While informal politics may be difficult to study, there are various ongoing research projects that pay attention the role of personal relations in shaping the way power works. Here are research projects we are involved with.

From Clients to Citizens? Emerging Citizenship in Democratising Indonesia

‘From clients to citizens?‘ aims to understand the impact of Indonesia’s democratization process on everyday state-citizen interaction. To what extent is Indonesia’s democratic transition changing the way ordinary Indonesians relate to the state in terms of citizenship? How can we explain both the changes and the continuities?

Shades of Clientelism: A Comparative Study of Indonesia’s Patronage Democracy

Is Indonesia’s democratization process curtailing clientelistic practices in some regions while fostering them elsewhere? If so, how can such divergences be explained? To address these questions, an ethnographic fieldwork on the functioning of election campaigns and tim sukses is combined with an expert survey, executed in 40 districts in 17 provinces.

And here is an overview of research projects at other institutions