Local Governance in Timor-Leste - Secretaria de Estado da Arte e ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

with implications for peace and conflict studies, democratisation and developmentstudies.8.2 Decentralisation, and the Challenge of Democratic "Scaling Up"A second important area for further research and monitoring involves the impact thatdecentralisation will have on local-level governance and democratisation. Asdiscussed in chapter one of this thesis, the Timorese government is constitutionallycommitted to the principle of political decentralisation, but the final model to beadopted has not yet been agreed. This commitment to decentralisation reflects a broadunderstanding of Timorese society as internally diverse and composed of quitelocalised communities, and is also reflective of global trends in encouraging variousforms of decentralisation (Desai and Imrie, 1998). One of the primary reasons for theglobal popularity of decentralised governance has to do with its perceiveddemocratising influence, as it is thought to bring decision-making power closer to thepeople. However, as Pollitt (2005) points out, there are many divergent approaches to,and understandings of, decentralisation in public administration.This divergence between theories can result in a wide range of models that reflect thepurposes of very different ideological stakeholders (Mohan and Stokke, 2000). As aresult, the democratising impact of decentralisation cannot simply be taken forgranted, and the impact that decentralisation might have in promoting politicalparticipation in the communities of Timor-Leste is dependent on a wide range offactors. Some of these factors are technical, related to the specific design of thelegislation that defines the form and function of the proposed Municipal Assemblies.There have been intense negotiations around the shaping of the legislation and the'high politics' surrounding questions over how power and resources are to be sharedwith the central government and other stakeholders have been unsurprisingly fraught,as both the willingness of central authorities to devolve power, and the perceivedcapacity of Municipal Assemblies to effectively and legitimately exercise that power,have been called into question. Other factors relate to how the Municipal Assemblieswill connect with local communities. As such, the question of how the MunicipalAssemblies will connect with the suku, and specifically with the konsellu de suku, is199
of fundamental importance in considering the democratising potential ofdecentralisation in Timor-Leste.Under the current model it is proposed that 13 Municipal Assemblies will be created,each of which are to be based in the current district centres, with the territorial bordersto be broadly reflective of existing district boundaries (Kuehn, 2010: 2). However, aweakness in the current model is that the links between the proposed MunicipalAssemblies and the konsellu de suku have been removed (Everett and Ragrario,2009). This runs the risk of creating a new type of centralisation, with 13 differentpower centres that are still very removed from the people in many communities.There are two reasons for this risk. First, the geographical distance from many aldeiato the district centre is significant, a distance that is exacerbated by lack of access totransport and communication. This distance is not insurmountable, however,particularly if access to transport and communication is improved. Second, asfieldwork strongly indicates, there is an ideological distance to consider betweenthose who mainly live their lives according to lisan and the decision-making elite whooperate in the 'modern' sphere. This second consideration ties directly into questionsover how the institutions of the state can be made relevant to local communities inorder to provide for effective democratic representation.The analysis of the everyday politics of mutual recognition within Timoresecommunities provided in this thesis gives some clues as to how a broader nationalpolitics of mutual recognition as envisaged by Tully (1995) might be built that wouldprovide for effective democracy. However, there is still much to be learnt.Experiences in other countries suggest that addressing the gap between localcommunities and the institutions of the state is of fundamental importance to effectivedemocratisation. As Törnquist et. al. (2009: 198) argue in their examination of the"democratic deficit" that they identify in Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Indianstate of Kerala, a critical issue for creating a deeper democracy involves the "scalingup" of popular representation from communities to representative bodies. This isopposed to the more conventional approach to democratisation of working throughstate, party, and ideological lines, which has resulted in underdeveloped political linksbetween the state and the people (Törnquist, 2009: 4-5). These weakened politicallinks have very real consequences, which are expressed in a variety of ways200
Page 1 and 2:
Local Governance in Timor-Leste:The
Page 3 and 4:
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT‘I hereby gran
Page 5 and 6:
are some important points of tensio
Page 7 and 8:
the Canossian sisters in Ainaro—M
