“AUTHORITARIAN NOSTALGIA AND DEMOCRATIC DECLINE IN CONTEMPORARY INDONESIA”
Ratri Istania
Associate Professor, NIPA School of Administration Jakarta
Senior Researcher, Populi Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research Jakarta
AIFIS-Luce Research Fellow, Cornell University
The presentation investigates authoritarian nostalgia within Indonesian politics by utilizing survey data from the Populi Center for Public Opinion. The findings demonstrate widespread positive public perceptions of the New Order era, with those who lived through the period viewing Soeharto favorably. Using three proxies of authoritarian nostalgia—perception of the New Order era and Soeharto, support for democracy, and favorability toward military figures—this study sheds light on the intergenerational effects in political attitudes regarding the importance of economic stability, often associated with authoritarian leadership. In this light, understanding generational attitudinal differences toward the authoritarian past can help make sense of current political developments and, most of all, the democratic decline in Indonesia.
Professional profile: https://populicenter.org/en/tim-kerja/ratri-istania/