Indonesia's Changing Political Economy
Governing the Roads

A rich, contextual analysis of the politics that inhibit the adoption of liberalizing reforms in Indonesia's infrastructure sector.

Jamie S. Davidson (Author)

9781107086883, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 January 2015

312 pages, 13 b/w illus. 8 maps 3 tables
23.7 x 16 x 2.2 cm, 0.6 kg

'… [this book] is rich in detailed examples and exhibits a wide-ranging grasp of the Indonesian and international literature dealing with the themes of the book as well as incorporating extensive interviews with key actors in the mega-project … This is a valuable study that provides important evidence of the need to develop broader conceptual understandings of the processes of transportation development …' T. G. McGee, Pacific Affairs

Indonesia is Southeast Asia's largest economy and freest democracy yet vested interests and local politics serve as formidable obstacles to infrastructure reform. In this critical analysis of the politics inhibiting infrastructure investment, Jamie S. Davidson utilizes evidence from his research, press reports and rarely used consultancy studies to challenge mainstream explanations for low investment rates and the sluggish adoption of liberalizing reforms. He argues that obstacles have less to do with weak formal institutions and low fiscal capacities of the state than with entrenched, rent-seeking interests, misaligned central-local government relations, and state-society struggles over land. Using a political-sociological approach, Davidson demonstrates that 'getting the politics right' matters as much as getting the prices right or putting the proper institutional safeguards in place for infrastructure development. This innovative account and its conclusions will be of interest to students and scholars of Southeast Asia and policymakers of infrastructure investment and economic growth.

Introduction
1. Infrastructure investment and institutions: conceptual concerns and debate
2. Legacies of new order governance
3. Raising rates, raising capital, losing control
4. Big push thwarted
5. Ownership
6. Local perspectives
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], International economics [KCL], Regional government [JPR], Political structure & processes [JPH], Politics & government [JP]