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

324 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.62 kg

'Toha's analysis, especially the relationship between decentralization and violence, is an impressive addition to the literature on riots. It should be widely read.' Ashutosh Varshney, Pacific Affairs

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]