Institutionalisation of Political Parties in Post-authoritarian Indonesia

The Institutionalisation of Political Parties in Post-authoritarian Indonesia: From the Grass-roots Up provides detailed examination of how much the local party branches of Partai Golkar, Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan, Partai Amanat Nasional, and Partai Keadilan Sejahtera in Malang (East Java) have institutionalized since the end of New Order era (1966-1998). Based on extensive fieldwork and observation, this book provides a new bottom-up perspective on how activities, administration and membership of each party has changed, and why some parties have more developed organizational prowess and stronger institutional base than others.

"This book is ... important in that it adds to our understanding of the opportunities and challenges faced by Indonesia's political parties in institutionalising during the country's transition to democracy. It is to be hoped that Fionna's book, from the ideographic political research tradition, prompts other, more nomothetic studies." -- Philips Vermonte, Centre for Strategic and International Studies Jakarta for Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies "This is an important and insightful book; a study of the gritty reality of branch level politics and party management in Indonesia, seen through the lens of Malang. We are used to seeing Indonesian parties as free-floating elites. Here we see how they struggle to connect with the grassroots. Especially important for understanding up-coming elections." -- David Reeve, Univeristy of Leiden. "The success of Indonesian democratization depends heavily on the extent to which political parties become responsive to their constituents at the grass roots level. Ulla Fionna’s fine-grained study of changes in four party organizations in Malang, East Java, adds valuable new data and important political science tools for the analysis of party development. Analysts and party-builders should be encouraged by her finding that the level of local activists’ skills and commitments makes a significant difference for the quality of Indonesia’s fledgling democracy." -- Bill Liddle, Ohio State University

Ulla Fionna is Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore; and Honorary Associate at the Department of Indonesian Studies of the University of Sydney. Her research interests include democratisation, party organisation and political Islam.