Edward Aspinall is a Professor in and Head of the Department of Political and Social Change, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University. He researches politics in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, with interests in democratisation, ethnicity, and clientelism, among other topics. He has authored four books, 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), and co-edited twelve others. He has also published about ninety journal articles and book chapters, most on aspects of Indonesian politics, and is the co-series editor of the Asian Studies Association of Australia’s Southeast Asia Publications book series with National University of Singapore Press, and of the Southeast Asian Politics and Society Elements series published by Cambridge University Press.

Career Highlights Lecturer in Southeast Asian Studies, University of Sydney, 2003-2005; Lecturer in Indonesian studies, University of New South Wales, 1997-2001; Co-Winner of of the Asian Studies Association of Australia's Mid-career Researcher Prize for Excellence in Asian Studies (2010) for Islam and Nation; Member of the Australian Academy of the Humanities; Awarded a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council (2012). Elected President of the Asian Studies Association of Australia in 2018.

Indonesian  and Southeast Asian politics; democratisation; social movements, nationalism and ethnic conflict; patronage and clientelism.