Michael Buehler
Biographic Data
| ID | 3799234 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael Buehler |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael |
| FAMILY NAME | Buehler |
| SIGNATURE | BUEHLER M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4892-0183 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 78 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Indonesia in 2025
Indonesia’s politics in 2025 were shaped by the Prabowo administration’s drive to consolidate authority while containing recurring mass protest. Proposals to revise electoral and party rules, alongside renewed memory politics that rehabilitated elements of the New Order, underscored ongoing democratic erosion. At the same time, student-led mobilization, and the state’s alternating use of concessions and coercion, functioned as the main societal c…
Indonesia in 2024
Indonesia in 2024 witnessed significant political, economic, and social developments. February’s elections resulted in the controversial victory of Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka as president and vice president, raising concerns about democratic backsliding and dynastic politics. Other political developments included ongoing judicial manipulation, weakened democratic institutions, and the further politicization of anti-corruption mea…
Do discriminatory laws have societal origins? The diffusion of anti-Ahmadiyah regulations in Indonesia
Government laws and regulations discriminating against religious minorities are on the rise worldwide. Scholars have debated whether or not society-based discrimination is a pre-condition for government-based discrimination. Examining an original dataset of regulations discriminating against the Ahmadiyah community in Indonesia, this article argues that calls from within society to restrict the freedom of religious minorities are neither a suffic…
Limitations to subnational authoritarianism
In recent years, a sizeable literature on subnational authoritarian regimes in democracies has emerged. In some countries local authoritarian enclaves have persisted despite the democratization of politics at the national level. Even more intriguing, new subnational authoritarian regimes have emerged in the context of national level democratization. Finally, scholars have noted that there is considerable variance in subnational authoritarian regi…
Hybrid Regimes within Democracies
Indonesia in 2020
The coronavirus dominated Indonesian politics in 2020. Rather than propelling Indonesia in new directions, however, the pandemic amplified existing political and societal dynamics
Authoritarian diasporas in Indonesia and the Philippines
The article compares the political trajectories of authoritarian diasporas in Indonesia and the Philippines, namely the subset of former regime officials that disperse across the electoral space after a regime transition. The main finding is that after the Suharto and Marcos dictatorships collapsed in 1998 and 1986 respectively, Indonesia's authoritarian successor party (ASP) fared better than the ASP in the Philippines. However, the authoritaria…
A research agenda for studying legislative incumbent turnover in new democracies, using Indonesia as a case study
Legislative incumbent turnover rates are an important indicator for the quality of a democracy. Low turnover rates may indicate the presence of oligarchic structures while high turnover rates may be a sign of political instability. Yet, there is little research on incumbent turnover in new democracies. This article will suggest ways to address this gap in the literature by looking at Indonesia. The country is not only the third largest democracy …
Becoming Better Muslims
Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority & Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia." Politics, Religion & Ideology, 19(3), pp. 421–422
Why do Indonesian politicians promote shari’a laws? An analytic framework for Muslim-majority democracies
Taking the discussion in the existing literature on the adoption of shari’a laws in democratising Muslim-majority countries as a starting point, we posit that there are two broad motivations for democratically-elected politicians to adopt shari’a laws and regulations: ideological conviction on the one hand and response to the expressed or perceived preference of constituents on the other hand. The ‘demand side’ can be further divided into the pre…
Illiberal Practices
While scholarship on subnational regimes in democracies has grown considerably over the past decade, its focus has remained somewhat narrow. Concretely, existing works predominantly focus on the conditions that facilitate the rise and fall of subnational authoritarian regimes in federal democracies. In other words, this literature does not take into account that a broad range of subnational regime types may exist, not all of them fully authoritar…
The Politics of Shari'a Law
The Islamization of politics in Indonesia after 1998 presents an underexplored puzzle: why has there been a rise in the number of shari'a laws despite the electoral decline of Islamist parties? Michael Buehler presents an analysis of the conditions under which Islamist activists situated outside formal party politics may capture and exert influence in Muslim-majority countries facing democratization. His analysis shows that introducing competitiv…
