Description
Why do anti-subversion trials under authoritarian regimes sometimes threaten to undermine government authority, even when a guilty verdict is a foregone conclusion? This paper addresses the question via the examination of three Indonesian show trials that span the twentieth century. Combining a historical approach and discourse analysis, the paper argues that regime coherence, the media landscape, and the ability to mobilise opinion at an international level are important factors in influencing the varied consequences of show trials. It locates show trials as focal points whereby dissidents and marginalised groups can, on occasion, make an impact on a global stage even whilst subject to the power of the authoritarian state. However it also cautions that whilst show trials might sometimes act as ‘spaces of resistance’, the efficacy of such resistance depends on specific conjunctures of local and international forces.
Key words: human rights, law, media, security, post structuralism, resistance
