Lost in Translation?: Redemocratization and Mass–Elite Discrepancy in Indonesian Politics

This chapter examines the unique rootedness of Indonesian political parties after national independence and the surprising ideological congruence of voters and politicians. Mass–elite discrepancies (MEDs) were low against the backdrop of a politicized, mobilized electorate and political parties responding to voters’ demands. The period of authoritarianism from 1957 to 1998 then served to stifle party and civil society activism. Party-system development from 1998 until the second parliamentary and first direct presidential elections in 2004, when the transition towards an electoral democracy ended, is explained by the path-determining effects of elite agency during this critical juncture. During this period, the MEDs were cemented, and a path towards patronage, or elite-dominated democracy, was chosen. Parties leaning ideologically towards the center of the political spectrum formed cartels built around the common interest of emaciating civil society’s impact on party politics. Since 2004 partisan dealignment has progressed due to electoral reforms, the establishment of a new type of extremely personalized party, and the growing commercialization of party politics. Although the critical juncture has had self-reinforcing effects on intra-elite and mass–elite relations, there is one political dimension within which MEDs have been slowly altered in recent years and are now exceptionally marked, i.e. the altercations between more secular and Islamist groups. This struggle is taking place within civil society but is hardly reflected in party politics.