"This volume is the first major analysis of Freeport-McMoRan's presence in Indonesia. It takes a close and detailed look at the changing nature of power relations between Freeport and Suharto, the Indonesian military, the traditional Papuan landowners (the Amungme and Kamoro), and environmental and human rights groups.

It examines how and why an American company, despite rigorous home-state laws, was able to operate in West Papua with impunity for nearly thirty years and adapt to, indeed thrive in, a business culture anchored in corruption, collusion, and nepotism.

Although numerous books have been written about the Suharto government, The Politics of Power is unprecedented in its investigation of the wider political context of the relationship between Jakarta and foreign capital, which to this day keeps the lucrative mining industry in Indonesia afloat."--BOOK JACKET.