ABSTRACT
In the first part of Chapter 8, Indonesia, the political history of the country is recounted from the 1949 transfer of sovereignty from the Netherlands to Indonesia through the country’s subsequent political development up to the present. This account includes analysis of the Indonesia’s founding period, the critical role of state creator Sukarno, the seminal 1967 coup and counter-coup event, Suharto’s 30-year rule of bureaucratic authoritarianism under his Golkar Party, Indonesia’s economic rise, and its recent decades of democratic reform. The latter part of the chapter begins with an examination of the country’s key political institutions and social groups, namely the constitution, the state ideology Pancasila, political parties, the military, and the role of political Islam. A section devoted to state-society relations and democracy follows which analyzes Indonesia’s periods of authoritarianism, bureaucratic authoritarianism, and reformasi, or democratic reform. A brief examination of the country’s socioeconomic development follows noting Indonesia’s economic achievements as a large and increasingly important globalized economy. The chapter closes with an overview of Indonesia’s foreign policy including its relations with China, Japan, ASEAN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the United States. A map of Brunei is included for geographical reference.
