Competing populisms in post-authoritarian Indonesia
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
| Author | Richard Robison,Vedi R Hadiz |
| DOI | 10.1177/0192512117697475 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512117697475
International Political Science Review
2017, Vol. 38(4) 488 –502
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0192512117697475
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Competing populisms in
post-authoritarian Indonesia
Vedi R Hadiz
University of Melbourne, Australia
Richard Robison
Murdoch University, Australia
Abstract
Populist politics have become more prominent in Indonesia. On the one hand, this is indicated by the
presidential elections of 2014, when two rival candidates brandished somewhat different nationalist populist
ideas. On the other hand, historically rooted secular nationalist and Islamic-oriented forms of populism
have become entangled within elite conflicts. The context is discontent about perceived systemic injustices
unaddressed in nearly two decades of decentralised democracy after a prior three decades of centralised
authoritarian rule. In the absence of liberal and Leftist challenges to the entrenched oligarchy, politics is
becoming characterised by competition between different populisms. But rather than being transformative,
these populisms are harnessed to the maintenance of oligarchic domination.
Keywords
Populism, Indonesia, oligarchy, secular nationalism, Islamic populism
Introduction
Populism has become an increasingly significant political phenomenon in Southeast Asia, includ-
ing in Indonesia, its largest economy and the world’s third largest democracy after India and the
USA. As elsewhere, it is related to a broadening sense of distrust in established political and social
institutions across society and feelings of alienation caused by growing disparities in wealth and
power.1 Evolving populisms in Southeast Asia are thus closely linked to deepening engagement
with the global market economy and with the reordering of social and political life on the basis of
neoliberal principles.
Our arguments are as follows: given the historical absence of strong traditions of liberal politics
and the decimation of the Left during the Cold War, political conflict in Indonesia is becoming
Corresponding author:
Vedi Hadiz, Asia Institute, University of Melbourne, 158/761 Swanston Street, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
Email: vedi.hadiz@unimelb.edu.au
697475IPS0010.1177/0192512117697475International Political Science ReviewHadiz and Robison
research-article2017
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