Rate My Professor Edward Aspinall

Edward Aspinall is a Professor of Politics and Head of the Department of Political and Social Change in the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University. He earned a BA in Jurisprudence from the University of Adelaide, a BA with Honours from the University of Sydney, and a PhD from the Australian National University. Earlier in his career, he served as Lecturer in Indonesian Studies at the University of New South Wales from 1997 to 2001 and as Lecturer in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Sydney from 2003 to 2005.

A leading scholar of Southeast Asian politics with a focus on Indonesia, Aspinall's research encompasses democratisation, social movements, nationalism, ethnic conflict, patronage, clientelism, and ethnicity. He has authored four monographs: Opposing Suharto: Compromise, Resistance and Regime Change in Indonesia (Stanford University Press, 2005), Islam and Nation: Separatist Rebellion in Aceh, Indonesia (Stanford University Press, 2009), Democracy for Sale: Elections, Clientelism, and the State in Indonesia (Cornell University Press, 2019, co-authored with Ward Berenschot), and Mobilizing for Elections: Patronage and Political Networks in Southeast Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2022, co-authored with Meredith L. Weiss, Allen Hicken, and Paul D. Hutchcroft). Additionally, he has co-edited twelve books and published around ninety journal articles and book chapters, many on Indonesian politics. His scholarship has had substantial impact in the field, evidenced by high citation counts for his works, such as over 800 citations for Opposing Suharto and nearly 770 for Democracy for Sale. Aspinall has received prestigious recognitions, including co-winning the Asian Studies Association of Australia's Mid-career Researcher Prize for Excellence in Asian Studies in 2010 for Islam and Nation, an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship in 2012, election to the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and serving as President of the Asian Studies Association of Australia in 2018. He holds editorial roles as co-series editor for the Asian Studies Association of Australia’s Southeast Asia Publications series with National University of Singapore Press and the Southeast Asian Politics and Society Elements series with Cambridge University Press.