Indonesia under threat: The danger of corruption to political legitimacy
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20578911221124965 |
| Published date | 01 March 2023 |
| Date | 01 March 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Southeast Asia |
Indonesia under threat: The
danger of corruption to political
legitimacy
Derwin Tambunan
The University of Queensland, Australia
Abstract
The association between corruption and poverty, inequality, economic development and resource
distribution has been investigated widely in the Indonesian context. However, the impact of cor-
ruption on political legitimacy is still understudied, particularly for post-Soeharto Indonesia.
Hence, we are left with many puzzles and a baffling picture of political legiti macy. This research
corrects this picture and aims to ascertain two interrelated questions: (a) how and in what way
does corruption erode political legitimacy? and (b) what evidence suggests that corruption dete-
riorates legitimacy? A qualitative and a quantitative research method are deployed to address these
questions. The quantitative analysis demonstrates that corruption is statistically significant in pre-
dicting political legitimacy, suggesting that corruption erodes citizens’trust in the rule of law, dem-
ocracy, political actors and institutions. The qualitative model reinforces the quantitative results
that corruption undermines the rule of law, hijacks democracy and erodes people’s trust in pol-
itical actors and institutions.
Keywords
corruption, democracy, government, legitimacy, political institutions, rule of law
Introduction
Background and purpose of the study
In post-Soeharto Indonesia, corruption is one of the most critical political discourses
(Berenschot, 2018; Dick and Mulholland, 2016; Robison and Hadiz, 2004). According
to Transparency International (2021), from 1995 to 2021 the average of Indonesia’s Corruption
Corresponding author:
Derwin Tambunan,School of Political Science and International Studies, The University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD 4072,
Australia.
Email: d.tambunan@uq.net.au
Southeast Asia
Asian Journal of Comparative Politics
2023, Vol. 8(1) 112–140
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/20578911221124965
journals.sagepub.com/home/acp
Perception Index (CPI) was 27.63 (scale 0–100: 0 denotes high-level corruption and 100 indicates
no corruption). These indexes indicate that Indonesia suffers from endemic and thus entrenched
corruption (see Figure 1).
This study aims to examine the risks of corruption to political legitimacy. In the Indonesian
context, the study of the association between corruption and poverty, inequality, economic devel-
opment and resource distribution has been widely investigated (e.g. Azwar and Saragih, 2018;
Soseco, 2002). However, the relationship between corruption and legitimacy is still understudied.
We are hence left with a baffling picture concerning political legitimacy amid entrenched corrup-
tion. This study fills this gap and provides a unique and insightful understanding of the threat of
corruption to political legitimacy.
There are at least two schools of thought in the academic literature on the association
between corruption and legitimacy. The prominent school is the Weberian perspective;
according to this view, corruption hinders society from thriving (Bakker, 2000) and leads
to arbitrary government, hence leading people to decrease their support, question the sover-
eign authority and hesitate to abide by its rules (Bakker, 2000). In this light, corruption engen-
ders a legitimacy crisis in political institutions and government (Chang and Chu, 2006;
Clausen et al., 2011).
In contrast, revisionists claim that corruption promotes legitimacy, underpins unification and
increases national stability. Nepotism advances people’s participation in public affairs and pro-
motes bureaucratic accountability and an effective party system in political institutions.
Corruption creates mutual trust between those who corrupt and particular societies, and promotes
public participation (Heidenheimer, 1996). Furthermore, in favourable circumstances, corruption
encourages political development since it confers specific and immediate advantages to certain
groups that have been isolated from society (Bellina et al., 2009; Huntington, 1989). For instance,
in the patronage system, political actors utilise state resources to distribute materials to specific
groups in exchange for political trust and support (Mungiu-Pippidi, 2011). In this way, corruption
can unify patrons with a specific group of society, creating stability and coherent public
participation.
Nonetheless, the claim that corruption supports political legitimacy is obsolete, with recent
studies refuting this argument (e.g. Clausen et al., 2011; Seligson, 2006). The Weberian position
that corruption erodes political legitimacy is acknowledged by scholars worldwide (Anderson
and Tverdova, 2003; Chang and Chu, 2006; Morris and Klesner, 2010; La Porta et al., 1999).
Corruption creates poor government across many countries and perverts people’s confidence in
the sovereign’s capacity to accommodate people’s interests. Many empirical studies around the
globe reinforce this argument: corruption engenders political distrust, social unrest and grievance,
leading to a crisis of political legitimacy (Johnston, 2000).
Nevertheless, the most crucial issue is how and in what way corruption erodes political legitim-
acy. This question is essential and, until recently, there has been no systematic literature in
post-Soeharto Indonesia addressing this issue. This study fills this literature gap and addresses
two interrelated research questions: (a) how and in what way does corruption erode political legit-
imacy in post-Soeharto Indonesia? and (b) what is the evidence that suggests that corruption erodes
political legitimacy? Mixed methods, quantitative and qualitative analysis will be employed to
address these questions to generate a more comprehensive picture of the topic. This research is
organised as follows. The first section addresses the background, research purpose and questions,
the second section outlines the research design and methodology, while the last section presents
research findings and discussion (Figure 1).
Tambunan 113
To continue reading
Request your trial