This book was born out of concern over the direction of state governance, which is moving ever further away from the spirit of constitutionalism, democracy, and ecological justice. In recent years, state power has shown a tendency to operate in command mode: centralized, narrowing civic space, allowing state apparatuses to dominate the public and private sectors, moving quickly with little participation, and relying on legal instruments for legitimacy.
This phenomenon does not always take the form of visible violations of law. On the contrary, it is often carried out through regulations, decisions, and policies that appear legitimate. The essays in this book seek to map and critique these dynamics from several perspectives: the constitution, legal politics, government governance, political economy, and the environmental and climate crisis.
This book is not intended as a final verdict, but as an invitation to think critically and engage in dialogue with all readers who believe that law should be an instrument of liberation.
Author Profile
Muhamad Saleh is a legal researcher at the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS). He has a background in constitutional law and focuses on issues related to the drafting of legislation, regulatory reform, licensing governance, and the energy transition.
In his work, he has been extensively involved in policy research and public advocacy concerning the impact of regulations on citizens’ rights and the environment. He has also participated in various strategic litigation efforts, through both administrative courts and judicial review of regulations at the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court, particularly concerning regulations deemed procedurally or substantively problematic. In addition to conducting research and writing, he teaches at Universitas Siber Muhammadiyah, a university that provides distance-learning legal education for students and professionals. He writes regularly for various media outlets on the relationship between law, power, and the ecological crisis.