April 19, 2023 – In this Talk at the Library, political scientist Michael Buehler sheds light on the spread of morality laws in democratizing Indonesia, following the collapse of the authoritarian New Order dictatorship in 1998. Moderated by Rebecca Farner, Outreach and Communications Manager at Asia Society Switzerland, the conversation explores the variegated patterns in the diffusion of morality laws and political shifts in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.

Michael Buehler (Ph.D., The London School of Economics and Political Science) is a Reader in Comparative Politics in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Michael specializes in Southeast Asian politics with particular reference to state-society relations during democratization and decentralization. He published a book with Cambridge University Press titled The Politics of Shari’a Law: Islamist Activists and the State in Democratizing Indonesia; articles in disciplinary journals such as Comparative Politics and Party Politics; area studies journals such as Third World Quarterly and South East Asia Research; chapters in Beyond Oligarchy, Problems of Democratisation in Indonesia, and Deepening Democracy in Indonesia; as well as online contributions to Aljazeera, Inside Indonesia, The Diplomat, The Financial Times, and New Mandala.

For the past 17 years, Michael Buehler has also consulted on aid effectiveness, corruption eradication, party financing, procurement reform and other governance and political reform issues in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Northern Africa and the Middle East for, among others, the Asia Foundation, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), Transparency International, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), USAID and the World Bank. Michael has also provided political risks evaluations for private sector companies operating across Asia and is a regular contributor to briefs on political and economic developments in the region for Oxford Analytica, a business consultancy company.