
Cornelis Lay
Universitas Gadjah Mada (Yogyakarta), Departemen Politik dan Pemerintahan, Kepala Research Centre for Politics and Government (PolGov)
Cornelis Lay is Political Scientist at University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) working on state-civil society relations and democratic decentralization in Indonesia issues. He has directed several research initiatives at UGM and is a leading member of the team developing a new major research programme at UGM on Power, Welfare and Democracy. Currently, Lay served as Head of Research Centre for Politics and Government (Polgov), Department of Politics and Government, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Gadjah Mada University.The major focus of his current research is on the relations between members of parliament and civil society organization. In addition, Lay has for a long period of time combined academic work and scholarly political engagement.
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Papers by Cornelis Lay
Combining the “power cube” model of Gaventa with general framework for analyzing democracy of Tornquist and the concept of political linkages, this paper concludes that reformasi has created and multiplied the democratic spaces and places at both national and local arena, enlarging the boundaries for inclusion of CSOs in the decision-making processes. However, within this broader new democratic boundary of national parliament, this paper identifies the presents of a set spaces where all three dimensions of power are working simultaneously, determining the whole course of decision making processes.
Apart from the above mentioned, this paper also indicates that the very nature of CSOs-parliament relationship – as demonstrates through various patterns of their links, has been dominated by a combination of technocratic-based and intimacy-based linkages, hindering the process of democracy to take place. These, in turn, have created an even more complex power relation and longer process for demos to get into public affairs. It does not make demos become more autonomous and have more alternative channels to public affairs. In the contrary, it makes public affairs become a faraway institution to be reached.
argues the need to build a collaborative effort amongst scholars of the Southern Hemisphere to challenge the superiority of liberal ideas and practices of democracy.