Daniel Saul Lev (October 23, 1933 – July 29, 2006) was an American

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and scholar on

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. Lev was born and raised in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...

. In his youth, he participated in the

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nationa ...

competitions for

amateur boxing Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

. He graduated from

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 1 ...

in 1955 and received his doctorate from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

, where he became a member of the Modern Indonesia Project. Lev first traveled to Indonesia in 1959 and stayed in the country for three years. Because of his experience in Indonesia, Lev became a proponent of

law reform Law reform or legal reform is the process of examining existing laws, and advocating and implementing change in a legal system, usually with the aim of enhancing justice or efficiency. Intimately related are law reform bodies or law commissions, ...

after observing the "systematic dismantling" of its legal system under Presidents

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader ...

and

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto le ...

. After returning to the United States, he became a professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Lev's opposition to the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

was not well received by the university and likely prevented him from receiving

tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

. Soon after, he moved to Seattle to teach at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

before finally retiring in 1999. As a scholar of Indonesian law, Lev helped the country's lawyers and activists continue their education in the United States. His dissertation titled ''The Transition to Guided Democracy: Indonesian Politics 1957–1959'' analyzed Sukarno's

Guided Democracy Guided democracy, also called managed democracy, is a formally democratic government that functions as a ''de facto'' authoritarian government or in some cases, as an autocratic government. Such hybrid regimes are legitimized by elections that ...

principles and became a classic reading on the development of the country's political system. He was also a member of

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

and served on the advisory committee of its Asia division. Lev was a heavy smoker and died from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

on July 29, 2006. He had been writing a biography on

Chinese Indonesian Chinese Indonesians ( id, Orang Tionghoa Indonesia) and colloquially Chindo or just Tionghoa are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Chinese people and their Indonesian descendants have l ...

lawyer and human rights advocate Yap Thiam Hien at the time of his death. Over 900 pages of the book had been written, and two chapters remained unwritten. Fellow scholar and friend

Benedict Anderson Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson (August 26, 1936 – December 13, 2015) was an Anglo-Irish political scientist and historian who lived and taught in the United States. Anderson is best known for his 1983 book '' Imagined Communities'', which e ...

continued his work and published the book ''No Concessions: The Life of Yap Thiam Hien, Indonesian Human Rights Lawyer'' in 2011. He was married to Arlene O. Lev and had two children, son Louis and daughter Claire.

Selected publications

* No Concessions: The Life of Yap Thiam Hien, Indonesian Human Rights Lawyer (2011) * The Transition to Guided Democracy: Indonesian Politics, 1957-1959 (2009) * Yap Thiam Hien and Aceh (2006) * Politik minoritas: minoritas dalam politik (2000) * Legal evolution and political authority in Indonesia: selected essays (2000) * Making Indonesia (1996) * Making Indonesia (with Ruth McVey), (1996) * Introduction in "Memoirs of Oei Tjoe Tat, assistant to the president Sukarno" by Oei Tjoe Tjoe (Pengantar dalam "Memoar Oei Tjoe Tat, pembantu presiden Soekarno" oleh

Oei Tjoe Tat Oei Tjoe Tat (; 26 April 1922 – 26 May 1996) was a Chinese-Indonesian government official. Born in Surakarta, Central Java, he began his political career after graduating from the Universiteit van Indonesië (now the University of Indonesia) in ...

) (1995) * Lawyers as outsiders: advocacy versus the state in Indonesia (1992) * Hukum dan Politik di Indonesia, Kesinambungan dan Perubahan (1990) * Legal Aid in Indonesia (1987) * Pengantar dalam "Bantuan hukum dan kemiskinan struktural" oleh T. Mulya Lubis (1986) * Bush lawyers in Indonesia: stratification, representation and brokerage (1973) * Islamic courts in Indonesia: a study in the political bases of legal institutions (1972) * American aid and political development (1967) * The transition to guided democracy: Indonesian politics, 1957-1959 (1966) * Republic of Indonesia cabinets, 1945-1965 (1965) * Some descriptive notes on foreign assistance in Indonesian technical education (1961) * A bibliography of Indonesian government documents and selected Indonesian writings on government in the Cornell University Library (1958)

References

External links

Guiding Transitions: Daniel Lev's Influence on Southeast Asian Studies
a session of the 2000

Association for Asian Studies The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is a scholarly, non-political and non-profit professional association focusing on Asia and the study of Asia. It is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. The Association provides members with an Annu ...

Annual Meeting
Daniel S. Lev Law Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lev, Daniel 1933 births 2006 deaths American political scientists American anti–Vietnam War activists Miami University alumni Cornell University alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty University of Washington faculty Deaths from lung cancer Activists from California Indonesianists 20th-century political scientists