Page 9 and 10:
2.6 The Issues of Cross-Cultural Re
Page 11 and 12:
LIST OF FIGURESFigure One: The Deve
Page 13 and 14:
Tara banduUma kainUma lulikXefe Ald
Page 15 and 16:
within, I had failed to recognise t
Page 17 and 18:
anthropology of development (Shephe
Page 19 and 20:
prefer the term 'local' to recognis
Page 21 and 22:
evolve around ideas of traditional
Page 23 and 24:
institution that is considered to b
Page 25 and 26:
the case given the emphasis on cond
Page 27 and 28:
Within these increasingly murky pol
Page 29 and 30:
1.3 Case Study SitesVenilaleVenilal
Page 31 and 32:
The reasons for choosing Venilale a
Page 33 and 34:
and influences can have on the loca
Page 35 and 36:
played out since decolonisation. Th
Page 37 and 38:
geographically 'outwards' from uma
Page 39 and 40:
CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWO
Page 41 and 42:
2.1 FieldworkFieldwork was conducte
Page 43 and 44:
marked differences in people's idea
Page 45 and 46:
interactions between modern and tra
Page 47 and 48:
then asking for advice on who else
Page 49 and 50:
answer specific questions about how
Page 51 and 52:
Every conversation and every experi
Page 53 and 54:
discussions. This took a little tim
Page 55 and 56:
crucial to the research question—
Page 57 and 58:
CHAPTER THREE: CONCEPTUALISING POST
Page 59 and 60:
epresentation through democratisati
Page 61 and 62:
of coordination between these diffe
Page 63 and 64:
equally problematic, as this succes
Page 65 and 66:
government, and Huntington noted th
Page 67 and 68:
Westernise. Equally, the specificit
Page 69 and 70:
which individuals both shape and ar
Page 71 and 72:
expanded this understanding to incl
Page 73 and 74:
within a society. As Remmer puts it
Page 75 and 76:
is to distribute power to some and
Page 77 and 78:
To explain this point, he makes the
Page 79 and 80:
provided by public policy" (Fukuyam
Page 81 and 82:
Gramsci's account of hegemonic powe
Page 83 and 84:
From this perspective, Gramsci's id
Page 85 and 86:
outcomes. Rather, it structures soc
Page 87 and 88:
'shadow side' of the everyday polit
Page 89 and 90:
The centrality of these kin-based g
Page 91 and 92:
4.1 Formation of Political Hybridit
Page 93 and 94:
While the rule of the liurai was in
Page 95 and 96:
to be rejoined. But as local politi
Page 97 and 98:
in Europe, this was seen somewhat d
Page 99 and 100:
did not make life any easier for th
Page 101 and 102:
governor, but slowly seats were inc
Page 103 and 104:
The movement towards decolonisation
Page 105 and 106:
As the politics reached gradually b
Page 107 and 108:
appointed traditionally (Ospina and
Page 109 and 110:
esistance to Indonesian rule (Gunn
Page 111 and 112:
outrage across the world. Following
Page 113 and 114:
f) To assist in the establishment o
Page 115 and 116:
egan to return from their hiding pl
Page 117 and 118:
for a Constituent Assembly (CA) and
Page 119 and 120:
these other factors reveal a more c
Page 121 and 122:
SECTION TWO: EXAMINING LOCAL GOVERN
Page 123 and 124:
hold spiritual and ritual responsib
Page 125 and 126:
Important exchange relationships th
Page 127 and 128:
spiritual significance of the ances
Page 129 and 130:
ight to freedom, for anyone to occu
Page 131 and 132:
The centrality of the liurai house
Page 133 and 134:
As discussed previously, one of the
Page 135 and 136:
order to meet their communal requir
Page 137 and 138:
community, or communal expectations
Page 139 and 140:
within the suku and to lead the kon
Page 141 and 142:
epresentative. These political mech
Page 143 and 144:
structural issue: while the old ins
Page 145 and 146:
democratisation has been seen to er
Page 147 and 148:
Party politics has been one such po
Page 149 and 150:
on the leaders' position within the
Page 151 and 152:
Within this hybrid political enviro
Page 153 and 154:
in the community. While there is a
Page 155 and 156:
authority figures in the aldeia, su
Page 157 and 158:
As fieldwork progressed, it became
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
Page 165 and 166: explains, he will not engage with a
Page 167 and 168: this distinction. When I asked abou
Page 169 and 170: insufficient attention being paid t
Page 171 and 172: of barlake that lay in the alliance
Page 173 and 174: functional, leaving them especially
Page 175 and 176: affiliation with political parties.
Page 177 and 178: xefe suku explained that the cost o
Page 179 and 180: that there is a combination of soci
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 and 190: power within Timorese communities.
Page 191 and 192: Such structural constraints, howeve
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
Page 201 and 202: strongman, who operated in Venilale
Page 203 and 204: the community are captured or diver
Page 205 and 206: strongman specifically uses institu
Page 207 and 208: CHAPTER EIGHT: BRINGING IT BACK TO
Page 209 and 210: communities have created various fo
Page 211: However, while incoming resources c
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
Page 241 and 242: THAKUR, R. & VAN LANGENHOVE, L. (20
Page 243: WORK, R. (2002) 'Overview of Decent
show all

Local Governance in Timor-Leste - Secretaria de Estado da Arte e ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?