Indonesia and the Arab Spring (original) (raw)
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Is Indonesia a Model for the Arab Spring? Islam, Democracy, and Diplomacy
Review of Middle East Studies, 2013
As protestors filled Tahrir Square in Cairo in January 2011, Western diplomats, academics, and political pundits were searching for the best political analogy for the promise—and problems—of the Arab Uprising. Whereas neoconservative skeptics fretted that Egypt and Tunisia might go the way of post-revolutionary Iran, Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright praised Indonesia’s democratization as the ideal model for the Arab Spring. During her 2009 visit to Indonesia, Clinton proclaimed: “If you want to know whether Islam, democracy, modernity, and women’s rights can coexist, go to Indonesia.” Certainly Indonesia of May 1998 is not Egypt of January 2011, yet some comparisons are instructive. Still reeling from the Asian financial crisis of 1997, middle class Indonesians were fed up with corruption, cronyism, and a military that operated with impunity. On 21 May 1998 Soeharto resigned after three decades of authoritarian rule. Despite fits of starts and stops, the democratic transition ...
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In recent years there have been some dramatic changes of political leadership in the Asia-Pacific region, and also some dramas without leadership change. In a few countries the demise of well-entrenched political leaders appears imminent; in others regular processes of parliamentary government still prevail. These differing patterns of regime change and regime maintenance raise fundamental questions about the nature of political systems in the region. Specifically, how have some political leaders or leadership groups been able to stay in power for relatively long periods and why have they eventually been displaced? What are the factors associated with the stability or instability of political regimes? What happens when longstanding leaderships change? The Regime Change and Regime Maintenance in Asia and the Pacific Project will address these and other questions from an Asia-Pacific regional perspective and at a broader theoretical level.
Indonesian Democracy as A Model for Egypt after The Arab Spring
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The Arab Spring in 2011 opened the way for democratization in some Arab countries, including Egypt. Egypt succeeded in overthrowing Hosni Mubarak as the president, but Egypt failed in consolidating democracy after holding a general election in 2012. The main factors of the failure in consolidating democracy in Egypt come from internal and external factors. The internal factor was that Egypt had not been ready for democracy , whereas the external factor was foreign intervention due to national interest. This article analyzes the failure of democratization in Egypt by using Jack Snyder and Georg Sorensen’s theory. In the last part of this article, the writer suggested that Egypt should have learned how to consolidate democracy from Indonesia. Indonesia is the best model of democracy for Egypt due to some reasons. The first one is Indonesia and Egypt near a culturally (religious approach), and the second one is Indonesia's success, as the majority Muslim state, in consolidating de...
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Indonesia is both the world’s largest Muslim-majority country and one of its most ethnically diverse. Home to approximately 230 million people, of whom more than 85 percent follow Islam, there are almost as many Muslims living in Indonesia as in the entire Arabic-speaking world. The Sunni branch of Islam predominates, while approximately one million Indonesians adhere to the Shia variant. A signifi cant number of Sufi communities also exist in the archipelago state. Indonesia is also the world’s third largest democracy, after India and the United States. President Suharto’s New Order regime, one of the most repressive dictatorships in Southeast Asia, collapsed in May 1998 after controlling Indonesian politics for more than 30 years. Since Suharto’s downfall, the most dramatic reform initiative has been the introduction of an extensive regulatory framework governing the conduct of executive and legislative elections. Based on the new system, three national legislative and presidential elections, as well as balloting in several hundred localities, have occurred throughout the last decade. Overall, elections in Indonesia are considered free and fair. The quality of democracy remains low, however.
The Influence of Democracy on Indonesia's Foreign Policy in the Middle East (case study : SBY Era
This article focuses on the influence of democracy on Indonesia's foreign policy in the Middle East. Indonesia under Soeharto regime was fundamentally an authoritarian regime based on the power of the military. As head of the armed forces and the government, Soeharto maintained absolute control of the country's political life. The highly influential administration regime of Soeharto rule makes him very clear as an authoritarian leader. The collapse of strongman rule of President Soeharto in 1998 opened the way towards democratization in Indonesia. In this sense, the spirit of democracy has brought many changes in particular in foreign policy area. One of the most significant things of the spirit of democracy is the rise of openness in the decision making process of foreign policy towards Middle East. In the Indonesia's reform era, democracy gives a huge chance to all sides to give contribution to government in making foreign policy related to Middle East which this thing never happened in the New Order.
Democratic Governance and Security in Indonesia
Japanese Journal of Political Science, 2003
As Indonesia democratises, a key feature of the country's political life has been a mixture of turmoil, hope and uncertainty. When Suharto's authoritarian regime collapsed in May 1998, Indonesia was experiencing the worst political and economic crises in more than three decades. On the political front, Suharto's collapse was preceded by communal violence, political turmoil, and state terrorism. Economically, the financial crisis, which came to Indonesia in December 1997, brought down the foundations of growth and pushed the country on to the brink of economic collapse. All these problems, which found their roots in the absence of democracy and good governance, worsened after the fall of Suharto. As the country moved towards democratic transition, however, society was imbued with a sense of hope for a better future, and that hope continues to exist until today. In that context, resolving current uncertainty constitutes the biggest challenge facing Indonesia in fulfilling ...
INDONESIA UNDER SUKARNO AND SUHARTO REGIME
This paper gives a short glimpse on the political transitions of Indonesia under Sukarno and Suharto regimes. Indonesia as a diverse and multi ethnic region, had undergone three stages of democratic transitions, mostly known as periods of parliamentary democracy, guided democracy and pancasila democracy. This paper mostly focus on the functions of sukarno's guided democracy and suharto's new order policy which are the essential functions of understanding Indonesia's political transition.
Indonesia’s ContributionS to Peaceful Change in International Affairs
The Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Change in International Relations, 2020
Transforming its foreign policy from confrontation to cooperation with its closest neighbors in 1967, and in 1998 carrying out a peaceful transition from authoritarian rule to democracy, Indonesia has made significant contributions to peaceful change in Southeast Asia. The regime change, from Sukarno’s “Guided Democracy,” which had carried out Konfrontasi or confrontation against Malaysia, to the military-dominated “New Order” government under Suharto, was far from peaceful, marked by one of the worst massacres in Indonesia’s history. Nevertheless, the New Order government imposed order and stability and greatly improved the socioeconomic welfare of the Indonesian people, transforming the country from a fragile state to one of the economic miracles in Asia, until the onset of the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Suharto’s focus on internal stability and economic development led to Indonesia becoming a founder and leader of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional coop...