Democratization and the diffusion of shari’a law
The democratization of politics has been accompanied by a rise of Islamic laws in many Muslim-majority countries. Despite a growing interest in the phenomenon, the Islamization of politics in democratizing Muslim-majority countries is rarely understood as a process that unfolds across space and time. Based on an original dataset established during years of field research in Indonesia, this article analyzes the spread of shari’a regulations across…
Democrats and Autocrats
Journal Article Democrats and Autocrats: Pathways of Subnational Undemocratic Regime Continuity within Democratic Countries , by Agustina Giraudy. Curbing Clientelism in Argentina: Politics, Poverty, and Social Policy , by Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro. Get access Democrats and Autocrats: Pathways of Subnational Undemocratic Regime Continuity within Democratic Countries, by Agustina Giraudy . New York : Oxford University Press , 2015 , 214 pp., $84.95 Ha…
Women and sharia law in Northern Indonesia
"Women and sharia law in Northern Indonesia: local women's NGOs and the reform of Islamic law in Aceh." Journal of Gender Studies, 25(5), pp. 613–614
Indonesia's Changing Political Economy
Indonesia's Changing Political Economy: Governing Roads. By Jamie Davidson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Hardcover: 292pp. When Joko Widodo, aka Jokowi, announced that he would run for president of Indonesia in 2013, he not only promised to weed out corruption and increase transparency, but also that he would pursue a new style of leadership altogether. Focusing on plight of masses, Jokowi pledged that he would no longer be behold…
Indonesian women and local politics
In her new book, Dewi Kurniawati Hastuti seeks to counter the ‘general perception ... that Islam is a source of discrimination and oppression against women ...’ (p. 1). To this end, she examines the di
Boundary Control
There have been two important developments in the comparative study of authoritarianism in recent years. First, there is a renewed interest in the role of institutions in establishing and maintaining authoritarianism (Schedler 2009; Pepinsky 2013). Second, a research agenda has emerged that focuses on local authoritarianism and the obstacles to the spread of democracy within countries in contrast to previous studies that examined authoritarianism…
Revisiting the inclusion-moderation thesis in the context of decentralized institutions
Institutions figure prominently in explanations for why radical parties forego their agendas and subject themselves to democratic principles when included in politics. Analyzing the Prosperous Justice Party’s political trajectory across Indonesia’s multi-level government structures between 1999 and 2009, I show that the Islamist party has gradually adopted more moderate behavior not only in national politics, where institutional incentives are co…
Subnational Islamization through Secular Parties
The Arab Spring has reinvigorated debate about the impact of Islamist groups on policymaking, particularly the adoption and implementation of Islamic law (shari'a), in democratizing, Muslim-majority countries.Most studies on shari'a policymaking emphasize the causal primacy of Islamist parties operating within formal institutions and describe how, in the context of democratization, Islamist parties press for the adoption of shari'a law in opposit…
Local Politics in Indonesia
One of the many ironies of Indonesia’s self-perception as a rising power and an emerging market is that the world does not seem to reciprocate these feelings. It sometimes looks as if the archipelago is only on the map of Western oil and mining executives as well as board room members of ailing Canadian cell phone companies that are desperately trying to make up for lost market shares in rich countries. Developments in the world’s largest Muslim-…
Identifying Patterns in the Accumulation and Exercise of Power in post-New Order Indonesia
Indonesia's Law on Public Services
Institutional reforms introduced after the collapse of the New Order regime have brought state–society relations in Indonesia under increased scrutiny. This paper uses an evaluation of Law 25/2009 on Public Services as a means to assess whether the new political setting has increased the leverage of the citizenry over the state. Adopted in July 2009, the law introduced a range of regulations for public service providers. It also expanded the resp…
The Rise of Shari’a by-Laws in Indonesian Districts
A rising number of districts in Indonesia have adopted shari'a by-laws in recent years. This article shows that this development has to be situated in the context of institutional change. Shari'a by-laws allow regents to open up new revenue streams. These revenues are then used to consolidate political power
Revisiting the inclusion-moderation thesis in the context of decentralized institutions
Institutions figure prominently in explanations for why radical parties forego their agendas and subject themselves to democratic principles when included in politics. Analyzing the Prosperous Justice Party’s political trajectory across Indonesia’s multi-level government structures between 1999 and 2009, I show that the Islamist party has gradually adopted more moderate behavior not only in national politics, where institutional incentives are co…
