Systemic Reform or Reformed Continuity in the Pacific? A Memo from Indonesia

Carnegie, Paul J. (2017) Systemic Reform or Reformed Continuity in the Pacific? A Memo from Indonesia. USP School of Law, Emalus Campus, Vanuatu.

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Abstract

Normative ideas of constitutions inform what policy makers and politicians are seeking to establish, but this tells us little about how a country ends up with the framework it does. There is a significant difference between proposing a constitutional framework and the process of establishing that framework. The process involves a form of renegotiation with varying legacies of the past. This makes constitutional rearrangement vis-à-vis political power a complicated affair. The ways in which the process of reform unfolds in a particular setting and the challenges associated with it are often multiple and ambiguous. The following examines the constitutional reform process that occurred in Indonesia from 1999-2002 to underscore this claim and draw out key challenges Pacific Island Countries (PICs) may face along what are invariably fraught and uncertain paths. It argues that the measure of success for ongoing constitutional debates in PICs will depend in large part on the ability to translate opportunity, timing and momentum into meaningful reform that is accepted domestically and can sustain over time.

Item Type:	Other
Subjects:	J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE) > School of Government, Development and International Affairs
Depositing User:	Paul Carnegie
Date Deposited:	10 Jun 2018 22:42
Last Modified:	10 Jun 2018 22:42
URI:	http://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/10684

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