Project Overview

The Power, Welfare and Democracy (PWD) Project is a research-based collaboration between Gadjah Mada University (Universitas Gadjah Mada, UGM) and the University of Oslo (Universiteit i Oslo, UiO) dedicated to research to enhance academic-based engagement and support the democratisation of Indonesia. It aims to inform Indonesian political movements that promote and enhance the democratisation process. The PWD Project’s goals are to assess progress, identify underlying problems and recommend reorienting measures based on research assessments to achieve democratisation in Indonesia.

The PWD Project establishes both national and regional schema for democracy assessment that are sensitive to Indonesia’s institutional context. It also produces a series of democracy assessments that equip pro-democracy movements with detailed agendas and instruments for enacting institutional change. PWD aims to simultaneously empower democracy researchers from both universities and civil society organizations, as well as consolidate researchers and research institutions as agents for the realisation of an Indonesian democracy.  The PWD Project’s objectives and goals are developed with sensitivity to gender and regional differences, both in terms of topics and representation.

In order to achieve these objectives and goals, four types of activity have been prioritised: research, capacity building through formal degree-granting programs, pro-democracy network building and publications. PWD research builds upon the traditional Democracy Baseline Survey (DBS). The notion of a baseline does not only mean that further research will be conducted, based upon the survey findings; it is also designed to capture real perspectives on democracy. Several sub-projects have been undertaken in order to yield a deeper understanding of survey results: The primary projects examine (1) local regimes, (2) welfare regimes and (3) citizenship transformation and definitions of public. Additional sub-projects include a comparative anthropological study on UN-REDD led by Signe Howell and Desmond M.C. Neill from UiO. Educational activities include masters and doctoral scholarship programs for Indonesians to pursue studies on democracy at UGM, within the PWD framework. The PWD Project supports networking between academics and democracy advocates by initiating collaborative, inter-institutional and international studies that contribute significantly to the process of democratisation.