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After Suharto

by
September 2005, no. 274

The Indonesian Presidency: The shift from personal toward constitutional rule by Angus McIntyre

Rowman and Littlefield, $69.95 pb, 303 pp

After Suharto

by
September 2005, no. 274

So much has been said or written about Indonesia’s political changes since 1998 it might be thought that there was little original that could be added. Then along comes Angus McIntyre with his own particular interpretation of Indonesian politics. McIntyre has long been interested in the psychological make-up of Indonesia’s political leaders and has written some fine papers on the subject, the core of which are in his new book, The Indonesian Presidency: The Shift from Personal toward Constitutional Rule. His approach has been to examine the personalities of dominant individuals as a key explanatory factor in Indonesian politics. As a conceptual counter to Richard Robison and Vedi Hadiz’s recent book, Reorganising Power in Indonesia (2004), McIntyre’s approach similarly begs the question as to whether it is structure or agency that shapes events. In this, McIntyre almost entirely ignores structure, at least beyond the malleable Indonesian constitution.

Damien Kingsbury reviews ‘The Indonesian Presidency: The shift from personal toward constitutional rule’ by Angus McIntyre

The Indonesian Presidency: The shift from personal toward constitutional rule

by Angus McIntyre

Rowman and Littlefield, $69.95 pb, 303 pp

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