Indonesia Study Group: Abstracts

12:30-2:00pm
November 18 2009
Seminar Room B (Arndt Room)

Networked Security: A Case Study of How State and Non-State Security Actors Interact at the Regional Level
David Jansen (Political & Social Change, RSPAS, ANU)

Security sector reforms that began after 1998 have brought about a withdrawal of the Indonesian military (TNI) from the internal security sector. In an ironic break with the past, the Indonesian police (POLRI) have become the main security provider in Indonesia today. Despite this, scholarly study has allocated a disproportionate amount of attention to the military, while interest in the much more practically significant Indonesian police has languished. Arguably, studies of security in Indonesia would benefit greatly from more analysis of two key areas: firstly more research is required on the “interagency”, the area where multiple security organisations interact in the joint production of security. Secondly, we require qualitative case studies of how security is actually managed in the regions. My presentation seeks to partly fill this gap by reviewing relations among security organisations in a case study site from Central Java. My talk suggests that much greater cooperation actually occurs between police, military and other security entities than previously thought. My research also points to the need to radically reassess the significance of the national police in studies of Indonesian security.