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ABSTRACT In 2014, Indonesian democracy came close to experiencing significant regression when Prabowo Subianto missed winning the presidential election by 6.5 percentage points. Prabowo, a leading hard-line general during the final years of the Suharto regime, aimed to wind back important elements of Indonesia's democratic reforms. This article analyzes the ideological and material foundations of Prabowo's challenge, and its implications for Indonesian democracy. It argues that Prabowo presented a classically populist challenger, advancing an economic nationalist platform and depicting himself as embodying the popular will and as a strong leader who would smash through the corruption gripping the political elite. Prabowo mounted this challenge using economic and political resources that he derived from his position as a leading oligarch. A member of a prominent Suharto-era elite family, his campaign underlined the fusion of informal political and economic power that continues to characterize Indonesia's oligarchy. His campaign, moreover, was supported by a wide array of established parties and entrenched economic interests, pointing not so much to the vulnerability of Indonesian democracy to outsider challenge as to the fragility of many of its core participants' commitment to democratic values and procedures.
Cornell's journal Indonesia is devoted to the timely study of Indonesia's cultures, history, government, economy, and society. It features original scholarly articles, interviews, translations, and book reviews. Published by the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project and Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program since April 1966, the journal provides area-studies scholars and interested readers with contemporary analyses of Indonesia and an extensive archive of research pertaining to the nation and the region.
Cornell University Press was established in 1869, giving it the distinction of being the first university press to be established in the United States, although it was inactive for several decades between 1890 and 1930. From that beginning, the Press has grown to be a major scholarly publisher, offering 120 new titles a year in many disciplines, including anthropology, art history, Asian studies, classics, cultural studies, history, literary criticism and theory, medieval studies, New York City and State, philosophy, politics and international relations, security studies, Slavic and Eurasian studies, sociology, and urban studies. Our many books in the life sciences and natural history, including field guides, are published under the Comstock Publishing Associates imprint, and a distinguished list of books in labor and employment relations, the health care professions, and human resources is offered under our ILR Press imprint.
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