Patronage Democracy in Provincial Indonesia

Abstract

During the authoritarian New Order (1966–1998) Indonesia was thought unlikely to democratise. Harold Crouch listed five commonly cited reasons why it would not.¹ Business, middle classes, and working classes were either not interested in democracy or too small to be effective (a problem he had earlier termed ‘the missing bourgeoisie’).² Ethnic loyalties were a barrier to democracy. The dominant traditional Javanese culture was not democratic. External forces were unlikely to push for democracy in Indonesia unlike, for example, in South Africa. This left only political competition as the most probable source for democracy. Lack of unity within an authoritarian elite could produce rivalry that spills over into society and leads to democracy. Crouch reminded his readers that O’Donnell and Schmitter had warned of the extraordinary uncertainty of such a transition.³