Indonesia's great size and diversity and its history of regional dissension have made its struggle for national integration particularly complex. Christine Drake presents an informed and balanced picture of past and present developments in this struggle, offering readers a realistic assessment of the current status and future prospects of national integration in Indonesia. By addressing historical, political, social, and economic issues in conjunction with statistical analysis, Professor Drake argues that the spatial pattern of integration is far more complex than the commonly accepted core-periphery model of Indonesian integration and development. The author examines the effectiveness of Indonesian government policies in promoting national integration and concludes that in general they have led to greater national unity, although many serious problems remain.

Includes bibliographical references.

The Politics of the Periphery in Indonesia is a thought-provoking examination of local politics and the dynamics of power at Indonesia's geographic and social margins. After the fall of Suharto in 1998 and the introduction of a policy of decentralization in 2001, local stakeholders secured and consolidated decision-making power, and set about negotiating new relations with Jakarta. The volume deals with power struggles and local-national tensions, looking among other things at resource control, the historical roots of regional identity politics, and issues relating to Chinese-Indonesians. The authors develop information in ways that transcend the post-colonial territorial boundaries of Indonesia in the Malay-Indonesian archipelago, and use case studies to show how the changes described have galvanized Indonesian politics at the cultural and geographical peripheries.