ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that, while there is considerable evidence in support of the sequencing proposition, it constitutes a tendency, not an absolute prerequisite. The structuralist argument, put in the negative, could be summarised as ‘People can be too poor for good government’. Many political scientists have argued that for political transitions from unstable or authoritarian forms of rule towards stable government or democratic political models, certain prior conditions must be present. In July 2005, a peace agreement was signed in Helsinki between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement , which ended three decades of secessionist warfare in the north Sumatran province and, after decades of authoritarian rule, created a democratic government. The most fundamental macro issue which preceded – and this one had to precede – peace in Aceh was the election, in October 2004, of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as Indonesia’s president.
