Contesting Business Networks in Liberalising Economy and Polity: Evidence from Regional textile Business in Indonesia


  •  Rochman Achwan    

Abstract

A decade has passed since the fall of president Soeharto. The landscape of Indonesia’s economy and polity has considerably changed. Preaching market and democratic solutions become new medicines for healing Indonesia’s economy. This paper argues that the imposition of liberalisation without accounting for institutional contexts in which textile businesses operate have implications for deindustrialisation. By situating a textile producing region in Central Java as a case study and by using new institutional approach, this paper shows a process of depletion of various textile business networks. A process characterised by the lessening positions of actors in the textile market. The rise of political parties and civic associations has opened public dialogue. However, long steps have to be taken to facilitate the emergence of strong textile business association to influence the politics of textile industry.



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