Since the 1970s, the Indonesian economy has boomed and is considered one of the world's greatest success stories. It has also transformed Indonesian domestic policies in fundamental ways.

Translating key speeches and articles from the political debates surrounding Indonesian development, Ian Chalmers and Vedi Hadiz present and analyze trends in development thinking by leading Indonesian figures over the past thirty years. They outline the three contending streams of thought that have long influenced policy making in Indonesia: economic nationalism; economic liberalism; and economic popularism. Tracing the evolution of these three ideologies, The Politics of Economic Development in Indonesia argues that Indonesia's recent economic success has been accompanied by a growing diversity of views about future development policy.