Indonesia: Twenty years of democracy by Jamie S. Davidson [Book review]

• Main Author: FOX, Colm A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2020
• Subjects: Indonesia; democracy; politics; book review; Asian Studies; Political History; Political Science
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3372; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4629/viewcontent/Indonesia_BkRev_2020_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In Indonesia: Twenty years of democracy, Jamie S. Davidson looks back over the two decades since Soeharto’s fall, focusing on the ‘tensions, inconsistencies, and contradictory puzzles of Indonesia’s democracy’ (p. 4). Refreshingly, the book moves beyond the common approach of studying the similarities and differences between the contemporary democratic period and the Soeharto era. Davidson identifies, labels and skilfully guides the reader through three separate eras in Indonesia’s recent democratic history: the innovation period (1998–2004), the stagnation period (2004–14) and the period of polarisation (2014–18). Each era is analysed in parallel fashion, with subsections on politics, political economy and identity-based mobilisation. As such, the book offers a clear structure and, drawing on a wealth of academic research on Indonesia, packs a vast breadth of knowledge into a concise volume.