology of colonial rule. Nevertheless, it is important also to set the Indonesian experience in comparative context. The new technology of a modern rational-bureaucratic army, the emergence between the two world wars of a potent mixture of fascism, militarism and nationalism, the Cold War and developmentalism have nurtured and sustained military rule in Indonesia in the mainstream of twentieth century world history. Despite its unique features, Indonesia may be seen as an interesting case of what Loveman (1993) refers to as 'regimes of exception', military tyrannies by constitutional means. Return to Abstracts menuCarol Burnett Phone: 61 - 3 - 9349 1899 Email: c.burnett@asialink.unimelb.edu.au
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