"In its exposure of corrupt patterns and patronage-driven politics, Hadiz's work is brilliant and so far unrivaled. His evaluation of Indonesian local politics constitutes a crucial counterbalance and corrective to congratulatory descriptions of the country as a role model for newly democratizing states such as Tunisia or Egypt."--Marcus Mietzner, South East Asia Research "Critical scholarship at its best, this book is a powerful corrective to those who see decentralization as a one-size-fits-all solution to bad governance. Hadiz convincingly argues that Indonesia's decentralization prompted not the positive outcomes its advocates predicted, but a scramble for local power by corrupt politicians, gangsters and other predators."--Edward Aspinall, Australian National University "This is an important synthetic statement on the underlying dynamics of local politics following the end of the New Order in 1998. Arguing against managerialists who expected decentralization and democratization to lead to greater market openness, Hadiz portrays a messy contestation among social forces at different levels of the polity."--Gerry van Klinken, Research fellow, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies "This is a path-breaking book--theoretically-informed, carefully researched, and strongly comparative. It shows Hadiz's remarkable efforts to draw on literatures that span Southeast Asia and beyond.

Sure to be widely read, it will stimulate debate and become a standard source for years to come."--Kevin Hewison, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.