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esources means that they have no real capital to bring for economic activities withinthe suku.These points are not raised in order to argue that women's representatives should beincluded in traditional dispute resolution. As demonstrated in previous chapters,traditional institutional structures are much more significant—and much lessmalleable—than a simple 'resource base' through which modern governance canbecome institutionalised. In the context of the current governance environment, thereare many important reasons that women's representatives are not currently involved inlocal dispute resolution—including the rules of lisan and societal norms. The pointhere is that because the process of institutionalisation of konsellu de suku has activelyrelied on traditional institutional structures, with little state investment to supportthese local leaders, this has resulted in the reproduction of existing social structuresand relationships. While it is certainly the case that modern institutions can be built tochallenge existing relationships, these are fundamentally political processes thatrequire time and a commitment of real resources in order to strengthen the moderninstitutional sphere. Sufficient investment has not been made to support theintroduction of gender quotas.The decision to co-opt traditional institutional structures for local dispute resolutionhas had direct consequences for power relations within the suku, where theinstitutional power of old institutional figures is supported by and maintained throughtheir important community role in resolving disputes. Particularly given the weakcapacity of the modern legal system to deal with the number of disputes that arise,this role gives them much of their status. This influences their ability to fill other rolesin the community, both public and private. Conversely, the institutional power of thewomen's representatives has been undermined by their lack of inclusion. By nottouching on the power bases of the old institutional figures in the konsellu de suku,the new institutional figures have been unable to establish themselves in their broaderrepresentative function; they are not seen by community members as sufficientlypowerful to meet their needs. It is for this reason, as much as lack of capacity orpatriarchal attitudes, that women holding reserved seats have been unable to establishthemselves as important leaders within the community or on the council.177
Such structural constraints, however, can only be properly analysed if we take acritical approach to institutionalism that recognises the importance of the everydaypolitics of mutual recognition. Viewed from the perspective of external stakeholders,the konsellu de suku is an important (albeit under-recognised) body within Timor-Leste governance, maintaining order within the suku and linking the Timor-Lestegovernment to the population within the suku through the provision of statistics andinformation—for example by advising the government of who is eligible and requiresveteran's, widow's or orphan's assistance. However, viewed from the perspective ofcommunity members, fieldwork demonstrates that the konsellu de suku has made littleimpact on pre-existing power dynamics within the suku—quite simply, there have notbeen the resources available to challenge already existing power relationships. Assuch, the konsellu de suku represents a very thin layer of 'modernity’ over what areessentially traditional governance relationships that the state has recognised and coopted.Women occupying reserved seats on the konsellu de suku have been unable tofind a substantive role to play in this environment.7.2 Konsellu de Suku: A Thin Layer of 'Modernity' Over Traditional RelationshipsA second important way through which we can recognise the 'thinness' of the moderninstitutional layer of konsellu de suku as it co-opts pre-existing traditionalrelationships and institutions is when we examine the konsellu de suku as it operatesas a council. The concept of a council is not itself new to Timorese communities—thecouncil of elders (where it still exists) is very important within the traditionalinstitutional sphere. However, the role of the council of elders is to provide guidanceto the liurai or xefe suku, who sits outside this council, rather than to include him asan equal member. By contrast, the composition of the contemporary konsellu de sukuis very different in that it cuts through traditional hierarchical relationships—effectively placing all members as equal figures on the council. Within this structure,there is an expectation that all members will share information and power, providingfor broader representation within the suku. However, fieldwork has demonstrated thatthis sharing of information and power has not played out in practice.As Ospina and Hohe noted in their study of the World Bank's CommunityEmpowerment Project, "one core difference between the local and modern paradigms178
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Local Governance in Timor-Leste:The
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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT‘I hereby gran
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are some important points of tensio
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the Canossian sisters in Ainaro—M
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2.6 The Issues of Cross-Cultural Re
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LIST OF FIGURESFigure One: The Deve
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Tara banduUma kainUma lulikXefe Ald
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within, I had failed to recognise t
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anthropology of development (Shephe
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prefer the term 'local' to recognis
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evolve around ideas of traditional
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institution that is considered to b
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the case given the emphasis on cond
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Within these increasingly murky pol
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1.3 Case Study SitesVenilaleVenilal
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The reasons for choosing Venilale a
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and influences can have on the loca
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played out since decolonisation. Th
