Publications

Indonesia's democratic choices

Summary

Indonesia's parliamentary elections in April underlined just how far democracy has come in the world's fourth most populous country and Australia's closest Asian neighbour. The campaign itself and the ballot box results also provide some clear signals about the future shape and health of Indonesia's democratic system.

In a new Lowy Institute Analysis, Dr Marcus Mietzner from the Australian National University clearly analyses the election results and what they can tell us about Indonesia's democratic future. The report goes well beyond predictions about the upcoming presidential election and looks forward to the post-Yudhoyono era of Indonesian politics.

'Indonesia's 2009 elections: populism, dynasties and the consolidation of the party system' can be downloaded here.

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China and the world: public opinion and foreign policy

The Lowy Institute has just released its first China Poll, a wide-ranging survey of Chinese public opinion towards a number of important international policy issues. By what do the Chinese people feel threatened? How do they feel about foreign investment from Australia, Canada and the United States? Which country do the Chinese people regard as the best place to be educated and what do they think of Australia - is it a good place to visit, a country with attractive values or is it suspicious of China?

The 2009 Lowy Institute China Poll asked a broad sample of the Chinese population these questions and others. The Poll was partly funded with the generous assistance of the MacArthur Foundation as part of the Lowy Institute’s MacArthur Foundation Asia Security Project.

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The 2009 Lowy Institute Poll

The fifth annual Lowy Institute Poll surveys Australian public opinion on a broad range of foreign policy issues. New questions this year cover the priority given to action on climate change, public attitudes towards relations with the US and China, foreign investment, asylum seekers, how to deal with Iran and perceptions about nuclear threats.

The Poll also repeated a number of questions asked in previous years, revealing important trends in Australian public opinion over the last five years.

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