Institutionalized forms of radical Islam in Indonesia in the 2010s

Abstract

The author analyzes the formalized dimensions and forms of radical Islam in Indonesia, which in the 2000s were active within Indonesian political space. It is assumed that radical Islam develops as a heterogeneous phenomenon, and its feature of being secondary comes as systemic. The author believes that the radicals were unable to offer an original political program. Three Islamist organizations such as “Islamic Defenders Front”, “Indonesia without the Liberal Islam Network” and “the National Anti-Alcohol Movement” are analyzed in the article. The author studies various forms of Islamic radical activities, including anti-liberal demonstrations, criticism of ideological opponents, educational and social initiatives, anti-alcohol raids. The article reveals that the Front was an institutionalized form of Islamic radicalism, and the anti-liberal and anti-alcohol movements represented formally moderate organizations dependent on the Front, which cultivated a radical discourse. The author believes that after the prohibition of the Front in December 2020, anti-liberal and anti-alcohol movements can become the main exponents of radical sentiments in Indonesian Islam. The formal prohibition of the Front does not exclude the possibility of activization of Islamic fundamentalism supporters and their further radicalization.