The Institutional Foundation of the Emergence of Subnational Political Dynasties in Indonesia

DOI

10.2991/icsps-17.2018.59How to use a DOI?

Keywords

decentralization, democratization, political dynasties, historical institutionalism, Indonesia

Abstract

Decentralization and democratization at the subnational level are two main policies to avoid another centralization of power in the hands of a small number of elites in Jakarta. Instead of solving the problem of concentration of power, the introduction of decentralization and democratization at the subnational level allows some local strongmen to monopolize power at the subnational level through the formation of political dynasties. Why has this contradictory result occurred? The paper argues that the interaction between macro-level institutional stability and micro-level continuous institutional transformations creates an avenue for power monopolization by a small number of elites at the subnational level. By applying Taylor C. Boas' composite-standard model of path dependence, the paper aims to show that the institutional development not only precedes the rise of subnational political dynasties, but also enables such political force to be an enduring feature of Indonesia's political landscape for years to come. Additionally, by using the composite-standard model, the paper aims to capture the complexity and the dynamics of the power struggle between competing political actors-both at the national and subnational levels-to change or to maintain the existing institutions. This paper supplements some previous studies on the emergence of political dynasties in Indonesia with a more detailed discussion on the institutional aspects that allows such dynasties to exist and to persist. This paper employs secondary data from various sources, including news archives and the Constitutional Court's proceedings to support its claim.

Copyright

© 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Yoes C Kenawas
PY  - 2017/11
DA  - 2017/11
TI  - The Institutional Foundation of the Emergence of Subnational Political Dynasties in Indonesia
BT  - Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Social and Political Sciences (ICSPS 2017)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 267
EP  - 272
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/icsps-17.2018.59
DO  - 10.2991/icsps-17.2018.59
ID  - Kenawas2017/11
ER  -