During the New Order regime, most political scientists working on Indonesia focused primarily on the intricacies of “behind-the-scenes” politics in Jakarta. They analyzed the competition for power, resources, and representation around President Suharto, his generals, and a small clique of the regime's clients. They considered that the rest of the political elite jockeyed for influence and protection from this group, while few openly resisted. Jakarta was the uncontested center of rule, where decisions, directives, orders, and commands originated. Localities, regions, and provinces of this large archipelago were at the receiving end of a pyramidal hierarchy with Suharto at its apex. Few insights could be gained, therefore, from studying them.

While these political scientists were largely correct in their assessments of New Order Indonesia, they left out some important dimensions of politics. Virtually no centralized, authoritarian political system can boast of commanding full authority and control over its subjects. Pockets of resistance appear in the elite as well as the broader society. While analyses focusing on the political elite captured such resistance in Jakarta, they ignored the signs of resistance occurring in various areas of the archipelago. For sure, the coup de grâce of the regime in 1998 would come from cracks in the elite, but the full mobilization against Suharto, and the subsequent political instability, were revealing. The scale of riots, demonstrations, and ethnic and religious conflicts displayed an array of grievances that had been little detected in previous years.