IFES: "Election Rules and Identity Politics: Understanding the Success of Multiethnic Parties in Indonesia" (2013)

In 1998, Indonesia – one of the world’s most ethnically diverse countries – transitioned into its second democratic period after 31 years under a dictatorship. Suharto’s fall unleashed long-simmering ethnic tensions that killed at least 10,000 people between 1997 and 2002. This combination of ethnic diversity and ethnic conflict during democratic transition often portends the formation of ethnic political parties around particularistic and chauvinistic group identity. However, Indonesia’s political system remains dominated by multiethnic parties. This Paper focuses on the influence of election rules in preventing the rise of ethnic parties in Indonesia.

2012_Multiethnic parties in Indonesia.pdf — PDF document, 920Kb