Workers and the State in New Order Indonesia.

Abstract

New order Indonesia has undergone a process of sustained industrialization. This has led to the emergence of a new urban industrial working class more inclined to organize independently of the state. Workers have been increasingly involved in industrial unrest in the 1990s, despite stringent state controls over labour. This text provides theoretical analysis on the role and prospects of organized labour in late industrializing countries. With the use of comparative models it argues that labour movements face greater obstacles to their effectiveness the later it is that a country undergoes industrialization. The author demonstrates how the strict labour controls in Indonesia are a legacy of the struggles between the army and the Left before the new order, and how a corporatist social and political framework continues to constrain the development of labour movements. This book offers fresh insights on Indonesian politics and the theoretical debates on industrialization in Souteast Asia.