Fabio Scarpello | Bio | 27 Jan 2010World Politics Review DENPASAR, Indonesia -- Under the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, U.S.-Indonesia ties have progressively strengthened since he first took office in 2004. Yudhoyono earned a masters degree in the U.S. and has never hidden his liking for the States. So it came as no surprise when, in November 2008, the former...

Author: Larry Diamond, StanfordSince the mid 1990s, the proportion of countries in the world that are democracies – countries that meet the standard of at least electoral democracies in the sense that they can choose their leaders and replace them in free and fair elections – has stagnated, at around 60 and 62.5 per cent.The world is experiencing a democratic recession. There are three dimensi...

Author: Hal Hill and Chris Manning, ANUPresident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (universally known as SBY) announced the cabinet for his second five-year term shortly after his inauguration on October 20. Its composition and quality provide one of the best indications of the president’s policy priorities, as well as his political strategy.SBY’s Democrat Party emerged as the major, though minority,..

JAKARTA, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian former president Abdurrahman Wahid passed away at the age of 69 in the country's landmark hospital Cipto Mangunkusumo (RSCM) on Wednesday, due to complications of stroke, kidney and heart problems. Wahid was born on Sept. 7, 1940 in Jombang, East Java, as the eldest child among six siblings. His grandfather is Hasyim Asy'ari, co-founder of Nahdlatul...

December 6th, 2009Authors: Hadi Soesastro (CSIS, Jakarta) and Peter Drysdale (ANU, Canberra)The idea that regional architecture in Asia and the Pacific is not up to the tasks it now needs to serve has been around for some time. It has been inspired in part by worries about the untidiness in the competing structures — across the Pacific, of APEC, and within East Asia, of ASEAN +3 and the East Asi...

Guest Author: Donald K. Emmerson, Southeast Asia Forum, Stanford UniversityJakarta, Indonesia—‘When will he come?’ Again and again in this city I have been asked when US President Barack Hussein will visit Indonesia. I cannot remember a time, since my first trip here in 1967, when Indonesians have looked forward more eagerly to hosting an American president. No ShoesHillary Clinton’s visit...

May 15th, 2009Author: Chris Manning, Indonesia Project, ANUIt’s all but official, yet still a surprise. Economic analyst, manager and academic, Dr Boediono, the current Central Bank Governor, has been named as President Yudhoyono’s choice of running mate for the first round of Presidential elections in July. Some nine political parties have been jostling for influence in Indonesia’s emerging...

Guest Author: Ann Marie Murphy, Whitehead School of DiplomacyHillary Clinton deserves credit for making Indonesia the second country she visited as Secretary of State. Indonesia may be the world’s fourth most populous country, third largest democracy, and home to the world’s largest community of Muslims, but it is also the most important country Americans know virtually nothing about. Clintonâ...

By Bantarto Bandoro , Jakarta Post | Wed, 04/02/2008 1:56 AM | Opinion A meeting of Indonesia's foreign envoys is scheduled to be held here today (Wednesday) to appraise Indonesia's diplomatic performance and adjust foreign policies to ma...

March 11, 2008 | 1852 GMT By Rodger Baker - www.stratfor.com Over the last few decades, China, Japan and South Korea have dabbled on the international stage mainly via ?soft? tools such as cultural and economic exchanges. But as the global trading syste...

Jakarta wants weapons. Lots of them. Frida Berrigan | February 27, 2008 Editor: John Feffer Foreign Policy In Focus www.fpif.org Right after Valentine?s Day, Indonesian Air Force officials met with their U.S. counterparts to discuss ?bilateral defens...

February 20, 2008 By George Friedman - www.stratfor.com. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Sunday. The United States and many, but not all, European countries recognized it. The Serbian government did not impose an economic blockade on ? or ta...

By The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Indonesia and China have agreed to work together on military training and military vehicle production, a move in line with the two countries' 2007 agreement on defense cooperation. After welcoming Chinese Defense Minister...