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structuring interviews according to the different roles interviewees played within thecommunity.Of the 58 people I requested to interview, only two refused. Every intervieweeconsented to having their interview recorded, which I then transcribed and laterreturned to them to check for errors. While this was a gesture of good-faith on mypart, this practice was surprisingly well-accepted, particularly by those who wereilliterate who had their younger family members read aloud the transcripts so theycould check for mistakes. This was an important lesson for me concerning my ownassumptions around the impact of illiteracy on transparency for written research.When an interviewee did not wish some discussions around more sensitive orcontroversial issues to be recorded, they would also speak to me privately after theinterview.The 'governance down' section of my research was carried out in two suku: the sukuof Fatulia, in the subdistrict of Venilale, and the suku of Ainaro, in the subdistrict ofAinaro. I began with purposeful sampling, involving a selection of interviewees basedon the fieldwork area and research purpose (Babbie, 2001: 179). Within each suku Iinterviewed all members of konsellu de suku at least once, and also interviewed asample of traditional, non-elected lia-na'in within the suku. This was followed upwith interviews with others within the suku, following the snowball sampling methodby asking initial interviewees for their recommendations (Babbie, 2001: 180). Thepurpose of these follow-up interviews was to understand different interpretations oflocal governance as experienced across a spectrum of age, gender and politicalaffiliation. In the context of a small village, however, snowball sampling needed to becarried out carefully to avoid the potential danger of only interviewing people from asingle family, and I took broad advice from a variety of people within the villagewhen deciding who to speak to. These 'governance down' interviews form a smallcomparative sample that comprises the majority of my fieldwork results.Both suku were chosen only after I had visited all suku within the subdistrict andpersonally interviewed every xefe suku. I chose each suku on the basis of how activeand interested the xefe suku appeared to be in looking after his/her community,making this assessment, for example, based on how precisely the xefe suku could35
answer specific questions about how many people in the suku were eligible forgovernment assistance and how many actually received it, or what proportion ofchildren in the suku attended school. The rationale for this decision was that whilethere are important issues of capacity that need to be addressed across all the suku inTimor-Leste, I would only gain deeper insights into the very real tensions that emergewith the coexistence of modern and traditional institutional structures—for example,those that arise in meeting accountabilities inside and outside the konsellu de suku—by conducting research in a suku where there was active and effective governingtaking place. As such, the focus was less on the individual effectiveness of differentleaders and more on the enabling and constraining factors within the local governanceenvironment.This decision was in keeping with the purpose of this study, which was to assess howthe coexistence of institutional structures and broader local politics impact on thekonsellu de suku. However, it also clearly biases my findings towards suku wherethings are going comparatively well, and away from those suku where the xefe sukuare inactive, or disinterested, or corrupt, or closely connected to political violence. AsI got to know the politics of Venilale and Ainaro, however, I became aware that all ofthese issues were present in varying degrees within suku of both subdistricts. While Ihave endeavoured to balance this bias by including insights from other suku whereappropriate, this research should not be read as an assessment of the 'average' suku inTimor-Leste. Rather, this study provides an analysis of the enabling and constrainingforces that shape the potential for good and effective local leadership within thecurrent local governance environment. The results of this study should be read withthis extremely important caveat in mind.While the 'governance down' section comprises the majority of my fieldwork results,the 'governance up' section was integral to contextualising these findings within thelocal political environment. These interviews were broadly focussed at the subdistrictlevel, where there are important influences that reach down to the suku and aldeialevels of governance. In each case study, I interviewed the subdistrict administrators,head nun and head priest, police, local activists and other community leaders. I alsoconducted an in-depth interview with every xefe suku within the subdistrict. This hadtwo benefits. First, it allowed me to place suku politics within the broader reality of36
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: then asking for advice on who else
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
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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
Page 127 and 128:
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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within the suku and to lead the kon
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epresentative. These political mech
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structural issue: while the old ins
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democratisation has been seen to er
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Party politics has been one such po
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on the leaders' position within the
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Within this hybrid political enviro
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in the community. While there is a
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authority figures in the aldeia, su
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As fieldwork progressed, it became
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kain), it is taken to the xefe and/
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process, they have the right to go
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(March, 2008). In the absence of le
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explains, he will not engage with a
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this distinction. When I asked abou
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insufficient attention being paid t
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of barlake that lay in the alliance
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functional, leaving them especially
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affiliation with political parties.
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xefe suku explained that the cost o
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that there is a combination of soci
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SECTION THREE: SHAPING LOCAL GOVERN
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automatically become part of the lo
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ecent Shadow Report to CEDAW, which
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Governance must be for something, a
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power within Timorese communities.
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Such structural constraints, howeve
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Across every suku in Venilale and A
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was built for their most remote ald
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While community members may attempt
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networks that use such animistic ri
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strongman, who operated in Venilale
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the community are captured or diver
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strongman specifically uses institu
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CHAPTER EIGHT: BRINGING IT BACK TO
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communities have created various fo
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However, while incoming resources c
Page 213 and 214:
of fundamental importance in consid
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APPENDIX A: LIST OF INTERVIEWEESVEN
Page 217 and 218:
APPENDIX B: MAP OF TIMOR-LESTESourc
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APPENDIX D: POLITICAL MAP OF SUBDIS
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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
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