The Politics of Welfare: Contested Welfare Regimes in Indonesia

Has democracy in Indonesia brought about welfare for its citizens? If yes, how does it work? What types of channels to materialize welfare program for citizens? And how does this effort really work at the local level? This book attempts to answer those above questions, by focusing on so-called “welfare regime” at the local level in Indonesia. The research was conducted at seven areas, ranging from labour sector in Bekasi West Java, humanitarian in post-disaster areas in Aceh, rural and agriculture based area in Kulon Progo Yogyakarta, a multicultural city of Medan North Sumatera, operated by religious/communal institutions, and market, rather than democratic channels such as political parties.



This book reiterates the importance of context in the study of welfare development. It means that the study of welfare regime needs to put more account in understanding the history of nation-state building, character of economic development, and structure of social capital, rather than simply to evaluate the existence of bunch of social policies introduced by the state.



Given those complexities and pluralistic nature of the welfare schemes in Indonesia, this book is aimed to discuss “the various regimes of welfare provision (state, market and societal-based), how those schemes work in a diverse context, and to what extent those schemes could help us in understanding the development of welfare regimes in the global-south?” The cases presented in chapters of this book show the state of pluralism of welfare development in Indonesia. The pluralistic mode of the welfare schemes reflects different spaces of solidarity and dynamics of the welfare schemes in different contexts, including in some abnormal situations.