With 190 million people, Indonesia ranks fourth in world populations, is the world’s larges Muslim nation, and the largest archipelagic state. The century’s history has been turbulent, both during the colonial era and in its first two decades of Independence. The past twenty-five years, however, have seen unparalleled economic development and Indonesia may well become the next of East Asia's export-oriented 'dragon economies'.
This book provides a comprehensive and authoritative account of Indonesia since 1966, the period of the so-called 'New Order'. It analyses and debates Indonesia's development path and achievements in its examination of the most significant and contentious contemporary issues: the evolution of political structures and systems of governance, rapid economic development and structural change, the demographic dimensions of development, issues of ecological balance and resource use, major trends and content in cultural expression, and the changing anthropological mosaic.
This is the first publication of its kind to contain such a wide coverage in a single volume. The contributors have all had a long academic exposure to Indonesia and have published extensively in their particular field of expertise. Each provides a 'state-of-the-art' assessment, underlining the range of viewpoints offered in scholarly and popular writings, in an accessible, jargon-free style. As such the book will be of particular interest to the general reader as well as students, academics, policy-makers, business people, and anyone wishing to obtain a serious understanding of Indonesia today.