"State Agents or Village Representatives: State Formation at the Grassroots in Decentralizing Indonesia"
Takeshi Ito, Yale University

Village officials in Indonesia have placed themselves in an ambiguous position between the public-private and state-society boundaries. This ambiguous position has enabled them to function as state agents in enforcing state orders while negotiating with the state on behalf of villagers. This talk examines their role in democratic decentralization. The central focus is on interest groups of village officials which closely work with a district government. Based on a fieldwork in the Priangan highlands of West Java, this talk examines on the basis of what logics the district government chooses to work with the village associations. It shows that the local government's decisions are explained by political structure of the current government, which has been shaped by the historical trajectories of state formation in Indonesia.

Takeshi Ito is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Political Science, Yale University. His broad research interests include state-village relations, citizenship, power relations, participation and empowerment, social movements, democratization, and decentralization. His fieldwork was carried out in the Priangan highlands of West Java.

Friday, March 2
6:00 P.M.
Room 102, Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Avenue
(Dinner to follow in Room 203)

This talk will launch the full day Saturday Workshop:
ISLAM, REGIONALISM, AND NEW INSTITUTIONS: A DECADE OF RADICAL TRANSFORMATION IN INDONESIA


For current Yale YIF Seminars and Events schedule, see: http://www.yale.edu/seas/YIF.htm