| Publication |
2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
After more than three decades of military authoritarian rule, President Suharto resigned from office in May of 1998 and peacefully handed power over to his vice-president, B.J. Habibie. The ensuing period of transition can be characterised as a 'critical historical conjuncture', in that agents wielded a unusually large set of choices about the direction to take the country. This article explores this period, and examines both the roots of the historical conjuncture and its outcomes. It argues that long-term factors laid the foundations for change, but short-term factors shaped the timing and way the New Order would fall. It also argues that current outcomes attributable to the historical conjuncture include territorial resilience, a competitive electoral system, and paradoxically, elite entrenchment.
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