Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T12:44:38.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Surprising Democratic Behemoth: Indonesia in Comparative Asian Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2015

Edward Aspinall
Get access

Abstract

Indonesia stands out as one of the most successful cases of democratic transformation in Asia, a continent that has been, with several notable exceptions, generally resistant to democratic change over the last three decades. Taking its cue from other Asian democracies, this article considers the degree to which economic modernization and ethnic factors might account for Indonesia's relative democratic success. With regard to both, it is proposed that a key factor has been the failure of Indonesia's political cleavage structure to express social conflicts that might undermine democracy. Instead, Indonesia's democratic model has been based on an inclusionary elite settlement in which powerful political and economic actors have gained a stake in the system, largely through access to patronage. This settlement has consolidated Indonesian democracy, but it has also generated costs that have been borne by relatively disempowered groups, reflected in continuing economic and gender inequality.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 74 , Issue 4 , November 2015 , pp. 889 - 902
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Ambardi, Kuskridho. 2008. “The Making of the Indonesian Multiparty System: A Cartelized Party System and Its Origin.” PhD diss., Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Aspinall, Edward. 2005. Opposing Suharto: Compromise, Resistance and Regime Change in Indonesia. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aspinall, Edward 2010. “The Irony of Success.” Journal of Democracy 21(2):20–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aspinall, Edward 2013a. “How Indonesia Survived: Comparative Perspectives on State Disintegration and Endurance.” In Democracy and Islam in Indonesia, eds. Künkler, Mirjam and Stepan, Alfred, 126–46. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aspinall, Edward 2013b. “Popular Agency and Interests in Indonesia's Democratic Transition and Consolidation.” Indonesia 96:101–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aspinall, Edward 2015. “Inequality and Democracy in Indonesia.” Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia 17. http://kyotoreview.org/issue-17/inequality-and-democracy-in-indonesia/ (accessed July 31, 2015).Google Scholar
Aspinall, Edward, Mietzner, Marcus, and Tomsa, Dirk, eds. 2015. The Yudhoyono Presidency: Indonesia's Decade of Stability and Stagnation. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aspinall, Edward, and Van Klinken, Gerry, eds. 2011. The State and Illegality in Indonesia. Leiden: KITLV Press.Google Scholar
Badan, Pusat Statistik (Indonesian Bureau of Statistics). n.d. http://www.bps.go.id/ (accessed July 31, 2015).Google Scholar
Baker, Jacqui. 2015. “Professionalism without Reform: The Security Sector under Yudhoyono.” In The Yudhoyono Presidency: Indonesia's Decade of Stability and Stagnation, eds. Aspinall, Edward, Mietzner, Marcus, and Tomsa, Dirk, 114–35. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Bertrand, Jacques. 2004. Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bessell, Sharon. 2010. “Increasing the Proportion of Women in the National Parliament: Opportunities, Barriers and Challenges.” In Problems of Democratisation in Indonesia: Elections, Institutions and Society, eds. Aspinall, Edward and Mietzner, Marcus, 219–42. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Bourchier, David. 1995. “Totalitarianism and the ‘National Personality’: Recent Controversy about the Philosophical Basis of the Indonesian State.” In Imagining Indonesia: Cultural Politics and Political Culture, eds. Schiller, Jim and Martin-Schiller, Barbara, 157–85. Athens: Ohio University Center for International Studies.Google Scholar
Bourchier, David, and Legge, John, eds. 1994. Democracy in Indonesia: 1950s and 1990s. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University.Google Scholar
Bush, Robin. 2008. “Regional Sharia Regulations in Indonesia: Anomaly or Symptom?” In Expressing Islam: Religious Life and Politics in Indonesia, eds. Fealy, Greg and White, Sally, 174–91. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Chua, Christian. 2008. Chinese Big Business in Indonesia: The State of Capital. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croissant, Aurel. 2004. “From Transition to Defective Democracy: Mapping Asian Democratization.” Democratization 11(5):156–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Devotta, Neil. 2005. “From Ethnic Outbidding to Ethnic Conflict: The Institutional Bases for Sri Lanka's Separatist War.” Nations and Nationalism 11(1):141–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dick, Howard W. 1985. “The Rise of a Middle Class and the Changing Concept of Equity in Indonesia: An Interpretation.” Indonesia 39:71–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmerson, Donald K. 1995. “Region and Recalcitrance: Rethinking Democracy through Southeast Asia.” Pacific Review 8(2):223–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fealy, Greg. 2003. “Divided Majority: Limits of Indonesian Political Islam.” In Islam and Political Legitimacy, eds. Akbarzadeh, Sharam and Saeed, Abdullah, 150–68. London: RoutledgeCurzon.Google Scholar
Fearon, James. 2003. “Ethnic and Cultural Diversity by Country.” Journal of Economic Growth 8:195–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fish, M. Steven, and Brooks, Robin S.. 2004. “Does Diversity Hurt Democracy?” Journal of Democracy 15(1):154–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, Michele, and Pepinsky, Thomas B., eds. 2014. Beyond Oligarchy: Wealth, Power, and Contemporary Indonesian Politics. Ithaca, N.Y.: Southeast Asia Program Publications, Cornell University.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grazella, Mariel. 2012. “Jakarta Named the World's Most Active Twitter City.” Jakarta Post, August 1. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/08/01/jakarta-named-world-s-most-active-twitter-city.html (accessed July 31, 2015).Google Scholar
