Democracy International (DI) conducted a Democracy and Governance Assessment in Indonesia to help the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission in Indonesia to set priorities for democracy and governance programs for the next five years.

Democracy International (DI) fielded a team to conduct this assessment in Indonesia in March 2008. The team consisted of Eric Bjornlund, President of Democracy International, as team leader; William Liddle, a professor at Ohio State University; and Pratikno, a professor at Gadjah Mada University and Indonesian political analyst. Blair King of USAID Washington also joined the team through-out its field work and participated in team deliberations. The team gathered information for the assessment from interviews conducted during a three-week stay and from available documents and published reports. The team cited the lack of effective governance and the failure of the judicial system to tackle corruption and inspire confidence as major challenges to consolidating democracy in Indonesia. The team recommended focus on local governance, justice-sector reform, and consolidating the democratic peace in Aceh as DG priorities.