Security, Development and Nation-Building in Timor-Leste: A Cross-sectoral Assessment

Despite Timor-Leste’s high expectations when it became independent from Indonesia in 2002, the country is ranked among the least developed countries in the world. It has found itself at the centre of international attention in the last decade, with one of the biggest interventions in UN history, as well as receiving amongst the highest per capita rates of bilateral assistance in the Asia-Pacific region.

This book draws together the perspectives of practitioners, policy-makers and academics on the international efforts to rebuild one of the world’s newest nations. The contributors consider issues of peace-building, security and justice sector reform as well as human security in Timor-Leste, locating these in the broader context of building nation, stability and development. The book includes two demographic studies that can be used to critically examine the nation’s possible future. Engaging in deliberate consideration of both practical and theoretical complexities of international interventions, this book will be of interest to academics and students in the fields of Development, Security and Southeast Asian Studies.

Vandra Harris teaches International Development on the graduate program at RMIT University, Australia. Her research focuses on cultural change and human development in Southeast Asian nations, and effects of human movement.

Andrew Goldsmith is Executive Director, Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention, and Professor of Law, University of Wollongong, Australia. His main research interests are in transnational policing and counter-terrorism.