Abstract: The discussion in this paper revolves around the occurrence of struggles, claims and reproduction of ethnic and religious identities in local political dynamics as part of what is called the expansion of involution. There are many areas in the division, but in fact they are lack of public services and public safety. The expansion revolves around the interests of local and national elites without paying attention to the social structure and social system that takes place in the community, so it has no readiness. The term involution was also popularized by Clifford Geertz when discussing agriculture in Indonesia and Southeast Asia which was defeated by the green revolution (agricultural modernization) which was synonymous with the use of machine tools in agricultural processes and insecticide drugs in its growth. The term involution wants to describe how many new regions and officials are in the expansion areas but lack public services and attention to the people who should be brought closer to the government, as the will of expansion as part of political and economic decentralization. This study aims to answer questions and explain the problems related to the expansion problem that occurred in Terate, North Maluku, as an expansion area. The question is how the influence of ethnicity in the expansion conflict, what is the role of religious elites and political elites in the expansion conflict that has occurred for eleven years, from 2001-2012. To answer the above questions, this study is based on in-depth interviews with community leaders, religious leaders, women activists, politicians, academics, and bureaucrats in the North Maluku. The data obtained were analyzed using qualitative explanative analysis, so the relationship between factors in the expansion conflict was illustrated.