According to Joel S.

Migdal the capabilities of the states is to achieve the kinds of changes in society that their leaders have sought through state planning, policies, and actions. Capabilities include the capacities to penetrate society, policies, regulate social relationships, extract resources, and appropriate or use resources in determined ways. Strong states are those with high capabilities to complete this task, while weak sates are on low end of a spectrum of capabilities. Have states in the third world like Indonesia lived up to their billings in the generation since decolonization? Have they become strong states? Certainly, in terms of penetration. Indonesia have demonstrated impressive capabilities .changing every nature of institutional life even in distant villages and towns. However, the answer to the question for most is negative states when one looks at some other aspects of states capabilities, especially the abilities to regulate social relations and use resources in determined ways. The bright hopes of those heady years surrounding decolonization have faded considerably. In all fairness, the standards set were unrealistic. As the depth of the problems to be solved became apparent, it became more and more difficult to sustain an image of these states societies preforming, as Albert Hirschman once put it, like wind-up toys lumbering single mindedly through various stages of development. Even by more modest standards, however, a good many states faltered badly in building the capabilities to change their societies in particular ways. The central question is why so many states have sputtered in amassing such capabilities dramatically. Beyond that question, that the failure of the states to have people in even the very coherence and character of the states themselves. What kinds of capabilities have third world states like Indonesia to achieve social change and what kind of limitation have they manifested?

Scholars have described how states, for better or worse. Become constant and formidable presence in the most remote villages, especially in regions such as Lain America and East Asia. They have stressed how states reshaped societies by promoting some groups and classes while repressing others and simultaneously maintaining autonomy from any single group of class. Theories of corporatism and bureaucratic authoritarianism have emphasized the activism and strength of the state in regulating, even shaping, the eruptive conflicts that develop from industrialization and the mobilization of new social groups. The state according to James M. Malloy is characterized by strong and relatively autonomous governmental structures that seek to impose on the society a system of interest representation based on enforced limited pluralism. A second perspectives, in contrast, has portrayed the state as almost totally impotent in the swirl of dizzying social change that have over taken these society , changes largely independent of any impetus from the state itself. Some scholars have viewed the dynamics of these changes within the countrys borders. While other have seen these uncontrollable forces coming from large power and the world economy. In both instances, the states image is weak.

Violence between and within religious groups has risen in recent years. The sharp decline in religious tolerance raises concerns about the future of pluralism and the status of religious minorities in the nascent democracy.

Brief Excerpt: INDONESIA: Religious violence INDONESIA: Weak state fails to curb religious violence Growing inter- and intra-religious violence. Violence between and within religious groups has risen in recent years. The sharp decline in religious... Strong States are in full control of their territories and provide high quality political goods to their citizens. The perform well in GDP per capita (and the growth of this), the UNDP's Human Development Index, Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index, and Freedom's House Freedom of the World Report. Nation-state success can be measured by its ability to deliver political goods. Here is his hierarchy of political goods: Security. The is the state's primary function. It provides a framework through which all other political goods can be delivered. Law. A system of codes and procedures which regulate the interactions of the population and sets the standards for conduct. Medical and Health care. Schools and Educational Instruction. Critical infrastructure. A money and banking system. A business environment. A forum for civil society. A method of regulating environmental commons. Weak States contain ethnic, religious, linguistic, or other tensions that limit or decrease its ability to deliver political goods. These conflicts are on the edge of exploding into open conflict. GDP per capita has fallen or falling. Interestingly, the privatization of education and health care is a sign of state weakness. Corruption is common. The rule of law is weakly applied. Despots rule. Examples: Iraq (under Saddam), Belarus, N. Korea, and Libya.

The last seven years have witnessed a cathartic development in Indonesia in Particular and the whole of the Southeast Asian region in general. This description of the Indonesian state of affairs after five years of multiple crisesthe end of which is still not in sightshows that political development is complex.

The crisis Indonesia faces is more political than economic. Despite some stuttering since the 1997 crisis, Indonesias existence is not truly Jeopardized. Indonesia has, however, become a weaker state. Although conflict in the many regions ha v e no t l ed t o the b r e akdown o f the c ount r y, they present an enormous challenge to the Indonesian government. Indone s i a ha s sur v i v ed thus f a r ma inl y b e c aus e o f two cha r a c t e r i s t i c s . First, the resilience and patience of the Indonesian people is almost unlimited; their tolerance for pain is very high. The Indonesian people accepted setbacks during the crisis as fate, and an atmosphere leading to social revolution has not yet emerged. Second, at least until now, the populaces sense of patriotism and nationalism has held the nation together. The Indonesian people have been united for 100 years; despite their regional conflicts, history is a potent force fo