New Working Paper in the IDEAGOV Working Paper Series

IDEAGOV is pleased to announce the publication of a new Working Paper entitled “The Delicate Balance of Special Autonomy Agreements: Lessons from Indonesia and the Philippines”, authored by Sarah Shair-Rosenfield (University of York).

The paper examines whether asymmetric decentralisation can fulfil its dual promise of granting meaningful regional self-governance while maintaining peace and territorial integrity in deeply divided societies. While asymmetric arrangements are often promoted as tools for conflict resolution and state preservation, the study shows that their theoretical promise frequently goes unfulfilled in practice.

Through a comparative analysis of special autonomy agreements in Indonesia and the Philippines, the paper highlights the political and economic conditions under which such arrangements succeed or fail. The analysis shows that special autonomy agreements are more likely to be durable when negotiations involve a limited number of veto players and when the central state makes a credible commitment to regional self-governance.

📄 The Working Paper is available at:https://www.ideagov.eu/wp