“The first book to comprehensively examine the role of NGO advocacy in Indonesia’s security sector reform process. In a compelling way, Haripin describes the first five years of security sector reform as a golden era and honeymoon of cooperation between civilians and the military, and how that role somewhat declined in the following period.”

— Prof. Dr. Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, Political Research Center, LIPI

After the 1998 reform, one of the loudest issues voiced by Indonesian civil society was “security sector reform” (SSR). SSR was considered a crucial issue that would significantly influence the trajectory of democratization in Indonesia. This book discusses the journey of civil society organizations and their advocacy communication in SSR issues from the Habibie era (1999) until the first term of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2009).

It also highlights the complexity of the problems faced by civil society in campaigning for SSR, both internal challenges and the tendency of the status quo to resist reform discourse. Grounded in Habermas’ theory of communication and Foucault’s theory of discourse, the book analyzes civil society advocacy communication in its relation to the government and the democratic transition process.