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In Conflict, Identity, and State Formation in East Timor 2000-2017, James Scambary analyses the complex interplay between local and national level conflict and politics in the independence period. Communal conflict, often enacted by a variety of informal groups such as gangs and martial arts groups, has been a constant feature of East Timor’s post-independence landscape. A focus on statebuilding, however, in academic discourse has largely overlooked this conflict, and the informal networks that drive Timorese politics and society. Drawing on over a decade of fieldwork, Scambary documents the range of different cultural and historical dynamics and identities that drive conflict, and by which local conflicts and non-state actors became linked to national conflict, and laid the foundations of a clientelist state.
Price: $141.00
Pages: 252
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde
Publication Date:
16 May 2019
ISBN: 9789004394186
Format: Hardcover
"This is a book that I would hope (against hope) that external actors involved in peacebuilding and development would read, even if they do not engage with Timor-Leste. It compellingly makes the case for why a contextualised, nuanced, grounded analysis of conflicts is needed."
– Henri Myrttinen, in International Quarterly for Asian Studies 52:1-2 (2021).
"One of the great accomplishment of Scambary in this book was his ability to link an extremely detailed, micro level empirical research with a broader and often very abstract discussion on peacebuilding and statebuilding and clearly detailsome important gaps in the literature, while providing ways to move forward. This is not an easy task and was probably only possible due to the author’s long experience researching and working in Timor-Leste, most notably engaging with members of the community, experiencing the micro level, while also working extensively with different projects and consultancies for development agencies in the country. This is a book to be read more than once, so the reader may grasp all the amount of information provided with such rich detail."
– Roberta Holanda Maschietto, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, in International Peacekeeping
– Henri Myrttinen, in International Quarterly for Asian Studies 52:1-2 (2021).
"One of the great accomplishment of Scambary in this book was his ability to link an extremely detailed, micro level empirical research with a broader and often very abstract discussion on peacebuilding and statebuilding and clearly detailsome important gaps in the literature, while providing ways to move forward. This is not an easy task and was probably only possible due to the author’s long experience researching and working in Timor-Leste, most notably engaging with members of the community, experiencing the micro level, while also working extensively with different projects and consultancies for development agencies in the country. This is a book to be read more than once, so the reader may grasp all the amount of information provided with such rich detail."
– Roberta Holanda Maschietto, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, in International Peacekeeping
James Scambary, PhD (2015, Australian National University), is a research fellow at Deakin University. His publications include (2015), ‘In search of white elephants: the political economy of resource income expenditure in Timor-Leste’ Critical Asian Studies, 47 (2): 283-308.