Procedural Democracy and Substantive Decline: Rethinking Democratic Quality in Post-Reform Indonesia
Keywords:
Democratic Quality, Political Oligarchy, Post-Reform Indonesia, Procedural Democracy, Substantive DemocracyAbstract
Background: Since Reformasi 1998, Indonesia has implemented key democratic procedures such as elections and institutional reforms. However, these developments have not fully ensured substantive democratic quality.
Aims: This study aims to examine the tension between procedural democracy and substantive decline by rethinking the quality of democracy in post-reform Indonesia.
Methods: This research adopts a qualitative, conceptual approach based on a critical review of recent scholarly literature, policy discussions, and theoretical perspectives on democratic quality. The analysis focuses on identifying patterns and arguments that explain the gap between formal democratic structures and their substantive outcomes.
Result: The study finds that Indonesia’s democracy demonstrates procedural stability, yet faces challenges in its substantive dimensions, including accountability, equality, and inclusive participation. The growing influence of political oligarchies and dynastic practices indicates that democratic institutions often function formally without fully delivering their intended democratic values.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that Indonesia’s democracy reflects a condition of procedural strength but substantive limitation. Strengthening democratic quality requires greater emphasis on accountability, inclusiveness, and the alignment between institutional practices and democratic principles.
References
Acuna, R., Alejandro, A., & Leung, R. (2025, May 27). The Families that Stay Together: A Network Analysis of Dynastic Power in Philippine Politics. arXiv.Org. https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.21280v1
Asimakopoulos, G., Antonopoulou, H., Giotopoulos, K., & Halkiopoulos, C. (2025). Impact of Information and Communication Technologies on Democratic Processes and Citizen Participation. Societies, 15(2), 40. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15020040
Ayres, S. (2022). A decentred assessment of the impact of ‘informal governance’ on democratic legitimacy. Public Policy and Administration, 37(1), 22–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/0952076720904991
Becchetti, L., Bobbio, E., Prizia, F., & Semplici, L. (2022). Going Deeper into the S of ESG: A Relational Approach to the Definition of Social Responsibility. Sustainability, 14(15). https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159668
Blanco, I., Lowndes, V., & Salazar, Y. (2022). Understanding institutional dynamics in participatory governance: How rules, practices and narratives combine to produce stability or diverge to create conditions for change. Critical Policy Studies, 16(2), 204–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2021.1984265
Boston, J. (2021). Assessing the options for combatting democratic myopia and safeguarding long-term interests. Futures, 125, 102668. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2020.102668
Chen, Z. (2026). Multimodal deep learning for sports teacher behavior analysis: Design and evaluation of a personalized continuing education recommendation system. Scientific Reports, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-31341-2
de Sousa, L., da Cruz, N. F., & Fernandes, D. (2023). The quality of local democracy: An institutional analysis. Local Government Studies, 49(1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2021.1882428
Dorlach, T. (2021). The causes of welfare state expansion in democratic middle-income countries: A literature review. Social Policy & Administration, 55(5), 767–783. https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12658
Elsässer, L., & Schäfer, A. (2023). Political Inequality in Rich Democracies. Annual Review of Political Science, 26(Volume 26, 2023), 469–487. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-052521-094617
Faguet, J.-P., & Shami, M. (2022). The Incoherence of Institutional Reform: Decentralization as a Structural Solution to Immediate Political Needs. Studies in Comparative International Development, 57(1), 85–112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-021-09347-4
Felicetti, A. (2021). Learning from Democratic Practices: New Perspectives in Institutional Design. The Journal of Politics, 83(4), 1589–1601. https://doi.org/10.1086/711623
Gatti, L., & McAvoy, P. (2024). Theorizing to Cases: A Methodological Approach to Qualitative Normative Cases. Educational Theory, 74(3), 350–357. https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12611
Gordon, R. B., Lumb, M., Bunn, M., & Burke, P. J. (2022). Evaluation for equity: Reclaiming evaluation by striving towards counter-hegemonic democratic practices. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 54(3), 277–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220620.2021.1931059
Hendriks, F. (2022). Key values for democratic governance innovation: Two traditions and a synthesis. Public Administration, 100(4), 803–820. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12738
Hidayat, A. R., Hospes, O., & Termeer, C. J. a. M. (2025). Why Democratization and Decentralization in Indonesia Have Mixed Results on the Ground: A Systematic Literature Review. Public Administration and Development, 45(2), 159–172. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.2095
Jungherr, A., & Schroeder, R. (2021). Disinformation and the Structural Transformations of the Public Arena: Addressing the Actual Challenges to Democracy. Social Media + Society, 7(1), 2056305121988928. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305121988928
Kenawas, Y. C. (2023). The irony of Indonesia’s democracy: The rise of dynastic politics in the post-Suharto era1. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 8(3), 748–764. https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231195970
Klarin, A. (2024). How to conduct a bibliometric content analysis: Guidelines and contributions of content co-occurrence or co-word literature reviews. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 48(2), e13031. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.13031
Kollman, K., & Worthington, A. B. H. (2021). Party Systems and Political Centralization and Decentralization. The Journal of Politics, 83(3), 1178–1183. https://doi.org/10.1086/710971
Kristiyanto, H., Arinanto, S., & Ghafur, H. S. (2023). Institutionalization and party resilience in Indonesian electoral democracy. Heliyon, 9(12). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22919
Muallidin, I. (2025). From capture to colonized governance logic: The emergence of a new form of corruption. Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1108/TG-08-2025-0262
Rowan, L., Bourke, T., L’Estrange, L., Lunn Brownlee, J., Ryan, M., Walker, S., & Churchward, P. (2021). How Does Initial Teacher Education Research Frame the Challenge of Preparing Future Teachers for Student Diversity in Schools? A Systematic Review of Literature. Review of Educational Research, 91(1), 112–158. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654320979171
Sager, F., & Gofen, A. (2022). The polity of implementation: Organizational and institutional arrangements in policy implementation. Governance, 35(2), 347–364. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12677
Sampe, S. (2021). Why Political Parties don’t and do Matter in Local Government Elections in Indonesia: A Manado Case. Revista de Sociologia e Política, 29, e003. https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-987321297703
Simonofski, A., Fink, J., & Burnay, C. (2021). Supporting policy-making with social media and e-participation platforms data: A policy analytics framework. Government Information Quarterly, 38(3), 101590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2021.101590
Singer-Brodowski, M. (2025). The potential of transformative learning for sustainability transitions: Moving beyond formal learning environments. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 27(9), 20621–20639. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02444-x
Slater, D. (2023). What Indonesian Democracy Can Teach the World. Journal of Democracy, 34(1), 95–109.
Szente, Z. (2022). Constitutional Changes in Populist Times. https://doi.org/10.1163/15730352-47010001
Taylor, M., & Bhasme, S. (2021). Between deficit rains and surplus populations: The political ecology of a climate-resilient village in South India. Geoforum, 126, 431–440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.01.007
Vasilaras, A., Papadoudis, N., & Rizomiliotis, P. (2024). Artificial intelligence in mobile forensics: A survey of current status, a use case analysis and AI alignment objectives. Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation, 49, 301737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsidi.2024.301737
Webler, T., & Tuler, S. (2021). Four Decades of Public Participation in Risk Decision Making. Risk Analysis, 41(3), 503–518. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13250
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Dwi Aulia Hafifah, Genta Rahbani, Hafiz Wahyu Gusman , Rudi Santoso
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
