Military and Democracy in Indonesia: Challenges, Politics, and Power

摘要

Indonesia's future is highly uncertain. The collapse of former president Suharto's authoritarian 'New Order' in 1998 made way for a political process that has led Indonesia on a path toward democracy, a development that is pregnant with possibilities. However, Indonesia's fragile democratic experiment is threatened by multiple crises. Despite the uncertainty surrounding Indonesia's future, some conditions can be expected to hold for the next several years. The country's recovering economy will remain fragile and vulnerable to external and internal shocks. Indonesia's political process will remain under stress. The role of Islam in politics-which goes back to the fundamental question of the nature of the Indonesian state-will continue to be a sensitive and potentially divisive issue. And the military, despite its formal subordination to civilian authority, will continue to play a key role in national security decisionmaking and will be an important influence on the country's political evolution.