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

institutions, in order to fill communal needs and to pursue individual politicalagendas. I argue that as a natural outcome of these local politics, structured forms ofpolitical engagement, described as the everyday politics of mutual recognition, haveemerged that incorporate both modern and traditional institutions and authorityfigures, allowing for efficient use of limited local resources. However, there is also a'shadow side' to these politics. While the end result of the everyday politics of mutualrecognition can vary significantly from one suku to the next, the important decisionsand accommodations that are made between local elites in order to shape theirgoverning environment often fail to reflect the interests of those who are mostvulnerable. I argue that the critical approach to institutionalism that is taken in thisthesis allows us to analyse both the everyday politics of mutual recognition and the'shadow side' to these politics, and provides for a reframed understanding of howmodern state institutions are incorporated into the local political environment.Southeast Asian StudiesThe second contribution that this thesis makes is in providing new empirical data forTimor-Leste studies, and Southeast Asian Studies more generally. Here, I make twoclaims to originality. For such a small nation-state, there is a thriving researchcommunity investigating various aspects of Timorese politics, culture and society.However, while there are some excellent ethnographic studies available that arefocussed at the very localised domain in the rural areas of Timor-Leste, they tend tobe detailed anthropological studies on particular communities or cultural practices(see for example Gunter, 2007, Hicks, 1983, McWilliam, 2005, Traube, 1987). Inaddition, while there are some important analyses of contemporary Timorese politics,these discussions tend to be focussed on macro-level studies of national institutions orpolitics between Timorese elites (see for example Federer, 2005, Hunt, 2008,Shoesmith, 2010a, Wilson, 2008). However, there has been much less work donefrom a political science perspective at the suku and aldeia levels of governance. Inthis thesis I seek to describe some of the enabling and constraining factors that shapecommunities, including the various ways in which communities seek to fill theirneeds through strategically engaging with modern and traditional institutionalstructures, how local leaders pursue individual political agendas in the context of ahybrid or syncretic political environment, and the impacts that external interventions19