Merchants of meaning: The authority of global consultancy in Indonesia

This dissertation argues that the concept of authority should be more central in the academic study of international relations. Authority can be understood as a social relationship in which a certain group or individual is understood as appropriate for directing social activity. Authority can be compared to coercion and persuasion as alternative ways of activating and directing social activity. As such, authority can be theorized and investigated as a power relation. The theoretical argument is based upon an analysis of a particular institution of global authority---management and economic consultancy. Consultants are increasingly accepted by organizations around the world as the appropriate group of actors to advise processes of reform. Although I spend one chapter tracing the emergence and growth of consultancy in the United States, the bulk of the dissertation is an examination of how consultancy has become authoritative in Indonesia. Indonesia is an excellent place for an analysis of global consultancy because it would seem not to have been fertile ground for consultancy. Despite obstacles, consultancy has become widely accepted as an institution of authority. The extensive use of consultants continues even after the crisis of 1997--1998 which was partially the result of overly rapid financial liberalization advised by consultants. The empirical analysis centers on three case studies of consultancy. Each of the case studies is taken from a different social sector (state, business, tertiary) to provide a comparison of the authoritative practices in each sector. Taken as a whole, the cases define the central characteristics of consulting authority as well as the limits of this authority. I argue that the central properties of consulting authority are: (1) an appreciation of consultants as having strong links to technical/scientific knowledge; (2) a recognition of the social status of consultants; (3) an appreciation that the market validates and elevates the knowledge of consultants.