Authoritarian elections, state capacity, and performance legitimacy: Phases of regime consolidation and decline in Suharto’s Indonesia
| DOI | 10.1177/0192512116687139 |
| Published date | 01 January 2018 |
| Author | Marcus Mietzner |
| Date | 01 January 2018 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512116687139
International Political Science Review
2018, Vol. 39(1) 83 –96
© The Author(s) 2017
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0192512116687139
journals.sagepub.com/home/ips
Authoritarian elections, state
capacity, and performance
legitimacy: Phases of regime
consolidation and decline in
Suharto’s Indonesia
Marcus Mietzner
Australian National University, Australia
Abstract
Political scientists have recently debated the extent to which strong state capacity helps authoritarian regimes
to win elections and extend their rule. This article proposes that it is not only important to disaggregate
the various forms of state capacity mobilized for that purpose, but also to analyze the sequence with which
autocracies deploy them. Using Suharto’s New Order regime in Indonesia as a case study, I argue that
regimes mobilize different forms of state capacity in distinct phases of their development, and that the
sequencing of this deployment can have implications for the regime’s endurance. Suharto, for example,
gradually reduced the importance of coercion as he increasingly focused on the state’s ability to facilitate
elite co-optation and economic patronage. This helped to extend the regime’s endurance as long as the
economy flourished, but also made it vulnerable to the fluctuations in the world economy that caused its
demise in 1998.
Keywords
Authoritarianism, elections, state, military, Indonesia
Introduction
Elections in authoritarian regimes have received increasing attention in the literature on the endur-
ance of non-democratic political systems. While the majority of authors have focused on the elec-
toral strategies of autocrats (Levitsky and Way, 2010; Lueders and Croissant, 2014; Schedler, 2006,
2013), a newer stream in the discussion has highlighted structural and institutional factors that help
authoritarian leaders to win at the ballot box. In particular, authors have begun to highlight the
Corresponding author:
Marcus Mietzner, Department of Political and Social Change, Coral Bell School of Asia-Pacific Affairs, Hedley Bull
Building, Australian National University, 2601 Canberra ACT, Australia.
Email: marcus.mietzner@anu.edu.au
687139IPS0010.1177/0192512116687139International Political Science ReviewMietzner
research-article2017
Article
To continue reading
Request your trial