Rachael Diprose

Safety and security : a proposal for internationally comparable indicators of violence

Violence impedes human freedom to live safely and securely, and can sustain poverty traps in many communities. A key challenge for academics, policy-makers and practitioners working broadly in programmes aimed at poverty alleviation, including violence prevention, is the lack of reliable and comparable data on the incidence and nature of violence. This paper proposes a household survey module for a multidimensional poverty questionnaire that can be used to complement the available data on the incidence of violence against property and the person, as well as perceptions of security and safety. Violence and poverty are inextricably linked, although the direction of causality is contested if not circular. The module uses standardized definitions that are clear, can be translated cross-culturally and clearly disaggregate different types of interpersonal violence, thereby bridging the crime–conflict nexus.

Passing on the challenges or prescribing better management of diversity? Decentralisation, power sharing and conflict dynamics in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia

Using the case of conflict-affected Central Sulawesi in democratising Indonesia, this paper argues that decentralisation has had both positive and negative indirect impacts on conflict dynamics. First, it has allowed for the direct election of regional heads. This has changed the nature of local politics, which has heightened local tensions through competition for power at the district level. However, this has so far been peacefully managed. Second, decentralisation has to some extent achieved its aim of greater involvement of the local populace in decision making, alleviating the long-standing grievances they have had with authoritarian rule, resource extraction, and regent appointments from outside the region and the island. Third, it has changed population demographics by redrawing administrative boundaries. In the research districts, this has resulted in greater ethno-religious segregation. It has also changed the boundaries around the voting populace, which tends to play into conflict tensions wherever such boundaries reinforce sensitive identity cleavages. Fourth, carving out new regions with decentralisation has created new district legislatures and executives, further fuelling competition for these fiercely sought-after positions and the associated political power in the new districts, as well as inter-group competition for the resources in the ‘new’ regions. However, this has simultaneously reduced competitive pressures in the ‘mother’ regions, in particular in Poso, one of the regions severely affected by communal violence, which was partially linked to elite politics. While the demographic, structural, and institutional changes stimulated by decentralisation will not necessarily lead to violent conflict, they do interact with or potentially stimulate local tensions. Felt grievances, perceptions of inequalities, elite competition and claims to minority rights are just some of the contentious issues, which can interact with decentralisation policies, as they do with national level politics. Managing these tensions is imperative for ensuring that the benefits of decentralisation reach local communities.

Local conflict and development projects in Indonesia : part of the problem or part of a solution ?

Drawing on an integrated mixed methods research design, we explore the dynamics of the developmentconflict nexus in rural Indonesia, and the specific role of development projects in shaping the nature, extent, and trajectories of ‘everyday’ conflicts, especially those generated by the projects themselves. We find that projects that give inadequate attention to dispute resolution mechanisms in many cases stimulate local conflict, by injecting development resources themselves or less directly by exacerbating pre-existing tensions in target communities. Projects that have explicit and accessible procedures for managing disputes arising from the development process, however, are much less likely to lead to violent outcomes. We argue that such projects are more successful in addressing project-related conflicts because they establish direct procedures (such as forums, facilitators and complaints mechanisms) for dealing with tensions as they arise. These direct mechanisms are less successful in addressing broader social tensions elicited by, or external to, the development process.

Decentralization, Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict Management in Indonesia

The impact of decentralization on conflict dynamics is as important as its impact on service delivery and growth, as violent conflict can undo development gains. This paper argues that the impact of decentralization has been twofold. It has relieved centre–periphery tensions around long-standing grievances towards nationalist agendas in Indonesia. The evidence suggests, through examining the case of conflict-affected Central Sulawesi, that decentralization has also to some extent addressed long-standing inter-group tensions and horizontal inequalities at the local level, particularly where geographically concentrated ethnoreligious groups have previously been marginalized from government. It has also reduced grievances by increasing local autonomy and participation in decision-making through direct elections of district heads, now a hotly contested arena of local politics. However, significant structural and institutional change can result in new tensions, particularly when poorly planned for or monitored. Decentralization has stimulated changes in population demographics in some areas in Indonesia, resulting in ethnoreligious segregation through splitting of subnational administrative units into increasing numbers of regions. Groups with previous minority status have found a safe-haven as majorities, setting the scene for how future rights of access and representation play out. Tensions run high when high-stakes local elections are contested along sensitive identity lines, or when district governments are not inclusive of minorities in their regions. This is not to say that the demographic, structural and institutional changes with decentralization will necessarily lead to violent conflict, but rather due attention should be given to ensuring appropriate conflict management mechanisms are in place.

Conflict dynamics and agonistic dialogue on historical violence: a case from Indonesia

Abstract This article contends that the type of high-level political consensus needed to reach a peace agreement is often insufficient for rebuilding and transforming wider social relations. Consensus-focused processes tend to suppress divergent views and experiences of conflict, particularly among grassroots conflict actors, and risk deepening social divides by homogenising diverse memories of past violence, with potentially dangerous consequences. In response to these concerns this article advances an understanding of agonistic dialogue and explores an example of such dialogue in communal conflict in Indonesia. Building on an understanding of effective dialogue as sustained, intensive and relational, this article also underscores the need for effective dialogue to have politico-institutional support and to be locally driven and owned by actors who are legitimate and trusted in the eyes of conflict protagonists.