Democratic Regression and Environmental Politics in Indonesia

ABSTRACT

For more than a decade, the quality of democracy around the world has been declining, but we still know little about the diverse impacts of this democratic recession on environmental politics. This article provides new insights about the implications of democratic regression for environmental politics in Indonesia, which is Southeast Asia’s largest democracy, a globally important biodiversity hotspot, and an example of democratic decline. Based on an analysis of academic literature, international and Indonesian media reports, as well as survey data, this article argues that in Indonesia, democratic decline has had several detrimental consequences for environmental politics. In particular, we argue that the nationalist framing of infrastructure development, along with controversial new laws and tightening restrictions on both activists and academics are undermining prospects for environmental protection. The article also highlights some silver linings that provide hope for both Indonesia’s democracy and its embattled environment.

Indonesian abstract

Kualitas demokrasi di seluruh dunia telah menurun selama lebih dari satu dekade, namun masih sedikit yang kita ketahui tentang beragam dampak regresi demokrasi tersebut pada politik lingkungan hidup. Artikel ini memberikan wawasan baru tentang implikasi regresi demokrasi terhadap politik lingkungan hidup di Indonesia, yang merupakan negara demokrasi terbesar di Asia Tenggara, hot spot keanekaragaman hayati yang penting secara global, dan sebuah contoh penurunan demokrasi. Berdasarkan analisis literatur akademik, laporan media internasional dan Indonesia serta data survei, artikel ini berpendapat bahwa penurunan demokrasi telah membawa beberapa konsekuensi merugikan bagi politik lingkungan hidup di Indonesia. Secara khusus, kami berpendapat bahwa kerangka pembangunan infrastruktur yang nasionalis, bersamaan dengan undang-undang baru yang kontroversial dan pengetatan kegiatan aktivisme maupun akademia telah merusak prospek perlindungan lingkungan hidup. Artikel ini juga menyoroti beberapa faktor yang dapat memberikan harapan bagi lingkungan hidup dan demokrasi di Indonesia.

KEYWORDS:

• Indonesia
• democracy
• democratic regression
• autocratisation
• civil society
• environment
• conservation
• deforestation

Disclosure Statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.