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ABSTRACT
Amidst a global wave of democratic regression, civil society has often been the last line of defence against campaigns to undermine liberal rights and freedoms. In many cases, society activists have been able to mitigate, or even arrest, anti-democratic initiatives launched by political elites with a host of vested interests. But some countries have recently seen a weakening of this democracy defence potential embedded in civil society. Using Indonesia – the world's third largest democracy – as a case study, this article shows how escalating polarization can split civil society along primordial and ideological lines, eroding its ability to offer a united pro-democracy front. In the Indonesian case, the executive also used this polarization to justify increasingly illiberal measures. In combination, polarization and increased executive illiberalism have reduced Indonesian civil society's activist resources, accelerating the country's democratic backsliding in the process.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Diamond, “Rethinking Civil Society”; Scholte, “Civil Society and Democracy”; Bernhard, Fernandes, and Branco, “Introduction.”
2 Croissant and Haynes, “Democratic Regressions.”
3 Bernhard, “Civil Society and Democratic Transition”; Bernhard and Karakoç, “Civil Society and the Legacies of Dictatorship”; Tusalem, “A Boon or a Bane?”
4 Brysk, “Democratizing Civil Society.”
5 Lorch, “Cause or Remedy?”
6 Nyman, Democratising Indonesia.
7 Lussier and Fish, “Indonesia.”
8 Mietzner, “Indonesia's Democratic Stagnation.”
9 Setiyono and McLeod, “Civil Society.”
10 Power, “Jokowi's Authoritarian Turn.”
11 Diprose, McRae, and Hadiz, “Two Decades of Reformasi in Indonesia.”
12 Power and Warburton, Democracy in Indonesia.
13 Schäfer, “Democratic Decline in Indonesia.”
14 Mietzner, “Fighting Illiberalism with Illiberalism.”
15 Freedom House, “Freedom in the World 2014.”
16 The Economist, “Democracy Index 2017.”
17 V-Dem. “Country Graph.”
18 The term “partisan” is used here to describe the attribute of an actor who takes sides in a political and/or ideological contest, and adjusts his or her other positions to suit the interests of the chosen side in the conflict.
19 Diamond, “Rethinking Civil Society,” 5.
20 Böhm, “Activists in Politics.”
21 Lorch, “Cause or Remedy?”
22 Higley, “Elite Theory.”
23 Aspinall, “Indonesia.”
24 Madrid, “Islamic Students.”
25 Beittinger-Lee, “(Un)Civil Society.”
26 Hasan, “Faith and Politics.”
27 Sen and Hill, “Politics and the Media.”
28 Butt, “The Rule of Law.”
29 Tomsa, “Toning Down the ‘Big Bang’.”
30 Svolik, “Polarization versus Democracy.”
31 Lupu, “Party Polarization.”
32 Bonilla et al., “Social or Political Cleavages?”
33 The term “primordial” is used here to describe a person's fundamental affiliation with a particular social constituency and/or worldview; it is therefore not limited to ethnic or religious identity.
34 Warburton, “How Polarised Is Indonesia?”; Abramowitz and Saunders, “United States.”
35 Lim, “Freedom to Hate.”
36 Mietzner and Muhtadi, “Explaining the 2016 Islamist Mobilisation.”
37 Aspinall and Mietzner, “Nondemocratic Pluralism.”
38 Aspinall and Mietzner, “Indonesia's Democratic Paradox.”
39 Butt, “Amendments.”
40 CNN Indonesia, “Busyro.”
41 Nugraheny, “Agus Rahardjo.”
42 Tribunnews, “Survei Litbang Kompas.”
43 Interview with the director of a polling Institute, Jakarta, 4 November 2019.
44 Ihsanuddin, “Moeldoko.”
45 Warburton, “Indonesia.”
46 Lorch, “Cause or Remedy?”
47 Svolik, “Polarization versus Democracy.”
48 Freedom House, “Freedom in the World 2014.”
49 CNN Indonesia, “Puluhan Mahasiswa.”
50 Liputan6, “Mendikbud.”
51 D-One News, “Kapolri.”
52 Santoso, “Respons Kapolri.”
53 Mietzner, “Indonesia's Democratic Stagnation.”
54 Abramowitz and McCoy, “United States.”
55 Croissant and Haynes, “Democratic Regressions.”
56 Mietzner and Muhtadi, “The Mobilisation of Intolerance.”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Marcus Mietzner
Marcus Mietzner is Associate Professor at the Department of Political and Social Change, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, College of Asia and the Pacific, at the Australian National University in Canberra. He lived in Indonesia for more than a decade in the 1990s and 2000s, and has published widely on Indonesian politics. He is the author of Reinventing Asian Populism: Jokowi's Rise, Democracy, and Political Contestation in Indonesia (East West Center, Hawaii).