Suci Lestari Yuana

The globalization of platform work has had variegated effects on working conditions. However, the dichotomy between formal employment and informal economic activities still dominates academic research and policymaking. This division reiterates a colonial matrix of thought by taking the formal employment regime as developed during the 20th century in the Global North as a worldwide standard, while grouping together multifarious working conditions in the Global South under the negative container concept of “in-formal work.” We use the Weberian methodology of ideal-type construction to positively characterize the variegated informalities of platform work while respecting its heterogeneity. We describe three ideal-types for informal working conditions in platform-mediated transportation: in Argentina, platform work functions as an income-driven safety net for workers left behind by the formal labor market; in Indonesia, platforms are forces of selective (in)formalization that apply or lift formal work arrangements depending on strategic interactions with other stakeholders; in Kenya, debt-fueled informality gets workers trapped in debt to engage in platform work.

This paper reflects on teaching an Introduction to Peace Studies course at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in 2024, shaped by student protests over education fees in Yogyakarta and the genocide in Gaza. The course used drama, poetry, speculative writing, and privilege-based activities to foster critical thinking, emotional engagement, and challenges to hierarchy. Using a dramaturgical framework, we examine the classroom as a performative space where pedagogy intersected with real-world struggles. Students negotiated peace and violence through embodiment, dialogue, and reflection, while protests outside the classroom added urgency and ethical dilemmas to their learning. We argue that higher education functions as both a site of transformation and complicity in structural violence. Dramaturgy – through staging, scripting, and performance – served as an estrangement tool, provoking reflection for both teachers and learners. Grounded in the Indonesian context, this study also speaks to Global South debates on reimagining peace pedagogy in times of conflict.

Banten Province, Indonesia, is a critical yet overlooked frontier of urbanisation. Despite being one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-urbanising regions, its secondary cities, towns and peri-urban hinterlands remain marginal in urban studies and sustainability science. This neglect is consequential. Future urban growth will increasingly concentrate in such settlements, yet debates on urbanisation in Indonesia and Southeast Asia remain focused on metropolitan regions such as Jakarta, one of the world’s largest urban areas. This paper addresses this gap by combining a cross-sector participatory horizon scan with a responsive development pathway for under-resourced territories. Thirty-four participants from academia, government and professional associations co-produced insights into Banten’s urban trajectories, triangulated with literature and secondary data. To our knowledge, this study draws on the first expert workshop on Banten’s urbanisation of this scale, cross-sectoral reach and disciplinary breadth, spanning six domains: economic development, physical infrastructure, social development, cultural heritage, environment and biodiversity, and disaster vulnerability. The deliberations also identified nine cross-cutting issues—including governance deficits, environmental injustice and climate risk—that underpin territorial inequality. From these findings, the paper synthesises a responsive development pathway that supports coordinated planning and governance across Banten’s urbanising settlements and offers a transferable model for negotiating extended urbanisation in rapidly urbanising Global South regions.

This research introduces the concept of "Mundane Circular Economy Policy" (MCEP) in the study of International Political Economy (IPE) and explains how this paper relates to broader IR issues such as sustainability, global economic dynamics, and global education policies. The research methodology employed is Multi Criteria Mapping, which analyzes complex and uncertain issues like Circular Schools. Through the participation of 22 primary school principals in Central Java, three outputs were generated from this research: (1) a map of circular school policies, highlighting 58 policy initiatives that implement the 5R principles (Reduce, Rethink, Reuse, Repair, Recycle); (2) a map of assessment criteria for circular policies; and (3) a mapping of optimism and pessimism in implementing the 5R principles in circular schools. These outputs have significant implications within the context of IPE, as they demonstrate how schools can act as agents in creating economically and politically sustainable environments.