Complacent Democrats

The Political Preferences of Gen Z Indonesians

Bibliographic Data

ID6434945
AuthorsBurhanuddin Muhtadi (0000-0002-6043-6856, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta), Eve Warburton (0000-0001-7922-2404, Australian National University, corresponding author), Liam Gammon (Australian National University)
Year2025
Volume25
Issue2
Pages259-286
Publication date2025-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of East Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1598-2408 • E-ISSN: 2234-6643
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/jea.2025.10011
OpenAlexW4414847344
LanguageEN
References cited34

Indonesia’s population skews young, so political analysts are increasingly concerned with what the “youth vote” looks like, and what generational change will bring to Indonesia’s democracy. On the one hand, analysts have historically focused on the liberal political activism of more educated cohorts of young people, and especially those in urban areas. On the other, and most recently, young Indonesians overwhelmingly voted for Prabowo Subianto in the 2024 presidential elections, suggesting this cohort to be either unaware of, or unperturbed by, his authoritarian history. This paper examines how young Indonesians perceive their country’s democratic trajectory. We analyze two decades of nationally representative survey data, and examine the democratic preferences of Indonesian voters whose political socialization took place entirely in the post-authoritarian era (1998–). The results suggest both life-cycle and intriguing cohort effects: on average, Indonesians become more positive towards their democracy as they age; but we also find that Indonesia’s Gen Zs are more satisfied with democracy than other generational cohorts—despite a precipitous decline in the quality of Indonesian democracy over the past decade. We argue, therefore, that while all Indonesians show high levels of satisfaction with their weakening democracy, young Indonesians, more than other generations, can be understood as ‘complacent democrats

Asian Studies and History · Islamic Finance and Communication