Populist Anti-Scientism, Religious Polarisation, and Institutionalised Corruption: How Indonesia�s Democratic Decline Shaped Its COVID-19 Response

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dc.contributor.authorMietzner, Marcus
dc.date.accessioned2020-12-20T20:50:45Z
dc.date.available2020-12-20T20:50:45Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.date.updated2020-11-08T07:23:57Z
dc.description.abstractThere is widespread agreement that compared to most other states in Southeast Asia, Indonesia�s central government has offered a poor response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. The government of President Joko Widodo initially ignored the threat, and when it did react, the crisis policies were piecemeal and confusing. But what explains this outcome? It would be easy to attribute Indonesia�s response to its lower middle-income status or its democratic governance structures that lack strong repressive capacity. With countries poorer and more democratic than Indonesia performing better, however, this explanation is unsatisfactory. Going beyond simple development and regime categories, this article proposes that Indonesia�s COVID-19 response was the result of its specific process of democratic decline in the last decade. This backsliding produced intensifying populist anti-scientism, religious conservatism, religio-political polarisation, corruption and clientelism, as well as assertiveness among anti-democratic actors. Ultimately, these segmental factors combined into a toxic mix that severely constrained Indonesia�s ability to effectively respond to a massive external shock such as COVID-19.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_AU
dc.identifier.issn1868-4882
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/217553
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.publisherGerman Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA)
dc.sourceJournal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs
dc.titlePopulist Anti-Scientism, Religious Polarisation, and Institutionalised Corruption: How Indonesia�s Democratic Decline Shaped Its COVID-19 Response
dc.typeJournal article
local.bibliographicCitation.issue2
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage249
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage227
local.contributor.affiliationMietzner, Marcus, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU
local.contributor.authoremailrepository.admin@anu.edu.au
local.contributor.authoruidMietzner, Marcus, u9800475
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.absfor160606 - Government and Politics of Asia and the Pacific
local.identifier.absseo940201 - Civics and Citizenship
local.identifier.ariespublicationu5412248xPUB212
local.identifier.citationvolume39
local.identifier.doi.1177/1868103420935561
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu5412248
local.type.statusPublished Version

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