Then and Now: Campaigns to achieve rice self-sufficiency in Indonesia

Abstract

This article argues that comparisons between the success of Soeharto's Green Revolution rice production campaign in the early 1980s and the struggles of today's democratic governments to achieve self-sufficiency in rice are disingenuous, since they fail to take into account the changed structural, economic, and political contexts. Once such changes are adequately considered, especially such key political factors as the lack of support today from the international community in achieving this policy goal, and governance differences between authoritarianism and democracy, Indonesia's performance in the rice sector should be evaluated more positively than it typically has been. � 2018 Copyright 2018 by Jamie S. Davidson.