Indonesian Economic Decolonization in Regional and International Perspective

Indonesian Economic Decolonization in Regional and International Perspective
Author: J.Th. Lindblad
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2009-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004253785

This collection of essays provides insights into the complex process of economic decolonization in Indonesia from a variety of perspectives. The emancipation from Dutch colonialism in the economic sphere is linked to the unique features of the new nation-state emerging in newly independent Indonesia. This included a key role in business for the military. A key part was also played by indigenous Indonesian business firms that were shaped by the Japanese occupation and the Indonesian Revolution. The analysis embraces two types of comparisons. Different experiences of economic decolonization across regions are illustrated by events unfolding in the agricultural estate areas of Deli in North Sumatra and Jember in East Java. Here the focus is on confrontations between private Dutch capital and Indonesian labour unions. In addition, the overall experience of Indonesia is offset against similar processes at work in other former European colonies in Asia, in particular neighbouring Malaysia. The international comparison shows how dramatic and difficult economic decolonization was and also how profound its consequences were. With contributions from Tri Chandra Apriyanto, Anne Booth, Jasper van de Kerkhof, J. Thomas Lindblad (editor), Daan Marks, Peter Post (editor), Bambang Purwanto and Thee Kian Wie.

Indonesia's Economy Since Independence

Indonesia's Economy Since Independence
Author: Kian Wie Thee
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9814379638

This book contains a collection of papers on various aspects of Indonesia's economic and its industrial development. It discusses the early independence period in the 1950s; the Soeharto era (1966-1998); and the ensuing two economic crises, namely the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997/98 and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

Commodities, Ports and Asian Maritime Trade Since 1750

Commodities, Ports and Asian Maritime Trade Since 1750
Author: Anthony Webster
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2015-10-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1137463929

This book examines the role of mercantile networks in linking Asian economies to the global economy. It contains fourteen contributions on East, Southeast and South Asia covering the period from 1750 to the present.

An Economic History of Indonesia

An Economic History of Indonesia
Author: Jan Luiten van Zanden
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2013-05-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136454594

Based on new datasets, this book presents an economic history of Indonesia. It analyses the causes of stagnation of growth during the colonial and independence period, making use of new theoretical insights from institutional economics and new growth theory. The book looks at the major themes of Indonesian history: colonial exploitation and the successes and limitations of the post 1900 welfare policies, the price of instability after 1945, and the economic miracle after 1967. The book not only discusses economic change and development – or the lack thereof – but also the institutional and socio-political structures that were behind these changes. It also presents a lot of new data on the changing welfare of the Indonesian population, on income distribution, and on the functioning of markets for rice, credit and labour. Concluding with a discussion on whether the poor profited from the economic changes, this book is a useful contribution to Southeast Asian Studies and International Economics.

Science, Public Health and Nation-Building in Soekarno-Era Indonesia

Science, Public Health and Nation-Building in Soekarno-Era Indonesia
Author: Vivek Neelakantan
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2017-06-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1443878499

In 1949, the newly-independent Indonesia inherited a health system that was devastated by three-and-a-half years of Japanese occupation and four years of revolutionary struggle against the Dutch. Additionally, the country had to cope with the resurgence of epidemic and endemic diseases. The Ministry of Health had initiated a number of symbolic public health initiatives – both during the Indonesian Revolution (1945 to 1949) and the early 1950s – resulting in a noticeable decline of mortality. These initiatives fuelled the newly-independent nation’s confidence because they demonstrated to the international community that Indonesia was capable of standing on its own feet. Unfortunately, by the mid-1950s, Indonesia’s public health program faltered due to a constellation of factors attributed to the political tensions between Java and the Outer Islands, administrative problems, corruption, and rampant inflation. The optimism that characterised the early years of independence gave way to despair. The Soekarno era could, therefore, be interpreted as the era of bold plans but unfulfilled aspirations in Indonesian public health. Based on extensive archival research and a close reading of Indonesian primary sources, this book provides a nuanced account of the inner tensions in Indonesian public health during the twentieth century – between a narrow biomedical approach that emphasised disease eradication, and a holistic approach that linked public health to practical concerns of nation-building.

Beyond Political Skin

Beyond Political Skin
Author: Phạm Văn Thuỷ
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2019-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 981133711X

This book explains the dynamics behind the economic transformation from the colonial era to the post-independence period in Indonesia and Vietnam. It analyses the different Vietnamese and Indonesian government approaches to the economic legacies of colonialism remaining in these countries after independence. It also demonstrates that despite critical differences between the two nation-states, the Vietnamese and Indonesian leaderships were pursuing similar long-term goals: to create a truly independent national economy. The book discusses the way in which the Indonesian government established complete economic control, resembling the socialist transformation of North Vietnam in the 1950s, and the various means by which the government of South Vietnam concentrated economic power in its own hands during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It also explores how the Indonesian government was determined remove the economic legacy of Dutch colonialism by placing the entire economy under strong state control and ownership in accordance with the spirit of Guided Democracy and Guided Economy in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. This book is a point of reference for students, researchers and academics interested in a comparative analysis of the economic systems implemented by the colonial and fascist powers in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Promises and Predicaments

