Politics, policy and participation: business-government relations in Indonesia

Abstract

Questions about state-society relations currently attract great interest in political science. In the case of Indonesia, much emphasis has been given to the strength of the state and its relative autonomy from societal forces in recent years. This study deals with the nature of the links between business, as one segment of society, and the state in contemporary Indonesia. It is an enquiry about the extent to which societal actors are involved in the shaping of public policy. Dissatisfaction with existing scholarly accounts of the nature of the Indonesian polity was an important stimulus for this research. Insufficient attention has hitherto been paid to questions about societal constraints upon state actors in the formation of policy. What is the scope for various types of societal groups to influence policy outcomes in areas of special concern to them? To the extent that it does take place, how is communication between policy-makers and relevant sections of society organised? Three case studies are used to pursue these themes. Their purpose is to illuminate the processes by which policy is formed in situations where the interests of the relevant sections of the state appaaratus diverge from those of industry groups. The cases used are from the textile, pharmaceutical and insurance industries. There are two main strands to the thesis; one empirical and the other theoretical. The first strand involves an argument about political and economic change in Indonesia, and the increasing complexity of the relations between state and society there. The second is an argument that existing theoretical frameworks for the interpretation of Indonesian politics are excessively state-centred. In this context Indonesian politics and the attaching academic debates take on a wider significance; for one of the main currents in political science today is the proposition that insufficient attention has been accorded to the state. Far from scholarship on Indonesia being insufficiently attentive to the state, precisely the opposite has been the case.