[TimorLesteStudies] New Article: Challenges of Constructing Postcolonial Unity: Timor-Leste as a Case Study.

[Michael Leach]

Damien Kingsbury. 2012. Challenges of ConstructingPostcolonial Unity: Timor-Leste as a Case Study. Asian Politics & Policy 4(1): 15-32.
Following Indonesia's removal from Timor-Leste in 1999,there was a question as to whether the newly independent state and theinstitutions that manifested it could build their own legitimacy. In order tobe successful, this process needed to be more than just an alternative toIndonesian occupation; it needed to work toward constructing a staterepresenting the aspirations of its people in a way that reflected themaintenance of a bonded political identity. This article considers how the ideaof that bonded Timor-Leste political identity was formed, the types ofcircumstances that undermined such a sense of national identity, and where itsweaknesses might still lie. This article then considers the claims tolegitimate authority of separatist organizations, in this case the Timor-Lesteresistance, by which it sought to represent the wishes of its constituency.Finally, the article addresses the creation and embedding of civicinstitutions.
Asian Politics & Policy Special Issue. Timor-Leste: Challenges of Postcolonial State Construction and Nation Building
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aspp.2012.4.issue-1/issuetoc



__
Associate Professor Michael Leach
Politics & Public Policy
Faculty of Life and Social Sciences
Swinburne University of Technology
PO Box 218 Hawthorn VIC 
AUSTRALIA 3122
Phone: +61 3 9214 5357
Fax: +61 3 9819 0821
mleach at swin.edu.au




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/easttimorstudies/attachments/20120131/4056dd68/attachment-0001.html