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Socio-Economic Conditions and Indonesian Democratic Support

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Society and Democracy in South Korea and Indonesia

Part of the book series: Security, Development and Human Rights in East Asia ((SDHRP))

Abstract

This chapter investigates the extent to which socio-economic conditions affect support for democracy in Indonesia, using an econometric analysis of a national pre-election survey fielded in March 2019. Among existing studies of public support for and satisfaction with democracy, economic arguments have been especially influential, particularly in new democracies where citizens tend to associate democracy with economic performance. This chapter extends the literature by (1) testing whether the relationship between economic satisfaction and democratic support depends on the salience of economic issues to the respondents and (2) disaggregating economic performance into four different areas: economic growth, inflation, unemployment, and income inequality. The analysis demonstrates that the Indonesian case is consistent with a comparative finding across countries: citizens translate a worsening of economic conditions into critical attitudes toward the political system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIS, Jakarta, Indonesia

    Puspa D. Amri

  2. Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, USA

    Puspa D. Amri

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  1. Puspa D. Amri
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Brendan Howe

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Amri, P.D. (2022). Socio-Economic Conditions and Indonesian Democratic Support. In: Howe, B. (eds) Society and Democracy in South Korea and Indonesia. Security, Development and Human Rights in East Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06267-4_7

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