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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

the Fretilin government was voted out of office most recently in 2007, there wereviolent reprisals in the subdistrict, numerous houses were burnt and many people hadto flee the violence.AinaroAinaro is a subdistrict in the district of Ainaro, approximately 110 kilometressouthwest of Dili. The subdistrict is divided into seven suku and covers a total landarea of 235 square kilometres. In the census of 2004, the population was estimated at12,640 people, with 2636 households and an average household size of 4.8 people perhousehold (UNFPA, 2006: 26-34). While the population within Ainaro vila isrelatively dense, many other suku are more remote and there is an average of 8households per square kilometre. Ainaro is located in the territory of the Mambailanguage group, but in the suku of Cassa and Mau-Nuno Bunaq is the commonlyspokenlanguage.Ainaro vila is also a district centre, and as such has more diverse infrastructure thanVenilale vila. However, there are some areas of Ainaro subdistrict that are fairlyremote and require a day's walk to get to the vila, and some suku that are effectivelycut off during the wet season. Ainaro is located in what is known as the "povertycorridor" (Gomes, 2009) in Timor-Leste, which also largely corresponds with thecoffee-growing areas. Within the poverty corridor, people on average fare worseacross a range of human development indicators compared with other parts of Timor-Leste, and poverty-related issues are clearly observable in the area. Many houses thatwere burnt during 1999 are still not repaired, as the people who live there have beenunable to afford building materials. While Ainaro is itself a district centre, it is stillrelatively under-developed. At the time of fieldwork in 2008, there were a few localNGOs but no international NGOs in the area, in part because of access issues, as theroads from Dili to Ainaro are often in disrepair and it is common for parts of the roadto fall away or landslides to block the roads during the wet season. There is a broaderarray of political parties in Ainaro compared to Venilale, with Partido Democratico(PD) Partido Social Democratica (PSD), Partido Povo Timor (PPT) and Fretilin allcommanding high votes.17
The reasons for choosing Venilale and Ainaro as case study sites are discussed in theresearch methodology, which forms chapter two of this thesis.1.4 Contributions of the ThesisIn this thesis, I make claims to originality in three areas of academic study:institutionalist studies, Southeast Asian studies, and postcolonial governance.Institutionalist StudiesThe primary claim to originality in this thesis lies in my critical approach toinstitutionalism that incorporates the everyday politics of mutual recognition. In thisthesis, I argue that taking a functional approach to institutionalism, upon which goodgovernance theory relies, fails to account for the coexistence of modern andtraditional institutional structures as they are experienced by those within Timoresecommunities. I argue that the weakness in this functional approach to institutionalism,particularly as it is applied in a cross-cultural context, forms part of a larger policycycle that has been discredited since colonial days, as some (Kaufmann et. al. 2008;Scott and Wilde 2006) argue that institutional reform is sufficient to guide culturaland behavioural change, and others (Jenkins and Plowden 2006; Randel et al 2004)reject this claim as incomplete and naïve. I argue that the source of this policy cyclecan be traced to the ontological problematic of structure and agency that arisesthrough a failure to recognise the importance of local politics. This weakness inclassic institutionalist thought can be seen clearly when examining the lived reality oflocal-level governance and politics in the communities of Timor-Leste.Drawing on Cox's (1981: 136) theory of social forces, I argue for an approach toinstitutionalism that recognises the complex interplay between ideas, institutions andmaterial capabilities, and I adapt this approach to account for coexisting modern andtraditional institutional structures. Within Timorese communities, modern andtraditional institutions coexist and are considered to be equally formal in quality. Thiscoexistence creates a hybrid political environment within which communal needs aremet, and local politics is played out. That is, local leaders strategically engage allresources that are available to them, including both modern and traditional18
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: 1.3 Case Study SitesVenilaleVenilal
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 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
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 ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?