This paper is based on eighteen ethnographic case studies from fourteen different locations in nine provinces in Indonesia. Most of the cases studied were of corruption in village development projects. The researchers used these cases as entry points for wider research on dispute-resolution. Over a thirteen month period, the research team conducted interviews with over five hundred people, ranging from ordinary villagers to academics, NGOs, communtiy and religious leaders, project consultants, lawyers, political leaders, government officials and police, prosecutors and judges