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... ll show ourselves that we can do it! We must put in the past the evil they have done to us. Tomorrow is ours! (Mydans, Oct. 23 rd 1999). The last 900 Indonesian soldiers left this island territory pulled down their red and white flag and departed from East Timor of the 31 st of October (Mydans, Oct 31 st 1999), therefore East Timor was officially free of any Indonesian reign. Now many researchers say that this is the long beginning of East Timor.
What has happened to East Timor will take years of repairing and organizing. The UN will help the people get on their feet. The World Bank also is offering help in the building and rebuilding of the nation of East Timor and is offering up to 10 million dollars to begin fixing East Timor (Mydans, Nov. 2 nd 1999). These are the problem effecting East Timor up to today. The importance now of understanding all the events that occurred in East Timor will make a better understanding of the sociological aspects.
In order to understand the situation, one must look at this event in a macro sociological approach. The reason being is because there are many nations are involved in this ordeal which is causing the interaction that is happening to the people. It is out of the peoples hand what is occurring to them. The nations are the ones either trying to fix the problem or encompassing the people with agony. One wont understand what is going on to the East Timorese people if one does not look at it at a larger sense. Although, because the micro and the macro levels of analysis focus on social structure, they obviously are complimentary; their combined use will tell us more about the social structure than either one alone.
Once one understands to look at this event in a macro sociological approach, there are three perspectives one must try to look at. The perspective that would be the best for the situation at East Timor is Conflict Theory. Conflict Theory emphasizes conflict, competition change, and constraint with a society or between societies (Shepard 18). Because many conflicting groups exist and the balance of power among groups may shift social change is constant according to the conflict theory perspective.
Again, East Timor is a primary example of Conflict Theory. Look at the scenario between East Timor and Indonesia, of course there was conflict between because East Timor wanted their freedom and Indonesia wasnt sure of giving it to them. Then there was many constraints put upon the East Timor by Indonesia. For instance, the beginning of government oriented militias to scare the East Timorese people from wanting freedom.
Destruction was the path that the militias left in East Timor Then there was refugees in West Timor that werent allowed to leave and go back to there homeland. Then there were constraints on peacekeepers allowing negotiating with the president of Indonesia to allow East Timor to become free. There were constraints to allow reporters in Indonesia and East Timor. Look at Alan Nairn, he witnessed militias operating from military bases and got caught which lead him to get thrown out of Indonesia. These examples are huge conflicts that occur not with just Indonesia and East Timor, but with many other nations. All these events that occurred, lead to huge social change in East Timor and Indonesia.
The people finally got freedom, Indonesia lost their province, East Timor must rebuild from scratch. Now once this comes to an understanding, the social dynamics and the social institutions involved in this crisis can be understood. Social dynamics is the study of change (Shepard 11). In East Timor, many occurrences lead to change. There was huge change that occurred in Indonesia, and East Timor.
Indonesia, now is look upon differently, the loss of East Timor and the presence of foreign troops trying to stop them have humiliated Indonesia and aroused a defensive wave of nationalism (Mydans Oct. 31 st 1999). Indonesia is a very, very sick country, Peter Carey of Oxford University told an Asia Society audience in New York Monday. It needs to be in a process of intensive care. (Crossette, Nov 23 rd 1999). The change of attitude toward the Indonesians causes social dynamics. They still have everything they had before except a good reputation and East Timor. East Timor on the other hand, experienced serious devastating and positive changes.
Half of their country was destroyed due to the militias. Most homes throughout the territory were destroyed in the militia campaign of destruction, and most of the population fled their homes or were forced into exile in a mass movement of people (Mydans, Nov. 1 st 1999). This is devastating change, with 70 % of their building burned to the ground it will cause great change. The most important change that did occur is that finally the East Timorese people finally have their freedom. This is what they wanted most, (this is self-explanatory because of the vote they took back in August), the people struggled to the toughest of times and got what they wanted similar the U. S.
getting Independence from Britain. This is huge social change and East Timor is a good example of social dynamics. There are so many social institutions that happened in East Timor. But the best way to look at this aspect is to look at this event (East Timor getting their freedom) as and social movement. They are aimed at redefinitions of norms and values rather than at questions of economics and who gets what.
They are more global in focus and tend to center on quality-of-life issues (Shepard 488). This is the exact definition of what is going on in East Timor. The people took this vote because they wanted to be freed from the Indonesians. They wanted the norms to be changed, which basically means they wanted freedom. During the course of the movement the economy of East Timor changed. First, Indonesia stopped funding East Timor because they lost their control over them.
Therefore, the World Bank has to fund East Timor in rebuilding. This is huge economic change. With the term economy, many different aspects of their economy are going to change and that is what they wanted. The economy is and an example of a social institution which they wanted to change.
Freedom and a change of economy are what the people of East Timor wanted and that is what they got, therefore this is characterized as a social movement. Will everything work out fine for the future of East Timor? Will East Timor become financially stable in the years to come? Will Indonesia ever try to invade East Timor again? Say if there were no United Nations, would have anything of this got accomplished? These are all questions that need to be answered and there are many more to be asked.
In order though to understand what these questions are about, a thorough understanding of the events that occurred in East Timor needs to be set forth. Then an analysis of the sociological aspects that occurred in East Timor, macro sociology, conflict theory, social dynamics, and social movement will lead to an easier understanding how sociology is used in ever day life and events around the world. Bibliography: Works Cited Crossette, Barbara. Council Ready to Approve Transfer of East Timor to UN The New York Times 22 Oct. 1999: A 7. Crossette, Barbara.
Military is said to Prevent East Timor Refugees Return. The New York Times 23 Nov. 1999: A 6. McDonald, Mark. Nations around world vow to send troops to secure East Timor. The Star Ledger 16 Sept. 1999: A 9. McDonald, Mark.
Peacekeeping force sails for E. Timor. The Sunday Star Ledger 19 Sept. 1999: A 8. Mydans, Seth. Peacekeepers in East Timor Kill 3 Gunmen in a firefight. The New York Times 17 Oct. 1999: A 2.
Mydans, Seth. A Timor Leaders Emotional Return. The New York Times 23 Oct. 1999: A 5. Mydans, Seth.
Last Indonesian Troops Leave East Timor, Ending 24 -year Occupation. The New York Times 31 Oct. 1999: A 3. Mydans, Seth. East Timorese Celebrate in Their Newly Freed Capital. The New York Times 1 Nov. 1999: A 4. Mydans, Seth.
World Bank Begins Task of Rebuilding in East Timor. The New York Times 2 Nov. 1999: A 3. Shepard, Jon J. , Sociology. 7 th ed. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1999. Struck, Doug. Militias still torching E.
Timor. The Star Ledger 27 Sept. 1999: 6. Zielenziger, Michael. U. S. to Indonesia: Stop buildup in W.
Timor. The Star Ledger 1 Oct. 1999: 10.
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Research essay sample on East Timor Conflict Theory