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geographically 'outwards' from uma
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CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWO
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2.1 FieldworkFieldwork was conducte
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marked differences in people's idea
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interactions between modern and tra
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then asking for advice on who else
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answer specific questions about how
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Every conversation and every experi
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discussions. This took a little tim
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crucial to the research question—
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CHAPTER THREE: CONCEPTUALISING POST
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epresentation through democratisati
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of coordination between these diffe
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equally problematic, as this succes
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government, and Huntington noted th
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Westernise. Equally, the specificit
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which individuals both shape and ar
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expanded this understanding to incl
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within a society. As Remmer puts it
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is to distribute power to some and
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To explain this point, he makes the
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provided by public policy" (Fukuyam
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Gramsci's account of hegemonic powe
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From this perspective, Gramsci's id
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outcomes. Rather, it structures soc
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'shadow side' of the everyday polit
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The centrality of these kin-based g
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4.1 Formation of Political Hybridit
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While the rule of the liurai was in
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to be rejoined. But as local politi
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in Europe, this was seen somewhat d
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did not make life any easier for th
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governor, but slowly seats were inc
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The movement towards decolonisation
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As the politics reached gradually b
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appointed traditionally (Ospina and
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esistance to Indonesian rule (Gunn
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outrage across the world. Following
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f) To assist in the establishment o
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egan to return from their hiding pl
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for a Constituent Assembly (CA) and
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these other factors reveal a more c
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SECTION TWO: EXAMINING LOCAL GOVERN
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hold spiritual and ritual responsib
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Important exchange relationships th
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spiritual significance of the ances
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ight to freedom, for anyone to occu
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The centrality of the liurai house
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As discussed previously, one of the
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order to meet their communal requir
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community, or communal expectations
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Page 159 and 160: kain), it is taken to the xefe and/
Page 161 and 162: process, they have the right to go
Page 163 and 164: (March, 2008). In the absence of le
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Page 177 and 178: xefe suku explained that the cost o
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Page 181 and 182: SECTION THREE: SHAPING LOCAL GOVERN
Page 183 and 184: automatically become part of the lo
Page 185 and 186: ecent Shadow Report to CEDAW, which
Page 187 and 188: Governance must be for something, a
Page 189: power within Timorese communities.
Page 193 and 194: Across every suku in Venilale and A
Page 195 and 196: was built for their most remote ald
Page 197 and 198: While community members may attempt
Page 199 and 200: networks that use such animistic ri
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Page 203 and 204: the community are captured or diver
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Page 207 and 208: CHAPTER EIGHT: BRINGING IT BACK TO
Page 209 and 210: communities have created various fo
Page 211 and 212: However, while incoming resources c
Page 213 and 214: of fundamental importance in consid
Page 215 and 216: APPENDIX A: LIST OF INTERVIEWEESVEN
Page 217 and 218: APPENDIX B: MAP OF TIMOR-LESTESourc
Page 219 and 220: APPENDIX D: POLITICAL MAP OF SUBDIS
Page 221 and 222: BINNS, T. (2006) 'Doing Fieldwork i
Page 223 and 224: CHESTERMAN, S. (2002) 'East Timor i
Page 225 and 226: DEGNBOL-MARTINUSSEN, J. (2002) 'Dev
Page 227 and 228: Lincoln, Y. (Eds.) The Landscape of
Page 229 and 230: GRENFELL, L. (2006) 'Legal Pluralis
Page 231 and 232: HOWARTH, D. (2000) Discourse, Bucki
Page 233 and 234: LANDMAN, T. & HAUSERMANN, J. (2003)
Page 235 and 236: MERRY, S. E. (1988) 'Legal Pluralis
Page 237 and 238: OSPINA, S. & HOHE, T. (2001) Tradit
Page 239 and 240: RUDOLPH, L. I. (1965) 'The Modernit
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THAKUR, R. & VAN LANGENHOVE, L. (20
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WORK, R. (2002) 'Overview of Decent
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