Separatism in Aceh: From social rebellion to political movement

Some theoretical literature posits a clear distinction between civil society and political society. For the noted scholar of democratization, Alfred Stepan, for example, civil society is ‘that arena where social movements . . . and civic organizations from all classes . . . attempt to constitute themselves in an ensemble of arrangements so they can express themselves and advance their interests’ (Stepan 1988: 3-4). Political society, by contrast, is the arena ‘in which the polity specifically arranges itself for political contestation to gain control over public power and the state apparatus’ (Stepan 1988: 4). Likewise, we can in abstract terms distinguish between social movements, defined as ‘recurrent patterns of collective activities which are partially institutionalized, value-oriented and anti-systemic in their form and symbolism’ (Pakulski 1991: xiv), and political movements, which seek not merely to oppose, critique or wring concessions from government but to seize full or partial control of it by overthrowing, colonizing, infiltrating or inserting personnel into state institutions.