R. William Liddle

R. William Liddle is Professor of Political Science at Ohio State University and a specialist on Southeast Asian, particularly Indonesian, politics. He has conducted research in Indonesia on many occasions since the early 1960s, and has been a Fulbright researcher and lecturer in both Indonesia and Singapore. He writes for the international and Indonesian media, including The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal and Asian Wall Street Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review, Jakarta dailies Kompas, Koran Tempo, Republika and the national Indonesian newsweekly Tempo. He has appeared on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Fox News, CNN, All Things Considered and Talk of the Nation on National Public Radio, and on many BBC, Voice of America, Australian, Canadian and Indonesian television and radio programs.

Professor Liddle’s recent scholarly publications include: “Political Leadership and Civilian Supremacy in Third Wave Democracies: Comparing South Korea and Indonesia,” Pacific Affairs, forthcoming (with Yong Cheol Kim and Salim Said); “Indonesia in 2005: A New Multi-Party Presidential Democracy,” Asian Survey, January/February 2006 (with Saiful Mujani); “Year One of the Yudhoyono-Kalla Duumvirate,” Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, December 2005; “Indonesia’s Approaching Elections: Politics, Islam, and Public Opinion,” Journal of Democracy, January 2004 (with Saiful Mujani). His recent Indonesian-language writings have been collected in Revolusi Dari Luar, Jakarta: Nalar, 2005; and Islam, Politik, dan Modernisasi, Jakarta: Sinar Harapan, 1997.

Professor Liddle has served as chair of the Indonesia Committee and Southeast Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies, and as assistant editor for Southeast Asia of the Association’s Journal of Asian Studies. He has been a frequent consultant to the United States Agency for International Development and other U.S. government agencies, and to the National Democratic Institute. Since 1975 he has lectured regularly at the Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute, which recently named him Distinguished Visiting Lecturer.