The Political Economy of Non-Traditional Security: Explaining the Governance of Avian Influenza in Indonesia

Given the common association of non-traditional security (NTS) problems with globalisation, surprisingly little attention has been paid to how the political economy context of given NTS issues shape how they are securitised and managed in practice. We argue that security and its governance are always highly contested because different modes of security governance invariably privilege particular interests and normative agendas in state and society, which relate directly to the political economy. Drawing on critical political geography, we argue that, because NTS issues are perceived as at least potentially transnational, their securitisation often involves strategic attempts by actors and coalitions to ‘rescale’ their governance beyond the national political and institutional arenas, into new, expert-dominated modes of governance. Such efforts are often resisted by other coalitions, for which this rescaling is deleterious. As evidenced by a case study of avian influenza in Indonesia, particular governance outcomes depend upon the nature of the coalitions assembled for and against rescaling in specific situations, while these coalitions’ make-up and relative strength is shaped by the political economy of the industries that rescaling would affect, viewed against the broader backdrop of state-society relations

The historical origins of corruption in the developing world: a comparative analysis of East Asia

A new approach has emerged in the literature on corruption in the developing world that breaks with the assumption that corruption is driven by individualistic self-interest and, instead, conceptualizes corruption as an informal system of norms and practices. While this emerging neo-institutionalist approach has done much to further our understanding of corruption in the developing world, one key question has received relatively little attention: how do we explain differences in the institutionalization of corruption between developing countries? The paper here addresses this question through a systematic comparison of seven developing and newly industrialized countries in East Asia. The argument that emerges through this analysis is that historical sequencing mattered: countries in which the "political marketplace" had gone through a process of concentration before universal suffrage was introduced are now marked by less harmful types of corruption than countries where mass voting rights where rolled out in a context of fragmented political marketplaces. The paper concludes by demonstrating that this argument can be generalized to the developing world as a whole

Islamic Populism in Indonesia and the Middle East

Compares the evolution of Islamic populism in Indonesia and the Middle East to shed new light on contemporary Islamic politics

The Organizational Vehicles of Islamic Political Dissent: Social Bases, Genealogies and Strategies

The organizational vehicles of Islamic political dissent vary greatly in the contemporary world. At one end of the spectrum, there could be full-fledged political parties occupying recognized positions in the official sphere of political life, and recently some of these have even come to take power in their respective countries. At the other end, however, one might find terrorist activity centred on small and isolated cells. Located somewhere in between could be a hos of mass organizations associated with religious social movements, peaceful or otherwise and in some cases, assorted militias that deal in intimidation or violence. These diverse vehicles have found different levels of success in specific contexts. It is shown here that what kinds of vehicles become predominant is largely contingent on how social alliances come to be built to represent the interests of an increasingly diverse ummah — the community of believers — in modern and profane competition over power and resources

Islamic Politics between Dissent and Power: An Overview

For much of the 20th century, Islamic politics appeared to lie beyond the pale of legitimate politics in many Muslim-majority states. This book brings about a more a serious understanding of Islamic politics by critically tracing the pathways by which Islamic politics has been transformed in the Middle East and Asia. Through the exploration of dissent and power it argues that Islamic politics had not been encased in ineffectual dissent even before the 'Arab Spring' took the Middle-East closer to historical trends of democratization elsewhere in the world.The findings from country-specific studies of Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia and Turkey demonstrate that Islamic politics has developed a large and resilient capacity for adaptation and reinvention not only in the Middle-East but in Asia as well. Moreover, the international spectrum of Islamic politics stretches from marginalized dissent to established government with political parties and movements competing to different degrees of success for power, frequently by electoral means.This study traces and explains the collective progression of Islamic politics between points of dissent and positions of power, a subject that has not been directly or systematically covered by the extensive literature on Islam and politics