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Indonesian Politics in 2014: Democracy's Close Call

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  • Edward Aspinall
  • Marcus Mietzner

Abstract

Indonesian democracy experienced a near miss in 2014, when Jakarta governor Joko Widodo (Jokowi) defeated former general Prabowo Subianto by a margin of 6.3% in the presidential election. Both candidates were populists who rose to prominence in the context of public disillusionment with incumbent president Yudhoyono; Prabowo, however, condemned Indonesia's democratic system and promised to take Indonesia in a more authoritarian direction. We trace democracy's close call through five phases: the dying months of Yudhoyono's presidency, the rise of populist alternatives, the parliamentary elections of April 2014, the July presidential campaign, and the aftermath. We attribute the strength of Prabowo's campaign to superior organisational and financial support, while Jokowi's victory rested upon strong identification with him among poor and rural voters. Also determining the outcome was the fact that public satisfaction with democracy remained strong, undermining the effectiveness of Prabowo's authoritarian-populist message. Nevertheless, democracy's future remains uncertain, given that Prabowo and his supporters now control a sufficiently large number of parliamentary seats to continue promoting a rollback of democratic reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward Aspinall & Marcus Mietzner, 2014. "Indonesian Politics in 2014: Democracy's Close Call," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(3), pages 347-369, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:bindes:v:50:y:2014:i:3:p:347-369
    DOI: 10.1080/00074918.2014.980375
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dave McRae, 2013. "Indonesian politics in 2013: the emergence of new leadership?," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(3), pages 289-304, December.
    2. Stephen Howes & Robin Davies, 2014. "Survey of Recent Developments," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 157-183, August.
    3. Rizal Sukma, 2009. "Indonesian politics in 2009: defective elections, resilient democracy," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(3), pages 317-336.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrew Rosser & Mohamad Fahmi, 2016. "The Political Economy of Teacher Management in Decentralized Indonesia," Working Papers in Economics and Development Studies (WoPEDS) 201602, Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University, revised Dec 2016.
    2. Haryo Aswicahyono & Hal Hill, 2014. "Survey of Recent Developments," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(3), pages 319-346, December.
    3. I Gede Sthitaprajna Virananda & Teguh Dartanto & Bintang Dara Wijaya, 2021. "Does Money Matter for Electability? Lesson Learned From the 2014 Legislative Election in Indonesia," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, October.
    4. Nurdien Aji & Teguh Dartanto, 2018. "Behind the Jokowi’s victory: did economic voting matter in the 2014 Indonesian presidential election?," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 115-138, April.

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