TY - JOUR
T1 - Flirting with Autocracy in Indonesia:
T2 - Jokowi's Majoritarianism and its Democratic Legacy
AU - Mietzner, Marcus
N1 - Marcus Mietzner is associate professor in the Department of Political and Social Change, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. He has published extensively on Indonesian politics in high- ranking, peer-reviewed journals such as Governance, International Political Science Review, Democratization, Journal of Democracy, and others. His latest book is “The Coalitions Presidents Make: Presidential Power and its Limits in Democratic Indonesia,” published by Cornell University Press in 2023.
PY - 2025/2/21
Y1 - 2025/2/21
N2 - After ruling Indonesia for a decade, Joko Widodo (or popularly called "Jokowi") left the presidency in 2024 amid a heated debate over his democratic record. While his high approval ratings indicated support in the broader population, pro-democracy activists were scathing. Indeed, under his presidency, many democratic achievements of previous periods eroded. Yet democracy, however damaged, survived Jokowi’s rule. This article adds to scholarship on this outcome of a harmed but enduring Indonesian democracy. It looks at how Jokowi’s majoritarian thinking led him to undermine democracy when he felt he had the majority’s support for his actions. Believing that democracy is doing what the majority wants, approves, or tolerates, he used polls to identify segments of democracy he could attack. At the same time, his majoritarianism also set him limits: if a majority was opposed, he retreated. This left Indonesia with a declining democracy, but one that did not cross over into fully authoritarian territory.
AB - After ruling Indonesia for a decade, Joko Widodo (or popularly called "Jokowi") left the presidency in 2024 amid a heated debate over his democratic record. While his high approval ratings indicated support in the broader population, pro-democracy activists were scathing. Indeed, under his presidency, many democratic achievements of previous periods eroded. Yet democracy, however damaged, survived Jokowi’s rule. This article adds to scholarship on this outcome of a harmed but enduring Indonesian democracy. It looks at how Jokowi’s majoritarian thinking led him to undermine democracy when he felt he had the majority’s support for his actions. Believing that democracy is doing what the majority wants, approves, or tolerates, he used polls to identify segments of democracy he could attack. At the same time, his majoritarianism also set him limits: if a majority was opposed, he retreated. This left Indonesia with a declining democracy, but one that did not cross over into fully authoritarian territory.
M3 - Article
SP - 1
EP - 19
JO - Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs
JF - Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs
ER -