Indonesia: The Dangers of Democratic Regression

DOI

10.2991/icsps-17.2018.1How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Reformasi, democratic regression, populist, democratic fragility

Abstract

For the last decade, comparativists and country experts have praised Indonesia's democratic stability. Free, fair and highly competitive elections are held regularly throughout the country. Indonesia boasts a vibrant civil society and its press is amongst the freest in the region. However, praise for Indonesia's democratic credentials has always been accompanied by significant caveats. Analysts point to systemic corruption and weak rule of law, and conclude that while Indonesia's democracy is stable, it continues to lag on many indicators for democratic quality. In this paper, we reassess the health of Indonesian democracy and point to new signs of fragility and, in some cases, democratic deterioration. Specifically, we look at the rise of a xenophobic and reactionary brand of populist politics, and a sustained illiberal drift in the regulation of civil liberties. We also use polling data to investigate the depth of societal support for democratic institutions and values. The data reveal that, although support for democracy as an abstract value remains high, there is also significant potential for an illiberal coalition that could provide the base for future erosion of democratic institutions

Copyright

© 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Edward Aspinall
AU  - Eve Warburton
PY  - 2017/11
DA  - 2017/11
TI  - Indonesia: The Dangers of Democratic Regression
BT  - Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Social and Political Sciences (ICSPS 2017)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1
EP  - 4
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/icsps-17.2018.1
DO  - 10.2991/icsps-17.2018.1
ID  - Aspinall2017/11
ER  -