POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF INDONESIA AND MODERNIZATION THEORY
This research paper traces the political modernization of Indonesia through different stages in its economic and political development. Political and economic theorists have attempted to explain the process through which nations become modernized. Their theories can be roughly grouped among dependency theory and various schools of political modernization theory, some stressing the inevitability of democratization Western style and others suggesting that authoritarian models might be more suitable for East Asian cultures such as Indonesia. Despite its recent economic difficulties, Indonesia has made substantial economic progress in recent decades. However, for various historical and other reasons, political maturation has lagged behind economic development. As Indonesia nears the end of a long period of political stability achieved under the military rule of General
Suharto and his New Order, some of the bases for an eventual transition to more democratic rule have been established; however, this transition is likely to be painful in the near term and may be accompanied by substantial political instability and a continuation of military rule in some form for the indefinite future.
Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, has a population of nearly 200 million people in its 13,677 islands spread over its vast tropical archipelago. Blessed with rich natural resources, such as oil, natural gas, textile fibers, timber and rubber, Indonesia in 1967 launched a state-sponsored program of economic and industrial development which has resulted in an economy which has expanded since then at the rate of nearly 7 per cent per annum, placing it according to the World Bank among the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world (Kraar, 1993, September 20, pp. 112, 113). Despite this progress, Dunung (1995) says that Indonesia remains "a very poor country with low lev...