Evolution, Devolution, and Involution: Understanding Indonesia's Territorial Resilience.

A decade now since turmoil and political change gripped the country, scholars continue to reflect on Indonesia’s transition from a centralized authoritarian regime to a decentralized democratic country. While much research has focused on ethnic conflict and violence, this paper notes Indonesia's territorial resilience. What has made Indonesia hang together?.x000d..x000d.This paper highlights some of the institutional reasons that Indonesia has been able to maintain its territorial integrity after authoritarianism. I identify three institutional changes that have helped maintain Indonesia’s territorial integrity: evolution, by which I mean democratic reforms; devolution, by which I mean decentralization; and involution, by which I mean subnational territorial splits. .x000d..x000d.Indonesia’s territorial resilience can be explained not despite its diversity, but because of it. On the one hand, institutional reforms do prevent groups from garnering support to break away from the state. However, I suggest that devolution, and what I call involution actually also devolves conflict. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]