Money, power, and ideology : political parties in post-authoritarian Indonesia / Marcus Mietzner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mietzner, Marcus, author.

Series:

Southeast Asia publications series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political parties--Indonesia.

Political parties.

Indonesia.

Indonesia--Politics and government--1998-.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 301 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : Asian Studies Association of Australia in association with University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2013.

Summary:

Are political parties the weak link in Indonesia's young democracy? More pointedly, do they form a giant cartel to suck patronage resources from the state? Indonesian commentators almost invariably brand the country's parties as corrupt, self-absorbed, and elitist, while most scholars argue that they are poorly institutionalized. This book tests such assertions by providing unprecedented and fine-grained analysis of the inner workings of Indonesian parties, and by comparing them to their equivalents in other new democracies around the world. Contrary to much of the existing scholarship, the book finds that Indonesian parties are reasonably well institutionalized if compared to their counterparts in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and other parts of Asia. There is also little evidence that Indonesian parties are cartelized. But there is a significant flaw in the design of Indonesia's party system: while most new democracies provide state funding to parties, Indonesia has opted to deny central party boards any meaningful subsidies. As a result, Indonesian parties face severe difficulties in financing their operations, leading them to launch predatory attacks on state resources and making them vulnerable to manipulation by oligarchic interests. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: political parties in Indonesia: domestic, regional, and global patterns

Indonesia's parties and party systems: a historical and analytical overview

Parties and the state: fusion or struggle for hegemony?

Parties and society: withdrawal or ongoing contestation?

Party organization and internal democracy: strong leaders, influential branches, marginalized members

Inter-party competition in the post-Suharto polity: elections, coalitions and parliaments

The postponed end of ideology: parties, ideological orientations and political action

Assessing the systemic functionality of Indonesian parties: recruitment, articulation, participation, communication

Conclusion: money, ideology, and party politics in Indonesia: between local contexts and global trends.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780824839697

0824839692

OCLC:

859170301