Consolidating democracy : resilience and challenges in Indonesia and South Korea

This book assesses democratic resilience and challenges in (relatively) newly emerging democracies in the Asia-Pacific, which are simultaneously important case studies as newly emerging middle powers. Across all dimensions and measurements, South Korea and Indonesia are consistently the most salient case studies to consider. The two case studies are compared across three sections. First, the relationship between economic development and democratic resilience in Indonesia and South Korea. Second, nature of political culture and societal constructs in the two case studies. The final section looks at the potential peculiarities of the two case studies, which are seen as uniquely challenged: Indonesia by religious persecution and South Korea by political populism. Certainly, democratization is a long and difficult process. This book provides insight into how the two countries have embarked on similar democratization projects. It also delineates the successes and failures from which valuable lessons on democratization can be drawn. Brendan Howe is Dean and Professor of International Relations, Ewha Womans University Graduate School of International Studies, South Korea, and President of the Asian Political and International Studies Association Contents 7 List of Contributors 9 Abbreviations 10 List of Figures 12 List of Tables 13 1 Asian Democracy 14 Introduction 15 Case Selection 18 Chapter Overview 20 References 26 2 Overcoming Economic Stagnation: Indonesia’s Struggle Over Policy Reform in a New Democracy 29 Introduction 30 Theoretical Reviews 31 Twin Crises and Reforming the Indonesian Economy 33 The Private Sector and the Political Economy of the Reformasi Era 36 Fundamental Problem of the Manufacturing Industry 40 Jokowi and the Mission of Deregulation 45 Concluding Remarks 51 References 52 3 Democratic Resilience in the Midst of Economic Crisis: The Case of South Korea 56 Introduction 57 Dynamics Underpinning Korea’s Contentious but Continued Democracy 58 Government Response to Economic Crisis (Asian Financial Crisis) 60 Government Response to Economic Crisis (COVID-19 Pandemic) 64 Cultural Factors Supporting Democracy 67 What’s the Alternative? 69 Concluding Remarks 71 References 73 4 The Resilience of Democracy and Social Movements in Indonesia 77 Introduction 78 Social Movement and the State 80 Workers’ Movements in Indonesia 82 Encouraging Participatory Policy Formulation 83 Participating in Electoral Politics 86 Obstacles and Challenges 88 Concluding Remarks 90 Notes 91 References 92 5 South Korea’s Progress in Dual Democratization: Social Conflict and Democratic Integration 95 Introduction 96 Democracy and Democratization 97 The Korean Experience of Political Democratization 101 The Korean Experience of Socio-Economic Democratization 107 The Korean Experience of Socio-Cultural Democratization 111 Concluding Remarks 116 References 118 6 Strategizing Religious Oppression: Christianity and Indonesia’s Democracy Resilience 121 Background 122 A Flawed Democracy and Christianity-Muslim Tension 123 Strategies Amidst the Oppression 130 Challenges Within Internal Consolidation 134 Concluding Note 136 References 137 7 Populism: Does It Support or Undermine Democracy? A Case Study of Democratic Resilience in South Korea 140 Introduction 141 Background Debate 142 Cultural Basis of Populism 145 Interaction Between Authoritarian Regime and Populism 146 The Dialectic of Modernization and Populism 147 Democratic Resilience and Two Populist Movements 148 Conceptual Design for Empirical Study 150 Two Dimensions of Liberalism and Populism 151 Two Populist Movements and Democratic Resilience 156 Concluding Remarks 162 References 164 8 An East Asian Democratic Miracle? Challenges and Resilience 168 Introduction 169 The Rise of the Asia-Pacific and East Asian Miracles 169 Points of Comparison 172 Conclusion 178 References 180 Index 183