Natural resource rent and stakeholder politics in Africa: towards a new conceptualisation

This paper critically revisits the debate on natural resource rent, curse and conflict, interrogating some of the key assumptions that have become received knowledge in extant discourses. The paper demonstrates how orthodox theories’ preoccupation with issues of resource rent and resource curse tend to be marred by slants of ahistoricity and state-centricity. Adopting a stakeholder approach to the issues of resource rent and conflict in Africa, the author argues that natural resource rents produce and attract a multiplicity of competitive stakeholders, both domestic and external, in the resource-rich states. The competition and jostling of stakeholders for access to, and appropriation of, rentier resources is too often an antagonistic process in many emerging economies that has consequences and implications for violent conflict. The paper attempts a new conceptual explanation of how natural resource rents dialectically generate stakes, stakeholders and political conflict. The paper concludes by proposing the need for the more conflict-prone African rentier states to transition to a more functional state model, the transformative state.     

印尼和东盟关系的回顾与展望

本文认为:在苏哈托时期,印尼与东盟一同成长,印尼对东盟的发展和壮大起着十分重要的作用.在后苏哈托时期,印尼与东盟的关系呈现出一种互动的态势.未来印尼与东盟关系将向积极方面发展,其主要理由是:加强与东盟的关系,是印尼各届政府外交的重要目标之一,而搞好与印尼的关系也符合东盟的长远发展战略.     

The Missing Link: Explaining the Political Mobilisation of Islam in Indonesia

Abstract

Why has an increase in personal piety among Indonesia's Muslims not translated into electoral gains for Islamic political parties? To help explain this conundrum, this article focuses on the role of Indonesia's mass Islamic social organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah. Using a political economy lens, it argues that control over state resources and the provision of social welfare facilities have helped political parties maintain power over the years and that NU and Muhammadiyah have at times played important mediating roles in this process. Extending this analysis into Indonesia's contemporary politics, it then proposes that since 2004 in particular, the health and education facilities provided by NU and Muhammadiyah are becoming less important to ordinary people in relation to the services provided by the state. It concludes that this trend has weakened the ability of these organisations to channel public support to political parties/candidates and is one reason why Islamic parties have not been able to capitalise on increased religiosity in the social sphere.     

路在何方?——印尼华人社会的现状与未来

】１９９８ 年５ 月印尼发生社会大骚乱,华人成为袭击对象,生命和财产遭受严重损失,印尼局势的发展和华人出路成为人们关注的焦点。正确看待印尼华人的几个热点问题,即关于华人控制印尼经济的争论,华人同化和印尼排华问题,有助于印尼社会的稳定和华人的生存与发展     

Alleviating poverty through resource provision: The case of a South African agricultural project

The article documents the findings of a qualitative study that assessed the sustainability of providing resources for poverty alleviation. It argues that access to resources does not assure livelihood security. The study also argues that the ability to sustain resources, rather than merely facilitating access, assures poverty alleviation and livelihood security. Using a qualitative research method and the sustainable livelihoods approach, the article assesses the activities and performance of a small group of women in a government-sponsored agricultural project. The findings reveal that exited projects struggle to sustain themselves and that assetting alone – without skills, capacity, sense of ownership and a clear focus – does not yield the sustainability necessary for poverty alleviation. The conclusion is made that although resources are a necessary first step towards poverty alleviation, sustainable resource management should be highly valued in the process. The article recommends that agriculture-based development projects not be seen as the only option for the rural poor, as knowledge of farming is indeed crucial.     

分权化背景下的印尼海外移民治理研究

印尼是东南亚主要的移民输出国之一,2012年其海外劳工总人数约为600万人。2001年以来,印尼采取"大爆炸"(Big Bang)的方式来进行改革,实行权力下放,授予地方广泛的自主权,这对其海外移民治理产生了深刻影响。在分权化背景下,印尼中央政府和各地方政府出台了一系列移民治理法规,但由于改革自身的缺陷所在,印尼的海外移民治理也存在诸多问题,且这些问题无法在短期内解决。     

Local elections and democracy in Indonesia: The Riau Archipelago

This essay examines the dynamics and outcomes of Indonesia's first-ever direct local executive elections in a case study of the gubernatorial election in the Riau Archipelago. Specifically, the essay examines the election process, identifies the major issues before, during and after the elections, and assesses voters' participation. The essay then examines the ways direct local executive elections have affected the dynamics of local politics in the country. Overall, this essay aims to further develop our understanding of political dynamics in the Riau Archipelago and grasp the practical significance of local political change in Indonesia more broadly.     

在印尼发现历史--评范·勒尔《印尼的贸易与社会》

范·勒尔在《印尼的贸易与社会》一书中,第一次运用韦伯式社会学和经济史理论与方法来分析早期印尼及亚洲的贸易与社会,以广阔的视野对东西方贸易作了比较研究.他力图打破当时在西方广为流行的欧洲中心观,主张从亚洲自身来观察当地的经济和文化发展,提出每个地区都有着自身的不能为别的文明所取代的文明,同时各个文明之间有平等的价值和地位,从而为印尼及整个东方历史的重新解释找到新的途径.     

