The Rise of the Managerial State in Indonesia: Institutional Transition during the Early Independence Period, 1950–1965

Abstract

The dissertation analyzes the production of a new elite group in Indonesia, the managers, during the early independence period. Indonesia faced lack of expertise and a government incapable of managing a national plan. The expansion of the managerial class was the result of the lack of leadership of the political elite, the expansion of tertiary education, the rise of an American-led, international aid structure that provided both expert advisors and scholarship for Indonesian students to study in mostly American universities. This resulted in the import of new ideas that corroborated the strengthening of a managerial or developmental state. These ideas include scientific management and the American modernization theory. These ideas looked at the state executive as the major institution for development. It promoted the military elite to become part of a managerial elite. It also was dismissive of liberal ideas regarding the role of the law and the separation of power. Within this managerial ideology, the state was to function as a corporation. The idea of individual initiative was replaced within a planned system. By analyzing these developments, the thesis wants to show that the foundation of the New Order Developmental State should be traced to this period.