ABSTRACT
Democratizing regimes that have attempted to accommodate their separatist movements through offers of autonomy have invariably encountered obstacles. The resolution of national identity problems is always indirect, often involves armed conflict, and sometimes results in the formation of new states born from countries completely dismembered by secessionist movements (such as the former Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia). Indonesia’s own difficult dilemma of how much freedom to grant the Acehnese people without relinquishing sovereignty over the territory of Aceh was reflected in the high level of disconnect between Jakarta’s security and autonomy policies about Aceh during the first seven years of Indonesia’s transition to democracy. The remarkable resolution of this almost three-decade old dilemma in the form of the ‘selfgovernment’ of Aceh in Indonesia stemmed from recognition by both parties that they could not militarily defeat each other, as well as their genuine desire to reach a negotiated settlement.