Natural resource rents and elite bargains in Africa: Exploring avenues for future research

This article explores the recent debate over the quality of Africa's growth episode of the past decade, specifically insofar as it pertains to the pitfalls of commodity-dependent growth and the hypothesised ‘resource curse’. In addition, the article focuses on why political and economic institutions are important, and why they are indicators for the likely development impacts of Africa's evident mineral and hydrocarbon wealth. Third, it suggests a useful theoretical framework for understanding these indicators, especially with regard to the differing constraints under which foreign investors operate and interact with host countries. Developing on the latter points, the article looks at the nature of Chinese foreign investment in Africa's extractive industries. Finally, the article suggests an agenda for future research that could better inform development policy for the purpose of promoting high-quality growth in Africa.     

The paradox of natural resource abundance and widespread underdevelopment in Africa

A crisis in leadership, political instability and extreme state control of natural resources has marred Africa’s economic development over the years. these negative extremities paradoxically exist amidst a copious and generous endowment of abundant and diverse natural resources. State actors dominate the political scene, clamping down on any form of opposition to their hegemonic rules. they appear to seek to change leadership, often unconstitutionally, not for the wider benefit of the society, but to satisfy their selfish and narrow interests. The illegitimacy of the mode of change generates feelings of insecurity that compel such leaders to want to perpetuate themselves and their cronies in office. In order to finance their costly security requirements or manage the crisis they might have created, they fall back on state resources, exploiting them unsustainably to generate income and foreign exchange without channelling such earnings towards state development. this article reviews the development trajectory and challenges facing political transformations in post-independence Africa. Africa’s development stalemate is blamed on the tragedy of self-inflicted and constantly erupting political crises; failure to raise investment capital from abundant natural resources; and limited capacity of states to provide the necessary infrastructure for development. Continued reliance on development partners for development capital has not yielded desired results.     

进一步深化中国-印尼战略伙伴关系:机遇与挑战

2005年中国与印尼建立战略伙伴关系以来,两国关系加快向全面、稳定和高层次方向发展.但是,两国关系在经贸等方面还存在一些摩擦和障碍,需要双方加强互信去解决.如何把两国战略伙伴关系推向新阶段,需要两国政府贯彻落实相关政策与协定和专家学者的建言献策.     

The Wheels of Misfortune: The Street and Cycles of Displacement in Surabaya,Indonesia

This focus of this paper is not Surabaya's increasingly free-flowing streets, but the people those streets displace. Based on research in a low-income neighbourhood, or kampung, of Indonesia's second largest city, this paper shows how the street facilitates displacement and exacerbates the marginalisation of underemployed kampung men. This argument is set against the struggles over the use of public space between Surabaya's kampung residents and the municipality since independence and is grounded through the biographical detail of seven kampung men over the ten years since the economic crisis of 1998.     

The Limits of Civil Society in Democratic Indonesia: Media Freedom and Religious Intolerance

Abstract

Indonesian democracy has been challenged by rising religious intolerance and discriminatory attitudes in civil society since the mid-2000s, despite expanded freedom in many areas including the media. Why has Indonesian civil society been put on the defensive by radical and conservative Islamic elements in the context of democratic consolidation? What role has expanded freedoms and a flourishing of new media and information technologies played? This article argues that two factors have contributed to the rising influence of religious hardliners/radicals and increasing religious intolerance. The first is hardliner access not only to new media but, more importantly, to traditional means and institutions for religious and political mobilisation, including state apparatus, to cultivate antagonistic sentiments and attitudes against what they consider the enemies of Islam within the Muslim communities while disseminating narrow and dogmatic interpretations of Islam. The other is the rise of conservative Muslim politicians within the state who are ready and eager to embrace new media and communication technologies while using the state office and prerogatives to advance conservative religious visions and agendas. In order to assess how those conservative politicians exploit their ministerial prerogatives and state patronage to curtail civil society, particularly the freedom of expression and religion, this article examines two prominent and controversial Muslim politicians: Tifatul Sembiring from the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party and Suryadharma Ali from the United Development Party.     

Fighting the Hellhounds: Pro-democracy Activists and Party Politics in Post-Suharto Indonesia

In the literature on post-Suharto Indonesia, an increasingly dominant stream has portrayed the political system as being hijacked by predatory elite interests associated with the fallen New Order regime. While such characterisations describe important elements of the post-1998 polity, they do not tell the full story. At the same time that patronage-driven career politicians have staked their claims in the newly democratic state, a large number of civil society activists also started to play an active role in formal politics. This article illustrates how human rights advocates, women activists and labour leaders have tried to promote their causes not from the margins of civil society, but from within the power centre of political institutions. To be sure, some activists-turned-politicians have failed in this effort, but others have initiated key pieces of legislation that led to ground-breaking reforms. In comparative terms, the article demonstrates that Indonesian activists have created an effective political niche for themselves, avoiding both the patterns of state co-optation so prevalent in South Korea and the anti-system attitudes of activist politicians in Malaysia.     