Heryanto, Ariel, and Hadiz, Vedi R.. 2005. “Post-Authoritarian Indonesia.” Critical Asian Studies 37(2):251–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewison, Kevin. 2015. “Inequality and Politics in Thailand.” Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia 17. http://kyotoreview.org/issue-17/inequality-and-politics-in-thailand-2/ (accessed July 25, 2015).Google Scholar
Hill, Hal, ed. 2014. Regional Dynamics in Decentralized Indonesia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. 1993. “Democracy in Divided Societies.” Journal of Democracy 4(4):18–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. 2013. Constitutional Change and Democracy in Indonesia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inter-Parliamentary Union. 2015. “Women in National Parliaments: World and Regional Averages.” http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm (accessed July 25, 2015).Google Scholar
Jakarta Post. 2010. “Indonesia Fourth Biggest Facebook Users in the World.” January 6. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/06/indonesia-fourth-biggest-facebook-users-world.html (accessed July 31, 2015).Google Scholar
Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1959. “Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy.” American Political Science Review 53(1):69–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menchik, Jeremy. 2014. “Productive Intolerance: Godly Nationalism in Indonesia.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 56(3):591–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mietzner, Marcus. 2012. “Indonesia's Democratic Stagnation: Antireformist Elites and Resilient Civil Society.” Democratization 19(2):209–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mietzner, Marcus 2014. “How Jokowi Won and Democracy Survived.” Journal of Democracy 25(4):111–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montesano, Michael J, Chachavalpongpun, Pavin, and Chongvilaivan, Aekapol, eds. 2012. Bangkok, May 2010: Perspectives on a Divided Thailand. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puddington, Arch. 2014. “The Democratic Leadership Gap.” In Freedom in the World 2014. New York: Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Overview%20Essay%20-%20FIW2014_1.pdf (accessed July 25, 2015).Google Scholar
Robison, Richard. 1996. “The Middle Class and the Bourgeoisie in Indonesia.” In The New Rich in Asia: Mobile Phones, McDonalds and Middle-Class Revolution, eds. Robison, Richard and Goodman, David S. G., 79–104. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Robison, Richard, and Hadiz, Vedi R.. 2004. Reorganising Power in Indonesia: The Politics of Oligarchy in an Age of Markets. London: RoutledgeCurzon.Google Scholar
Rudolph, Susanne Hoeber, and Rudolph, Lloyd I.. 2002. “New Dimensions of Indian Democracy.” Journal of Democracy 13(1):52–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Satriyo, Hana A. 2010. “Pushing the Boundaries: Women in Direct Local Elections and Local Government.” In Problems of Democratisation in Indonesia: Elections, Institutions and Society, eds. Aspinall, Edward and Mietzner, Marcus, 243–63. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Slater, Dan. 2004. “Indonesia's Accountability Trap: Party Cartels and Presidential Power after Democratic Transition.” Indonesia 78:61–92.Google Scholar
Slater, Dan 2013. “Democratic Careening.” World Politics 65(4):729–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slater, Dan 2014. “Unbuilding Blocs: Indonesia's Accountability Deficit in Historical Perspective.” Critical Asian Studies 46(2):287–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoner, Kathryn, and McFaul, Michael, eds. 2013. Transitions to Democracy: A Comparative Perspective. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Surbakti, Soedarti. 2002. “Gender Mainstreaming and Sex-Disaggregated Data.” In Women in Indonesia: Gender, Equity and Development, eds. Robinson, Kathryn and Bessell, Sharon, 209–18. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Tanter, Richard, and Young, Kenneth, eds. 1990. The Politics of Middle Class Indonesia. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University.Google Scholar
Teorell, Jan. 2010. Determinants of Democratization: Explaining Regime Change in the World, 1972–2006. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tien, Hung-Mao. 1989. The Great Transition: Political and Social Change in the Republic of China. Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press.Google Scholar
Tudor, Maya, and Slater, Dan. 2015. “The Content of Democracy: Nationalist Parties and Inclusive Ideologies in India and Indonesia.” Unpublished paper.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varshney, Ashutosh. 2000. “Is India Becoming More Democratic?” Journal of Asian Studies 59(1):3–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Bank. 2015a. “GDP Per Capita (Current US$).” http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD/countries (accessed July 25, 2015).Google Scholar
World Bank 2015b. “GINI Index (World Bank Estimate).” http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI (accessed July 25, 2015).Google Scholar
Wurfel, David. 2004. “Democracy, Nationalism, and Ethnic Identity: The Philippines and East Timor Compared.” In Democratization and Identity: Regimes and Ethnicity in East and Southeast Asia, ed. Henders, Susan J., 201–24. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Yusuf, Arief Anshory, Sumner, Andy, and Rum, Irlan Adiyatma. 2014. “Twenty Years of Expenditure Inequality in Indonesia, 1993–2013.” Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 50(2):243–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar