Democratization and Contextual Narratives

Abstract

On a conceptual level, the previous chapter established a framework for investigating the relationship between democratization and ambiguity in Indonesia. It sketched a mental road map of how political actors, old and new, transform structural circumstances into resources for change by selectively drawing upon symbolic narratives to form a grammar of political action. These discursive practices (the power of which is not necessarily tangible in the physical sense) set in motion a symbolic movement of interpretation and interpellation in the context of a particular setting. In other words, they provide a way of legitimating courses of action by appealing to a mass audience accustomed to viewing things through distinctive lenses.