Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: A Social Movement Theory Approach of The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and Its Islamist Transnational Framing

Abstract

Over the last five years, there is evidence of an emerging interest in the application of theories and approaches from social movement perspectives to Islamic movements in a broad sense. Such emerging research has mostly been undertaken in the Middle East and North Africa, but not in Southeast Asia. By applying the fundamentals of social movement theory i.e., political opportunity structure (POS), resource mobilisation theory and collective action frames, I will examine the emergence and the rise of the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in Indonesian politics. PKS emerged from quiet conversations among students in secular universities who subsequently transformed their activism into a political movement. PKS attracted public and scholarly attention since its success in increasing vote in by six hundred percent, from 1.4 percent in 1999 to 7.3% in 2004.

I demonstrate that social movement approach can shed important light on the dynamics of PKS. Results of this study suggest that PKS: (1) emerged from an array of tumultuous social and political conditions that gave rise a favourable political opportunity structure; (2) took advantage of expanding political opportunities by enhancing its resource mobilisation, including its organisational structures, cadres and recruitment, financial assets, and communication networks; and (3) consciously responded to the significant increase in political opportunities and its organisational capacities to mobilise supporters with shared ideas, beliefs and values. In addition, I argue that PKS cannot be seen as merely a political party which only articulates its political agenda within the framework of institutionalised politics, but it also acts as a SMO, which vigorously engages in collective action. No other party is so active in mobilising their supporters on the streets. In this sub-thesis, I will examine the behaviour of PKS by employing protest-event analysis, which is commonly used in the tradition of social movement research. My study captured 225 PKS collective events as reported by Kompas, Republika, and the results suggest that PKS' collective actions have been driven by a strong sense of anti-Zionism and anti-Americanism as well as support for the Palestine cause. This indicates PKS' preoccupation with distant but religiously charged issues. It is true that anti-Israeli and America sentiments are widespread in Indonesian Muslim circles. Unlike PKS, however, other Muslim organisations' anti Israeli and America stance does not manifest in direct actions. By using timing and sequence indicators, I found that during election time in 1999 and 2004, the number of PKS’ predecessor, PK and PKS collective actions declined significantly. Aside from the increasing participation of PKS in election process, this decrease of PKS actions at election time can be seen as a wish to avoid alienating voters by appearing militantly Islamic. Show more