Rioting for Representation
Local Ethnic Mobilization in Democratizing Countries

Toha explains why ethnic groups engage in violence during political transition, and why and how this violence eventually declines.

Risa J. Toha (Author)

9781316518977, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 November 2021

355 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.62 kg

'What causes inter-group violence in Indonesia and other transitional democracies? Showing why explanations often derived from other institutional contexts just don't work, Risa Toha's new book convincingly demonstrates that violence in Indonesia has been the tactic of local and excluded political groups. The good news, though, is that various tactics of political inclusion have been effective in reducing violence once it breaks out. A must read for all those interested in Indonesia, and in the broader causes of ethnic violence.' Steven Wilkinson, Nilekani Professor of India and South Asian Studies, Yale University

Ethnic riots are a costly and all too common occurrence during political transitions in multi-ethnic settings.  Why do ethnic riots occur in certain parts of a country and not others? How does violence eventually decline? Drawing on rich case studies and quantitative evidence from Indonesia between 1990 and 2012, this book argues that patterns of ethnic rioting are not inevitably driven by inter-group animosity, weakness of state capacity, or local demographic composition.  Rather, local ethnic elites strategically use violence to leverage their demands for political inclusion during political transition and that violence eventually declines as these demands are accommodated. Toha breaks new ground in showing that particular political reforms—increased political competition, direct local elections, and local administrative units partitioning—in ethnically diverse contexts can ameliorate political exclusion and reduce overall levels of violence between groups.

1. Introduction
2. Exclusion and violence during democratic transitions
3. The emergence of identity-based cleavages in Indonesia
4. Ethnic politics in Soeharto's new order regime
5. Golkar's dominance and ethnic riots
6. Micro dynamics of exclusion and riots
7. How riots dissipated
8. Conclusion
Glossary
References: Index.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP], Ethnic studies [JFSL]