Islamist Party Networks at the Subnational Level

• In Event: Networks of power in Southeast Asia - Sponsored by the Indonesia Timor Leste Studies Committee (ITLSC)

Abstract

Scholars have explained the continuous decline in electoral support for Islamist parties in Indonesia since 1998 due to a lack of clientelistic networks on the ground. However, this assessment of Islamist party dynamics in Indonesia is based almost exclusively on national level election data. Based on an original dataset on electoral support for Islamist parties at the provincial, district and municipality level, this paper will first show that Islamist parties have become stronger in certain localities of the archipelago in past years. The second part of the paper will provide an in-depth analysis of how Islamist parties have established local network in these areas and the politics that have ensued from this.

Author

• Michael Buehler, SOAS, University of London