Democracy For Sale Elections, Clientelism, And The State In Indonesia

Author: Edward Aspinall; Ward Berenschot

Stock information

General Fields

  • : 69.00 AUD
  • : 9781501732980
  • : Cornell University Press
  • : Cornell University Press
  • :
  • : 0.0281227
  • : April 2019
  • : .7 Inches X 6.2 Inches X 9.1 Inches
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  • : 59.99
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  • :
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Edward Aspinall; Ward Berenschot
  • : Paperback
  • :
  • : 330
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Barcode 9781501732980
9781501732980

Description

Democracy for Sale is an on-the-ground account of Indonesian democracy, analyzing its election campaigns and behind-the-scenes machinations. Edward Aspinall and Ward Berenschot assess the informal networks and political strategies that shape access to power and privilege in the messy political environment of contemporary Indonesia.


In post-Suharto Indonesian politics the exchange of patronage for political support is commonplace. Clientelism, argue the authors, saturates the political system, and in Democracy for Sale they reveal the everyday practices of vote buying, influence peddling, manipulating government programs, and skimming money from government projects. In doing so, Aspinall and Berenschot advance three major arguments. The first argument points toward the role of religion, kinship, and other identities in Indonesian clientelism. The second explains how and why Indonesia's distinctive system of free-wheeling clientelism came into being. And the third argument addresses variation in the patterns and intensity of clientelism. Through these arguments and with comparative leverage from political practices in India and Argentina, Democracy for Sale provides compelling evidence of the importance of informal networks and relationships rather than formal parties and institutions in contemporary Indonesia.

Reviews

"A painstakingly researched examination of the way Indonesia has become a patronage democracy.... Aspinall and Berenschot's book shows how many has weakened political parties, ensures that personalities matter more than policy, favors incumbents, and almost forces politicians to become corrupt in order to recoup the expense of running for office." 


New York Review of Books (JC BookGrocer)