East Timor

Elections in the World's Newest Nation

Bibliographic Data

ID6287445
AuthorsAnthony L Smith (corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume15
Issue2
Pages145-159
Publication date2004-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of democracy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1045-5736 • E-ISSN: 1086-3214
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/jod.2004.0036
OpenAlexW2091970898
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited1

East Timor has emerged as the world's newest nation-state after belatedly achieving its full independence on 20 May 2002. Transition to statehood has also been accompanied by a transition to democracy. Since the 1999 Referendum in East Timor, in which the vast majority of East Timorese opted to leave the Indonesian state, East Timor has experienced elections for a Constituent Assembly and for a President. East Timor has adopted a semi-presidential model of government similar to that of Portugal or Mozambique. A much commented on political rivalry between East Timor's President, Xanana Gusmão, and the ruling party, Fretilin, need not be threatening to democratic practice within East Timor if it remains in the realm of policy debate—which it has so far. Despite the paucity of free and fair elections in East Timor in the past, the general public, still largely without formal education, appear to have embraced democratic practice. As with any newly democratizing country, especially one that faces the myriad of development obstacles that East Timor does, this fledging democracy will continue to face challenges in its development

Clientelism · Democracy · Democratization · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics · Independence (probability theory · Indonesian · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · Referendum · Rivalry · Sociology · State (computer science · Cyprus History, Politics, Society · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security

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