The irony of Indonesia's democracy: The rise of dynastic politics in the post-Suharto era1
| Published date | 01 September 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231195970 |
| Author | Yoes C Kenawas |
| Date | 01 September 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue: Political Dynasties in Asia |
The irony of Indonesia’s
democracy: The rise of dynastic
politics in the post-Suharto era
1
Yoes C Kenawas
Northwestern University, Evanston, USA and Institute for
Advance Research Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta,
Indonesia
Abstract
This essay aims to study why politicians engage in dynastic politics within democratic institutions
and how they reject institutional changes that may limit their ability to pass on political power to
family members. While scholars have emphasized institutions as an enabling factor, it is unclear
how the power struggle manifested to preserve the institutions that continually suit the interests
of aspiring dynasts amidst the democracy shift and pressure. This study seeks to fill the gap by
delving into how political players struggle to preserve the structures that allow them to form pol-
itical dynasties. This study also presents an original empirical conclusion demonstrating that
Indonesian political dynasties more than tripled between 2010 and 2018, or in only one election
cycle. This study contends that the primary cause of the rapid growth of political dynasties in
Indonesia is inextricably related to the gradual institutional changes following Indonesia’s demo-
cratic transition in 1998. In the process, the parasitic symbionts—i.e. the aspiring dynasts—
were able to make institutional drifts.
Keywords
Democratization, dynastic politics, Indonesia, oligarchy, political dynasty, subnational politics
Introduction
This article investigates why politicians engage in dynastic politics within democratic institutions
and how they resist institutional changes that may limit their opportunity to pass on political power
to family members. The essay contends that politicians seeking to expand and maximize their
Corresponding author:
Yoes C Kenawas, Northwestern University (United States) and Institute for Advanced Research Atma Jaya Catholic
University.
Email: yoes.kenawas@gmail.com
Original Research Article
Asian Journal of Comparative Politics
2023, Vol. 8(3) 748–764
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/20578911231195970
journals.sagepub.com/home/acp
power might utilize democratic institutions to serve their own goals, diverting the institutions from
their intended purpose. This phenomenon emerges owing to democratic institutions and principles
providing greater returns to politicians seeking to establish political dynasties. In other words, the
more solid and established these institutions become, the more likely it is that aspiring dynastic poli-
ticians will be able to prevent significant institutional changes that could jeopardize their potential
to engage in dynastic politics.
The article examines Indonesia as a case study to illustrate the gradual institutional changes
that took place after the country’s democratic transition in 1998. This study finds that the
number of political dynasties at the subnational levels—i.e. provinces, municipalities, and
regencies—grew more than threefold from 2010 to 2018.
2
Although most dynasties can only
build political dynasties at the regency or city level, it does not discourage politicians from
building dynasties at that level. Despite several efforts to curb the growth of political dynasties,
dynastic politics remains prevalent in today’s Indonesia. Dynastic politics has become the “new
normal”in the country’s political landscape. Even President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)—who once
stated that he would not build his political dynasty—eventually engaged in this kinship politics.
In the 2020 subnational elections in Surakarta and Medan, Jokowi’s son, Gibran Rakabuming
Raka, and son-in-law, Bobby Arifin Nasution, emerged victorious, cementing their positions
within the country’s political establishment.
3
This article makes two main contributions. First, it presents empirical evidence of the rise
of political dynasties at the subnational level in Indonesia after the democratic transition.
Previous studies on political dynasties in Indonesia have primarily concentrated on one or
a few subnational units (Aspinall and As’ad, 2016; Savirani, 2016; Buehler, 2013, 2018).
Other studies on dynastic politics in Indonesia focused at the party level (Mietzner 2012,
2016) and the national parliament (Prihatini and Halimatusa’diyah, 2022; Wardani and
Subekti, 2021). However, no research has been conducted to determine how many political
dynasties serve as subnational chief executives in Indonesia. This gap is unfortunate
because regional heads have been bestowed with significant authority since the implementa-
tion of decentralization in Indonesia in 1999. Therefore, it is crucial to determine how many
political dynasties exist in Indonesia to provide evidence that this phenomenon is more than
just media sensationalism. Second, this article demonstrates that the proliferation of political
dynasties at the subnational level is a result of gradual institutional changes following the
democratic transition. Gradual institutional changes may bring two parties with radically
opposed interests together and erode the original intentions of the democratic institutions
in the long run. This study aligns with the arguments of previous scholars—including
Chandra (2016) and Smith (2018)—that contemporary dynastic politics is a product of
modern state and democratic institutions.
4
In doing so, the article rejects essentialist
claims that the proliferation of political dynasties in non-Western and newly democratic
countries is a legacy of the countries’traditional past (Hagopian, 1986, 1994; Jackson and
Rosberg, 1984).
This article consists of four sections. The literature on dynasty formation is briefly discussed in
the first section. Subsequently, the article describes this study’s data and research strategy. Findings
on the proliferation of Indonesian political dynasties are covered in the third section. The fourth
section of the essay details the gradual institutional changes that allow dynasty politics to
become the new normal in Indonesian politics. Finally, the paper’s conclusion and suggestions
for further study are presented in the concluding section.
Kenawas 749
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