Preface

There is some consensus among political scientists and constitutional lawyers that the choice of process matters for constitution making. Likewise, the choice of political institutions matters for democratization and for the reduction of the conflict potential of ethnic or cultural cleavages. There is, however, no consensus on which process and which institutions are most apt for these objectives. In considerable measure, this is because the search for broad generalizations has obscured the importance of starting conditions for making appropriate processual and institutional choices in particular countries.

Initial conditions, especially the relations of political forces and the structure of cleavages, are constraints that limit choices and suggest to decision makers what may be suitable methods of proceeding and ways to structure the reformed political system. There is, then, no universal solvent in choice of constitutional reform process or in institutional arrangements to reduce conflict in ways that comport with democracy. Rather, there are likely to be several appropriate paths for each, including Indonesia’s.