- International Affairs
- Military
- History
- Security & Defense
- Revitalizing History
Indonesia’s revised Armed Forces Law expands the military’s role into cybersecurity, border management, disaster response, and other functions traditionally led by civilian institutions. Although these changes respond to genuine security and administrative challenges, they also revive a long-standing pattern of military involvement in political life and civilian governance. This expansion reflects not only military ambition, but also the weakness of civilian institutions that lack the capacity and expertise to manage national crises. Indonesia’s experience shows that preserving both state capacity and democratic accountability requires civilian institutions strong enough to govern effectively without making the military a permanent substitute.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Norman Joshua is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution affiliated with the Hoover History Lab. His scholarship centers on the histories of authoritarianism and civil-military relations in Southeast and East Asia. He was previously the 2023–24 Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow on Contemporary Asia at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute.
Joshua’s research focuses in particular on the relationship between historical experiences and the consolidation of authoritarian governance, and the ways in which ideology, legality, and insecurity influence the legitimacy and durability of authoritarian regimes.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Policy in Brief by the Hoover History Lab analyzes contemporary global policy challenges, offering insights and providing possible solutions through a historical lens.
