Institutionalization and party resilience in Indonesian electoral democracy

Abstract

Political democracy in Indonesia in the reform era paints a different picture from the previous era. This article discusses and analyzes the institutionalization and resilience of parties in electoral democracy in Indonesia. This present study combines a qualitative approach through library research and survey methods to obtain the expected information. The survey was conducted across Indonesia among 1200 respondents, with a margin of error of ±2.9 % and a confidence level of 95 %. The findings of this article propose three matters. First, in the reform era, parties experienced shocks due to the change of democratic regimes from controlled and repressive democracies to liberal democracies that prioritize electoral functions. Second, the demand for the importance of institutionalizing political parties as part of democratic consolidation for the improvement of the quality of democracy is characterized by the strengthening of the identity of political parties. Third, the strengthening of the leadership role of political parties as a beacon for the resilience of political parties in the face of electoral democracy and, on the other hand, maintaining the ideological and cultural characteristics of the party. The relevance of this article for academic literature is the importance of party resilience in the future, which is much influenced by the party's ability to institutionalize democracy within the party itself to answer the challenges of electoral democracy in Indonesia.