Dwight Y. King

Regime Type and Performance: Authoritarian Rule, Semi-Capitalist Development, and Rural Inequality in Asia

Taking issue with the conclusion reached in several studies that economic variables best explain variation in economic performance among nations, this article reasserts the explanatory power of regime type and political characteristics for performance. If performance is evaluated in terms of material equality and welfare rather than growth, and is examined diachronically over the past decade and within differentiated population groups (rural, landless, and nearlandless), democratic-type regimes (Malaysia, Sri Lanka) have performed better than bureaucratic-authoritarian ones (Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand). Where bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes have not perpetuated or increased poverty and inequality, e.g., South Korea, these “deviant” outcomes are due more to the peculiarities of the context and historical experience than to regime policies.

The conduct of the 1999 election in Sleman, D.I. Yogyakarta: a case study (with voting results)

The 1999 Indonesian General Election is widely considered to have been a centrepiece of reformasi. This view seems to be compatible with an understanding of reformasi as a multi-faceted, uneven, often inconsistent and protracted transition from authoritarian politics towards more democratic processes and mechanisms of governance. Those who agree with this assessment tend to substantiate their position with reference to national-level phenomena, including analysis of the formal legal framework, specified in the three political laws passed in early 1999,* the emergence of 48 election contestants, the relative lack of violence and incidents of social unrest during the campaign and on election day, the presence of domestic and international election monitors, the ending of Golkars long reign as predominant party and the selection of a government with greater legitimacy than any other government during the previous 44 years. To date there have been few case studies at the local level that have attempted to provide a comprehensive picture of how the election was actually conducted. In what specific ways was it similar to, and different from, previous New Order elections? Were the similarities consistent with reformasi, neutral, or inconsistent? Did actors and observers differ in their judgments? This paper attempts to answer these questions through a case study carried out in central Java. It aims to provide a detailed and comprehensive picture of how the electoral reforms affected the election. Sleman is a district located in the special region and province of Yogyakarta, which is considered to be the heartland of the island of Java and the cultural centre of Indonesias largest ethnic group, the Javanese. Bordering the municipality and provincial capital, Yogyakarta, on the south and encompassing