INDONESIA UPDATE 2009

The 27th Indonesia Update Conference

DEMOCRACY IN PRACTICE: CAMPAIGNS, PARTIES AND PARLIAMENTS

Friday 9th–Saturday 10th October

Venue

The year 2009 is an important moment in Indonesian democracy. There were nation-wide parliamentary polls in April and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won a resounding first-round victory in the presidential polls held in July. This year also marks the tenth anniversary of Indonesia's first post-Soeharto democratic elections. Over the last decade, analysts have made wildly differing evaluations about the meaning, quality and depth of Indonesia's new democracy. But there have been surprisingly few close studies of how the core democratic institutions actually work.

This year's Indonesia Update will focus on the mechanics of Indonesia's democracy. We will examine key institutions such as the national and local legislatures, political parties and elections. How do political party campaigns get organised and funded? How well-run are Indonesian elections? What does it take to get legislation passed through national and local parliaments? What kind of people call the shots in Indonesia's political parties and why? Contributors will answer these and similar questions about how Indonesia's democratic institutions work. Some contributors will provide close institutional and local case studies, others will compare the functioning of Indonesia's democratic institutions with broad global trends.

Conference convenors

Ed Aspinall
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies,
ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
edward.aspinall@anu.edu.au

Marcus Mietzner Faculty of Asian Studies,
ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
marcus.mietzner@anu.edu.au

The annual Indonesia Update is presented by the Indonesia Project, Economics Division, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS), and the Department of Political and Social Change (RSPAS) in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University (ANU). Support from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the ANU is gratefully acknowledged.

Enquiries Indonesia.Project@anu.edu.au
Ph +61 2 6125 3794
Fax +61 2 6125 3700