The Politics of Protection Rackets in Post-New Order Indonesia

Gangs and militias have been a persistent feature of social and political life in Indonesia. Based on extensive fieldwork this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the changing relationship between gangs, militias and political power and authority in post-New Order Indonesia. It argues that gangs and militias have manufactured various types of legitimacy in consolidating localised territorial monopolies and protection economies, and that the protection racket as a social relation of coercion and domination remains a salient feature of Indonesia’s post-authoritarian political landscape.