A Prayer for Democracy: Secretarian Violence and Regime Type in Indonesia

Indonesia has a long history of conflict with roots in ethnic, religious, communal and political difference.  This was the inevitable consequence of unresolved tensions when the Republic of Indonesia was born in 1945. While a variety of differences over the nature of the state have emerged over the past 76 years, none have been more protracted or resistant to solution than those over religion.  In a country where Islam commands the adherence of 87 percent of the population, but five other religions are officially recognized, it is not surprising that these divides should persist

The Origins of Nonalignment: Great Power Competition and Indonesian Foreign Policy 1945-1965

The thesis analyses Indonesia’s foreign policy, specifically its alignment behavior, in the 20 years after it declared independence in 1945. It investigates the origins of Indonesia’s enduring bebas-aktif (independent and active) foreign policy and its manifestation in an official policy of neutrality and then nonalignment during the Cold War. It then follows the evolution of alignment policy via Indonesia’s interactions with the great powers of the era – the USA, the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. The case study period provides a detailed account of a series of episodes that engaged the Cold War’s great powers, including the Asia- Africa conference, US-sponsored regional rebellions in Indonesia, the campaign to wrest control of West New Guinea, and the attempt to “crush” the formation of Malaysia under a policy of Konfrontasi. In trying to account for patterns in Indonesian alignment, the thesis challenges conventional approaches to alignment that explain changing behavior as purely a response to either the capability or intentions of other powers. Instead of seeing alignment as the result of a balance of power or a balance of threat, the thesis finds that Indonesia’s alignment policy during the period is better understood as a balance of risk between competing domestic and international demands and objectives. Policymakers are viewed as placing especially high priority on maintaining policy autonomy, which they compromise only when the objective that alignment serves is regarded as critical to the state. The analysis highlights a deep vein of Realpolitik and pragmatism in Indonesia’s alignment behavior, which prompted it to abandon neutrality when the international and domestic objectives of policymakers outweighed their commitment to the bebas-aktif policy. But the thesis found Indonesia’s most common approach to alignment was the use of a range of ‘smart’ strategies designed to maximise the benefits and minimise the risks of alignment. The principal risks could be placed in two categories: first, the risk of losing policy autonomy and, second, the risk of alignment choice provoking a domestic or international backlash. The thesis also reviewed methods of analysing decisions under conditions of risk. Comparing a rational actor model with a psychological model of choice, it found policymakers were prone to depart from the precepts of rational choice under conditions of crisis and uncertainty when the risk of critical loss to the state was is high

The moral values of the aesthetic experience

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Theology of John Locke

It la the purpose of this thesis to present a sound exposition of Locke's theological opinions. The rationalism of Locke has been generally regarded by orthodox theologians as having exerted a disintegrating Influence in theology. His name has usually been associated with the Delstic movement. But side by side with the rationalism in Locke's theology there is evidence of sincere belief in its super¬ natural elements. With this in mind Mc O-lffert has character¬ ized Locke as a "rational supernaturallst." Soon after Locke's death, however, the supernatural element in his theology was shown to have an untenable foundation and his position in this respect was undermined. As a result this side of his theology has been neglected. It Is our purpose to show the relationship of these two aspects of Locke's thought, the content of each, and the substance of his teaching on the Church and toleration

Gorenstein Duality and Universal Coefficient Theorems

The paper describes a duality phenomenon for cohomology theories with the character of Gorenstein rings. For a connective cohomology theory with the p-local integers in degree 0, and coefficient ring R_* Gorenstein of shift 0, this states that for X with R_*(X) torsion, we have R^*(X)=\Sigma^a Hom( R_*(X), Z/p^{\infty}). A corresponding statement for modules over a commutative Gorenstein ring spectrum is also proved. [Minor typographical and bibliographic changes to the last version.

Unfinished Business: Reform of the Security Sector in Democratic Indonesia

Conservative members of Indonesia’s military establishment are breaking a self-imposed silence to critique the country’s thirteen-year-old democracy and call for a restitution of a direct military role in the machinery of government. It underscores two realities of present Indonesian politics more than a decade into the new democratic era: the fragility of the political system and the failure to complete the goal of security sector reform to assert civilian prerogatives. The unfinished agenda is substantial, and the political opportunity exists to push it through if executive government, the legislature and civil society have the will. Such an agenda could include further institutional reform of the military and police, stronger parliamentary and legal oversight of the security services and a resolution of the political status of Papua. Yet with presidential and parliamentary elections looming in 2014, there are doubts Indonesian leaders are willing to finish the reform task

Nursing Home Admissions Policies under Reimbursement

This article examines the impact of reimbursement on admissions by nursing homes. Low rates of payment for Medicaid patients suggest that nursing homes should prefer non-Medicaid patients. Such preferences are observable in daily admissions data from some of a sample of 18 Southern California facilities. Facilities with observable preferences tend to have strong incentives to prefer non-Medicaid patients. The statistical method used to observe preferences may have applications to studies of discrimination in other settings.