Democracy, Islam and Party System in Indonesia: towards a consensus-oriented model?

https://doi.org/10.22146/pcd.41970

Pal Istvan Gyene(1*)

(1) Budapest Business School
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


This paper argues that the impact of “Islam” on the Indonesian political system is worth studying on three different levels: 1. society’s political divisions; 2. the party system 3. parliamentary politics. I contend that there is a specifically Indonesian “consensus-oriented” democracy model involved in the process—which is not, however, without Western predecessors—wherein political Islam and Islamist parties act not as destabilising factors but rather as “Muslim democratic” forces that strengthen democratic consensus in a manner similar to some “Western” Christian democratic parties. This research is based partly on a historical and, implicitly, comparative approach. It builds strongly on the theoretical framework and methodology of Sartori’s classic party system typology, Lijphardt’s “majoritarian” and “consensus-based” democracy model, and the so-called neo-institutionalist debate on the possible advantages and disadvantages of parliamentary and presidential governments. 


Keywords


Indonesia, democratisation, party system, political Islam, consensual democracy

Full Text:

PDF


References

Aspinall, E. (2011). Democratization and ethnic politics in Indonesia: Nine theses. Journal of East Asian Studies, 11(2), 289-319.

Aspinall, E. & Sukmajati, M. (2016). Patronage and clientelism in Indonesian electoral politics. In E. Aspinall & M. Sukmajati (eds.), Electoral dynamics in Indonesia: Money politics, patronage and clientelism at the grassroots (pp. 1–38). Singapore: National University of Singapore Press.

Azra A. (2002). Globalization of Indonesian muslim discourse. In J. Meuelman (ed.), Islam in the era of globalization (pp. 31–50). London and New York: Routledge-Curzon.

Barton, G. (2010). Indonesia: Legitimacy, secular democracy, and Islam. Politics & Policy, 38(3), 471–496.

Bertrand, J. (2003). Nationalism and ethnic conflict in Indonesia. Cambridge University Press.

Buehler, M. (2009). Islam and democracy in Indonesia. Insight Turkey, 11(4), 51–63.

Dahl, R. A. (1971). Polyarchy: Participation and opposition. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Dewi, S. W. (2018, August 09). Who is Ma’ruf Amin, Jokowi’s running mate? The Jakarta Post. Retrieved from http://www.thejakartapost. com/news/2018/08/09/who-is-maruf-amin-jokowis-running-mate.html?src=mostviewed&pg=news/2018/05/13/jakarta-east-java-riau-islands-on-highest-alert-after-surabaya-bombings.html .

Eliraz, G. (2004). Islam in Indonesia. Brighton and Portland: Sussex Academic Press.

Fionna, U. & Tomsa, D. (2017). Parties and factions in Indonesia: The effects of historical legacies and institutional engineering. ISEAS Working Papers.

Fukuoka, Y. (2013). Oligarchy and democracy in post-Suharto Indonesia. Political Studies Review, 11(1), 52-64.

Geertz, C. (1976). The religion of Java. Chicago and London: Chicago University Press.

Hefner, R. W. (2000). Civil Islam. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.

Higashikata, T. & Kawamura, K. (2015). Voting behaviour in Indonesia from 1999 to 2014. Religious cleavage or economic performance? Institute of Developing Economies, Working Paper No. 512.

Hisyam, M. (2002): The Interaction of religion and state in Indonesia. In J. Meuelman (ed.), Islam in the era of globalization (pp. 299–314). London and New York: Routledge-Curzon.

Horowitz, D. L. (1990). Comparing democratic systems. Journal of Democracy. 1(4), 143–149.

Huntington, S. P. (1991). The third wave: Democratization in the late twentieth century. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press.

Laakso, M. & Taagepera, R. (1979). Effective number of parties: A measure application to west Europe. Comparative Political Studies, 12(1), 3–27.

Lijphardt, A. (1984). Democracies: Patterns of majoritarian and consensus government in twenty-one countries. Yale University Press.

Linz, J. J. (1990): The perils of presidentialism. Journal of Democracy, 1(1), 51–69.

Lipset, S.M. & Rokkan, S. (1967): Party systems and voter alignments: Cross-national perspectives. Free Press.

Mainwaring, S. (1993). Presidentialism, multipartism, and democracy: The difficult combination. Comparative Political Studies, 26(2), 198–228.

Mainwaring, S. & Shugart, M. (1993). Juan Linz, presidentialism and democracy: A critical appraisal. Kellogg Institute Working Paper.

Meuelman, J. (2002). South-East Asian Islam and the globalization process. In J. Meuelman (ed.), Islam in the era of globalization (pp. 13–30). London and New York: Routledge-Curzon.

Mietzner, M. (2008). Comparing Indonesia’s party systems of the 1950s and the post-Suharto era: From centrifugal to centripetal interparty competition. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 39(3), 431–453.

Mietzner, M. & Aspinall, E. (2010). Problems of democratisation in Indonesia: An overview. In M. Mietzner & E. Aspinall (eds.), Problems of democratisation in Indonesia (pp. 1–20). ISEAS and Yusof Ishak Institute.

Mietzner, M. (2012). Indonesia’s democratic stagnation: Anti-reformist elites and resilient civil society. Democratization, 19(2), 209–229.

Mietzner, M. (2016). Coercing loyalty: Coalitional presidentialism and party politics in Jokowi’s Indonesia. Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs, 38(2), 209–232.

Prabowo Subianto to run for 2019 Indonesian presidential election with Jakarta deputy governor (2018, August 10), The Straits Times. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/ prabowo-subianto-says-to-run-again-for-indonesian-president-in-2019-election

Rabasa, A. & Haseman, J. (2002). The military and democracy in Indonesia: Challenges, politics and power. RAND – National Security Division.

Robison, R. & Hadiz, V. R. (2004). Reorganising power in Indonesia: The politics of oligarchy in an age of markets. London and New York: Routledge.

Sartori, G. (1976): Parties and party systems: A framework for analysis. Cambridge University Press.

Sulistyo, H. (2002). Electoral politics in Indonesia: A hard way to democracy. In A. Croissant (ed.), Electoral politics in Southeast and East Asia (pp. 75–99). Singapore: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Office for Regional Co-Operation in Southeast Asia.

Tanthowi, P. U. (2012). Religiosity, parties and democratization in post- Soeharto Indonesia. Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies, 2(1), 1-27.

Ufen, A. (2008a). The evolution of cleavages in the Indonesian party system. German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Working Paper 74.

Ufen, A. (2008b). From ‘aliran’ to dealignment: Political parties in post- Suharto Indonesia. South-East Asia Research, 16(1), 5–41.

Ufen, A. (2018). Party presidentialization in post-Suharto Indonesia. Contemporary Politics, 24(3), 306–324.

Woodward, M. (2008). Indonesia’s religious political parties: Democratic consolidation and security in post-new order Indonesia. Asian Security, 4(1), 41–60.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/pcd.41970

Article Metrics

Abstract views : 3777 | views : 2145

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2019 PCD Journal

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

web
analytics View My Stats

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

       

 

 

                                © Faculty of Social and Political Sciences Gadjah Mada University Jl. Sosio-Yustisia Bulaksumur Yogyakarta 55281
                                                     Telp (0274) 563362 Ext. 150; +62 811 2515 863 - email: pcd@ugm.ac.id