Promises and Predicaments
Author: Alicia Schrikker
Publisher: NUS Press
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2015-03-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 997169851X

Indonesia’s trajectory towards successful economic growth has been long and capricious. Studies of the process often focus either on the Netherlands Indies or independent Indonesia, suggesting the existence of fundamental discontinuities. The authors of the 17 essays in this book adopt a long-term perspective that transcends regimes and bridges dualist economic models in order to examine what did and did not change as the country moved across the colonial-postcolonial divide, and shifted from reliance on exports of primary products to a multi-centred economy. The aim is to analyse how economic development grew out of the interplay of foreign trade, new forms of entrepreneurship and the political economy. The authors deal with entrepreneurship and economic specialization within different ethnic groups, the geographical distribution of exports and resource drains from exporting regions, and connections between an export economy and mass poverty. One recurring issue is the way actors from different ethnic groups occupied complementary niches, highlighting the rich variety of roles played by Asian entrepreneurs. A study of the international sugar trade shows how regime change fostered co-operation between different ethnic groups and nationalities involved with trading networks, inter-island shipping, urban public transport, and the construction sector. A comparison of export earnings and population groups involved in trade before and after 1900 shows that unexpected agricultural and industrial transitions could underpin a fundamental shift in income growth, with improved living standards for broad sectors of the population.

Natural Resources and Economic Growth

Natural Resources and Economic Growth
Author: Marc Badia-Miró
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 395
Release: 2015-05-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317669193

The relationship between natural capital and economic growth is an open debate in the field of economic development. Is an abundance of natural resources a blessing or a curse for economic performance? The field of Economic History offers an excellent vantage to explore the relevance of institutions, technical progress and supply-demand drivers. Natural Resources and Economic Growth contains theoretical and empirical articles by leading scholars who have studied this subject in different historical periods from the 19th century to the present day and in different parts of the world. Part I presents the theoretical issues and discusses the meaning of the "curse" and the relevance of the historical perspective. Part II captures the diversity of experiences, presenting thirteen independent case studies based on historical results from North and South America, Africa, Asia, Oceania and Europe. This book emphasizes that an abundance of natural resources is not a fixed situation. It is a process that reacts to changes in the structure of commodity prices and factor endowments, and progress requires capital, labour, technical change and appropriate institutional arrangements. This abundance is not a given, but is part of the evolution of the economic system. History shows that institutional quality is the key factor to deal with abundant natural resources and, especially, with the rents derived from their use and exploitation. This wide ranging volume will be of great relevance to all those with an interest in economic history, development, economic growth, natural resources, world history and institutional economics.

Beyond Empire and Nation

Beyond Empire and Nation
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2013-03-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9004260447

The decolonization of countries in Asia and Africa is one of the momentous events in the twentieth century. But did the shift to independence indeed affect the lives of the people in such a dramatic way as the political events suggest? The authors in this volume look beyond the political interpretations of decolonization and address the issue of social and economic reorientations which were necessitated or caused by the end of colonial rule. The book covers three major issues: public security; the changes in the urban environment, and the reorientation of the economies. Most articles search for comparisons transcending the colonial and national borders and adopt a time frame extending from the late colonial period to the early decades of independence in Asia and Africa (1930s-1970s). The volume is part of the research programme ‘Indonesia across Orders’ of the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation. Contributors to the volume are: Greg Bankoff, Raymond Betts, Ann Booth, Cathérine Coquéry-Vidrovitch, Freek Colombijn, Frederick Cooper, Bill Freund, Karl Hack, Jim Masselos and Willem Wolters.

Colonial Exploitation and Economic Development

Colonial Exploitation and Economic Development
Author: Ewout Frankema
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2013
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0415521742

Since many countries in the world at present were European colonies in the not so distant past, the relationship between colonial institutions and development outcomes is a key topic of study across many disciplines. This edited volume, from a leading international group of scholars, discusses the comparative legacy of colonial rule in the Netherlands Indies and Belgian Congo during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Whereas the Indonesian economy progressed rapidly during the last three decades of the twentieth century and became a self-reliant and assertive world power, the Congo regressed into a state of political chaos and endemic violence. To which extent do the different legacies of Dutch and Belgian rule explain these different development outcomes, if they do at all? By discussing the comparative features and development of Dutch and Belgian rule, the book aims to 1) to contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of colonial institutional legacies in long run patterns of economic divergence in the modern era; 2) to fill in a huge gap in the comparative colonial historical literature, which focuses largely on the comparative evolution of the British, French, Spanish and Portuguese Empires; 3) to add a focused and well-motivated comparative case-study to the increasing strand of literature analyzing the marked differences in economic and political development in Asia and Africa during the postcolonial era. Covering such issues as agriculture, manufacturing and foreign investment, human capital, fiscal policy, labour coercion and mineral resource management, this book offers a highly original and scholarly contribution to the literature on colonial history and development economics.