This book is the first to analyse the practice of governance to resolve conflict in the case of
Aceh in Indonesia. Combining theoretical discourse on conflict democracy and governance it
draws from original field research on the separatist conflict utilizing a social
constructivist approach in collating observations and interviews with political elites from
both the Government of Indonesia and the Aceh Independent Movement (GAM). The conflict was an
intractable one in which thousand civilians were killed between 1976 and 2006. The author zooms
into the 2003 and 2007 period against the broader context of the political landscape of
Indonesia under the Suharto regime. In doing so the book tackles the challenges presented by
intrastate conflicts relating to ethno-religiosity land use and separatism. It unpacks the
Indonesian political system's shift from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one and
demarcates the prevalence of state violence in managing conflicts as exemplified in the Aceh
separatism conflict. Relevent to political scientists and scholars in peace conflict and
development studies this co-published book presents novel sociological insights into
Indonesia's historical and contemporary political landscape.