地方外交的结构性分析:以广东与印度尼西亚经贸为例

广东与印度尼西亚的经贸往来很好地说明:在中国现行行政架构下,中央的战略部署决定了一个地方对外经济交往的大方向和重点,而地方的发展需要则决定了地方对外经济交往的频率.在现行的政企关系中,地方政府的领导人仍然是地方对外经济交往的主体;地方对外经济交往的延续主要受到结构因素的影响,地方领导人的更替可能会影响到地方对外经济交往的成效,但不会影响地方对外经济交往的方向和重点.     

印尼爪哇岛印度教神庙研究

印度教在东南亚的古代史中扮演了非常重要的角色,国内学术界对这个问题的研究主要集中在宏观层面,对微观的文化现象的研究一直不够深入.在实地考察的基础上,本文以爪哇岛的印度教神庙作为研究对象,通过对比中爪哇的普兰班南神庙和东爪哇的加维神庙在建筑风格上的异同点,阐述爪哇岛印度教神庙的建筑特点.     

The Problem of Macroeconomic Policy Crossroads:Explaining the Economic Policy Paradox of Switzerland and Japan in the 1990s

The 1990s, which can be characterized as a decade of disinflationary growth and austerity policies for most developed market democracies, was the decade of stagnant growth and policy complacency for Switzerland and Japan. Based on a framework that emphasizes the structure of policy choices available to governments at economic crossroads (or crisis), I show Switzerland and Japan are unique in that (a) disinflationary fundamentals spared the countries from speculative or inflationary pressure that required drastic responses and (b) the governments paradoxically maintained conservative economic policies despite room for expansion in order to continue policies based on the compromise between export and domestic sectors. The policy crossroads perspective stresses the importance of endogenous coalitions even in a world of economic globalization to explain concerted politics and conservative policies, and to assess the true impact of international finance on domestic changes.     

Freedom to hate: social media,algorithmic enclaves,and the rise of tribal nationalism in Indonesia

Empirically grounded in the 2017 Jakarta Gubernatorial Election (Pilkada DKI) case, this article discusses the relationship of social media and electoral politics in Indonesia. There is no doubt that sectarianism and racism played significant roles in the election and social media, which were heavily utilized during the campaign, contributed to the increasing polarization among Indonesians. However, it is misleading to frame the contestation among ordinary citizens on social media in an oppositional binary, such as democratic versus undemocratic forces, pluralism versus sectarianism, or rational versus racist voters. Marked by the utilization of volunteers, buzzers, and micro-celebrities, the Pilkada DKI exemplifies the practice of post-truth politics in marketing the brand. While encouraging freedom of expression, social media also emboldens freedom to hate, where individuals exercise their right to voice their opinions while actively silencing others. Unraveling the complexity of the relationship between social media and electoral politics, I suggest that the mutual shaping between users and algorithms results in the formation of “algorithmic enclaves” that, in turn, produce multiple forms of tribal nationalism. Within these multiple online enclaves, social media users claim and legitimize their own versions of nationalism by excluding equality and justice for others.     

印尼棉兰地区汉语教学现状调查与对策研究

随着中国综合国力的提升以及中印之间合作的加强,汉语教学在印尼得到了较快的发展。本文对印尼棉兰地区汉语教学的现状展开调查,分别阐述了印尼棉兰地区现有的教学形式、师资力量及其具体的课程设置、教材使用,并对出现的问题进行了分析,指出了汉语教学发展的方向。     

Creating Surplus Labour: Neo-Liberal Transformations and the Development of Relative Surplus Population in Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Many among the world’s population are surplus to the requirements of capital accumulation. These are people who become engaged in precarious employment both in rural and urban contexts and those who are involuntarily unemployed. Their presence has been particularly acute in “peripheral countries.” Mainstream economic literature explains this in terms of the dual labour market, where it is argued that surplus labour will eventually disappear with market-led economic development. Contrary to this explanation, this article argues, using Marx’s concept of relative surplus population (RSP), that under the existing neo-liberal framework such labour vulnerability is continually being created. This article charts the developmental history of Indonesia and demonstrates that the growth of RSP is an outcome of a neo-liberal transformation which favours capital accumulation at the service of global markets. Neo-liberal adjustments shape the development of RSP in three related ways. First, the adjustments change class relations and transform state orientation. Second, the reconfiguration of class dynamics and the state shapes the model of accumulation. Third, the model of accumulation eventually affects the size of RSP. It is argued that the disconnection between the domestic agricultural development and industrialisation has contributed to the maintenance of a large RSP in Indonesia.