Power in Motion: Capital Mobility and the Indonesian State

by Jeffrey A. Winters

Departing from more abstract treatments of globalization, this innovative approach to changing power relations in contemporary capitalism builds on a textured account of Indonesian politics since 1965. Extending insights on the structural power of those controlling capital, Jeffrey A. Winters argues that the relative mobility of capital is becoming a better predictor of the interests and leverage of investors than is its nationality. The question now, he believes, is less whether capital is foreign or domestic than whether it is mobile or immobile. We are, he asserts, witnessing a "locational revolution" as profound as the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century. Power in Motion offers a portrait of Indonesian politics from the fall of President Sukarno, through the oil booms and busts of the 1970s and 1980s, and into the 1990s. Analyzing the political and economic shifts during these periods, Winters uses Indonesia to explore how the structural power of capital controllers varies across place and time. He also illustrates how a focus on capital mobility illuminates a broad range of issues in developing and advanced industrial countries. A clearer understanding of the power of capital is, he contends, important for communities struggling for meaningful democracy.

264 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Jeffrey Alan Winters is an American political scientist at Northwestern University, specialising in the study of oligarchy. He has written extensively on Indonesia and on oligarchy in the United States. His 2011 book Oligarchy was the 2012 winner of the American Political Science Association's Luebbert Award for the Best Book in Comparative politics.

Reviews

[Pepe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this for my on-going research. It's a fascinating account to understand the complexities of Indonesia's behavior towards investments or, to put it more concrete manner as the book's emphasis, capital controllers in post 1965-- be it the state officials, state investment, or private capitals. What is the most important to me from this book is how Jeffrey Winters analyzes the configuration and reconfiguration of state structure to response capital mobility. This attempt is indeed difficult because one must trace the capital that is always in mobility, not to mention the actors. To understand capital mobility is to grasp any changes, no matter how small, the investment climate in the global and the national level. The changes could occur not just by any radical shift in the global geopolitics, but also in the more personal level such as the myriad of patron-client structure in Indonesia.

Understanding state's responsive (and changing) structure for capital interest. As we can see from the book, Indonesia's response to the highly mobile capital was not static as argued by many analysts. New Order used to be so docile with the global power until the first oil boom, and managed to play certain strength in facing criticisms during the oil bust (after 1982). Chapter 3 & 4 show the changing behavior of Indonesia in front of the donor countries, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and USAid. To the point that even these beneficiaries had to adjust with Indonesia's way of handling the requests, assessments, & critiques from them.

This book encourages the reader to critically challenge our (esp. Indonesians) current bureaucracy system in handling and responding the interest of highly-mobile capital. What kind of structure that can flourish the economics while at the same time, wouldn't jeopardize the nation's stake and especially, its people?