Beyond Oligarchy

Beyond Oligarchy is a collection of essays by leading scholars of contemporary Indonesian politics and society, each addressing effects of material inequality on political power and contestation in democratic Indonesia. The contributors assess how critical concepts in the study of politics—oligarchy, inequality, power, democracy, and others—can be used to characterize the Indonesian case, and in turn, how the Indonesian experience informs conceptual and analytical debates in political science and related disciplines. In bringing together experts from around the world to engage with these themes, Beyond Oligarchy reclaims a tradition of focused intellectual debate across scholarly communities in Indonesian studies. The collapse of Indonesia's New Order has proven a critical juncture in Indonesian political studies, launching new analyses about the drivers of regime change and the character of Indonesian democracy. It has also prompted a new groundswell of theoretical reflection among Indonesianists on concepts such as representation, competition, power, and inequality. As such, the onset of Indonesia’s second democratic period represents more than just new point of departure for comparative analyses of Indonesia as a democratizing state; it has also served as a catalyst for theoretical and conceptual development.

Activists in Transition examines the relationship between social movements and democratization in Indonesia. Collectively, progressive social movements have played a critical role over in ensuring that different groups of citizens can engage directly in—and benefit from—the political process in a way that was not possible under authoritarianism. However, their individual roles have been different, with some playing a decisive role in the destabilization of the regime and others serving as bell-weathers of the advancement, or otherwise, of Indonesia's democracy in the decades since. Equally important, democratization has affected social movements differently depending on the form taken by each movement during the New Order period. The book assesses the contribution that nine progressive social movements have made to the democratization of Indonesia since the late 1980s, and how, in turn, each of those movements has been influenced by democratization.

h2 style="page-break-after:avoid"Examines the Indonesian media industry in the digital era, examining contemporary ‘battlefields’ between media owners and ordinary citizens.

Beyond Homo Sapiens – Enlightened Faith, is the last book of the Beyond Homo Sapiens trilogy. It concludes the series’ mystical/political review of the historical events of the last 5,000 years with the struggle of progressive thinkers and activists to help people recognize their universality and achieve enlightenment during the last 140 years. The ongoing fight for human rights and social justice is a battle against the interests of the privileged few who work to stay in power by keeping the masses anchored in their automatic reactions of self-defense and in-fighting, immediate gratification and reproduction. Advances in human knowledge can lead us to our next phase of evolution, one that must be made consciously. Quantum physics has shown us that the wall of separation we perceive between everything that exists in the universe and therefore, between matter and energy, subject and object, is not really there. Matter is not solid and space is not empty. The same particles that make up a table are interwoven with the air around it and with the table’s owner. Once all of humanity accepts this vision of matter as a single but multiform creative energy event, we can begin a new era and the possibility of enlightened faith.

"Beyond Adversary Democracy should be read by everyone concerned with democratic theory and practice."—Carol Pateman, Politics "Sociologists recurrently complain about how seldom it is that we produce books that combine serious theorizing about important issues of public policy with original and sensitive field research. Several rounds of enthusiastic applause, then, are due Jane Mansbridge . . . for having produced a dense and well written book whose subject is nothing less ambitious than the theory of democracy and its problems of equality, solidarity, and consensus. Beyond Adversary Democracy, however, is not simply a work of political theory; Mansbridge explores her abstract subject matter by close studies (using ethnographic, documentary, and questionnaire methods) of two small actual democracies operating at their most elemental American levels (1) a New England town meeting ("Selby," Vermont) and (2) an urban crisis center ("Helpline"), whose 41 employees shared a New Left-Counterculture belief in participatory democracy and consensual decision-making. [Mansbridge] is a force to contend with. It is in our common interest that she be widely read."—Bennett M. Berger, Contemporary Sociology

Neopatrimonialism, a system whereby rulers use state resources for personal benefit and to secure the loyalty of clients in the general population, is central to any teaching or conceptualisation of contemporary African politics. This book is a theoretical and comparative study of neopatrimonialism in Africa and across world regions. Although such practices are widespread in other parts of the world, the African neopatrimonial state has also become a global prototype of the anti-developmental state. This volume calls for a reappraisal of the genesis and interpretations of the concepts of patrimonialism and neopatrimonialism. Expert contributors consider recent debates in Africa through the study of democracy, clientelism, the ‘big man’ syndrome (Kenya), the rise of ‘godfatherism’ (Nigeria), ‘warlordism’ (Liberia) and the neopatrimonial state on a day to day basis (Niger). They discuss patrimonialism and neopatrimonialism from Latin America to Europe, Central Asia and Asia-Pacific, to weave a comparative analysis of the interplay between public policies and private interest. Neopatrimonialism in Africa and Beyond is an important and timely volume that will be of interest to students and scholars of international politics, African studies, sociology and international development.

He had to save the world to redeem his sins. But the world had already ended. So he lurched along through his pointless corporeal existence, awaiting an overdue reunion with his perished family. Bereft of purpose in a man-made apocalypse, Noblé worked in the most suicidal profession, one known to expedite a longed-for reunion with his wife and daughter. They called it couriering, the simple act of escorting people, usually climate refugees escaping famine and drought, from one place to another. Desperate to leverage favor with the fates, he eschewed all material attachments and compensation for his deeds. As he dawdled over the years, playing at living while his mind was lost in the afterlife, a creeping and overwhelming feeling of failure to fulfill his destiny with his family took hold. The contagion of this intractable depression drove him toward suicide. On his way to die, he happens upon a benign, unremarkable young woman, who unknowingly holds the key to saving a once thought to be unstoppable global warming feedback loop. She possesses the one thing humanity needs to repent for its ancestors’ ecocide, and more important to Noblé, the one thing he needs to atone to get back to his family. His mind is mired in the afterlife with his loved ones, and the black hole pull of such a longing has him losing his earthly sanity more every minute. But fate, it seems, is not finished with him yet.

Links democracy with the process of overcoming severe social inequality, rather than with ideal forms of political debate.