The Persistent Horizontal Antagonism within the Democratic Regime: The Case of Indonesia Post-1998

Abstract

This paper argues that the existence of persistent antagonism within the Indonesian society is a sign of flawed democratization process caused by certain embedded culture within the society. It examines the fulfilment of supposed preconditions for democratization which departs from Charles Tilly’s Democracy and the underlying causes of defect in every precondition. Although this paper does not provide direct causal relations between existing culture and persistent antagonism, it suggests the need to address cultural factor properly in order to understand how certain culture undermines the democratization process in Indonesia and the struggles to deal with the issue of horizontal antagonism.