Abstract
AbstractIn Indonesia's political strategic environment, Islamic narratives have been among the main narratives, but have not always been dominant. The 2014 presidential election displayed the beginning of a rising trend of Islamic narratives within the political context in Indonesia. Since then Islamic narratives influenced the strategy of Indonesia's populist leaders, as particularly seen during the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election and 2019 presidential election. This paper analyzes how populism as a strategy was used in recent Indonesian elections. For this purpose, it uses the conception of populism as a political strategy proposed by Weyland. Building on this approach, the paper explains the strategic adjustments made in the use of populism from 2014, 2017, and 2019 in Indonesian political events. It argues that the strategic environment faced by populist actors in Indonesia's 2019 election affected their decision to choose Islamic narratives as an instrument for mass mobilization.
Highlights
As the world’s third largest democracy, many scholars have put attentive eyes toward how the global populism upsurge will unfold in Indonesia
This paper argues that the strategic environment faced by populist actors in Indonesia’s 2019 election influences their decision to choose Islamic religious narratives as an instrument for mass mobilization, as a result of strategic considerations
This paper uses the conception of political strategy in analyzing populism to explain the strategic adjustments made in the use of populism from 2014, 2017, and 2019 in Indonesian political events. Because of this focus on political strategy, this paper argues that Indonesia’s populism resembles Kurt Weyland’s definition of populism: “... a political strategy through which a personalistic leader seeks or exercises government power based on direct, unmediated, un-institutionalized support from large numbers of mostly unorganized followers.”
Summary
As the world’s third largest democracy, many scholars have put attentive eyes toward how the global populism upsurge will unfold in Indonesia. Using a political economy approach, Vedi Hadiz uses the term Islamic Populism to describe Indonesia’s populism and categorizes both Jokowi and Prabowo as populists (Hadiz 2016). This paper argues that the strategic environment faced by populist actors in Indonesia’s 2019 election influences their decision to choose Islamic religious narratives as an instrument for mass mobilization, as a result of strategic considerations.
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