Subnational Islamization through Secular Parties
The Arab Spring has reinvigorated debate about the impact of Islamist groups on policymaking, particularly the adoption and implementation of Islamic law (shari'a), in democratizing, Muslim-majority countries.Most studies on shari'a policymaking emphasize the causal primacy of Islamist parties operating within formal institutions and describe how, in the context of democratization, Islamist parties press for the adoption of shari'a law in opposit…
The Rise of Shari’a by-Laws in Indonesian Districts
A rising number of districts in Indonesia have adopted shari'a by-laws in recent years. This article shows that this development has to be situated in the context of institutional change. Shari'a by-laws allow regents to open up new revenue streams. These revenues are then used to consolidate political power
Democratization and the diffusion of shari’a law
The democratization of politics has been accompanied by a rise of Islamic laws in many Muslim-majority countries. Despite a growing interest in the phenomenon, the Islamization of politics in democratizing Muslim-majority countries is rarely understood as a process that unfolds across space and time. Based on an original dataset established during years of field research in Indonesia, this article analyzes the spread of shari’a regulations across…
Why do Indonesian politicians promote shari’a laws? An analytic framework for Muslim-majority democracies
Taking the discussion in the existing literature on the adoption of shari’a laws in democratising Muslim-majority countries as a starting point, we posit that there are two broad motivations for democratically-elected politicians to adopt shari’a laws and regulations: ideological conviction on the one hand and response to the expressed or perceived preference of constituents on the other hand. The ‘demand side’ can be further divided into the pre…
Limitations to subnational authoritarianism
In recent years, a sizeable literature on subnational authoritarian regimes in democracies has emerged. In some countries local authoritarian enclaves have persisted despite the democratization of politics at the national level. Even more intriguing, new subnational authoritarian regimes have emerged in the context of national level democratization. Finally, scholars have noted that there is considerable variance in subnational authoritarian regi…
Authoritarian diasporas in Indonesia and the Philippines
The article compares the political trajectories of authoritarian diasporas in Indonesia and the Philippines, namely the subset of former regime officials that disperse across the electoral space after a regime transition. The main finding is that after the Suharto and Marcos dictatorships collapsed in 1998 and 1986 respectively, Indonesia's authoritarian successor party (ASP) fared better than the ASP in the Philippines. However, the authoritaria…
A research agenda for studying legislative incumbent turnover in new democracies, using Indonesia as a case study
Legislative incumbent turnover rates are an important indicator for the quality of a democracy. Low turnover rates may indicate the presence of oligarchic structures while high turnover rates may be a sign of political instability. Yet, there is little research on incumbent turnover in new democracies. This article will suggest ways to address this gap in the literature by looking at Indonesia. The country is not only the third largest democracy …
Do discriminatory laws have societal origins? The diffusion of anti-Ahmadiyah regulations in Indonesia
Government laws and regulations discriminating against religious minorities are on the rise worldwide. Scholars have debated whether or not society-based discrimination is a pre-condition for government-based discrimination. Examining an original dataset of regulations discriminating against the Ahmadiyah community in Indonesia, this article argues that calls from within society to restrict the freedom of religious minorities are neither a suffic…
Indonesia in 2020
The coronavirus dominated Indonesian politics in 2020. Rather than propelling Indonesia in new directions, however, the pandemic amplified existing political and societal dynamics
Indonesia's Law on Public Services
Institutional reforms introduced after the collapse of the New Order regime have brought state–society relations in Indonesia under increased scrutiny. This paper uses an evaluation of Law 25/2009 on Public Services as a means to assess whether the new political setting has increased the leverage of the citizenry over the state. Adopted in July 2009, the law introduced a range of regulations for public service providers. It also expanded the resp…
The Rise of Shari’a by-Laws in Indonesian Districts
A rising number of districts in Indonesia have adopted shari'a by-laws in recent years. This article shows that this development has to be situated in the context of institutional change. Shari'a by-laws allow regents to open up new revenue streams. These revenues are then used to consolidate political power
Indonesia's Law on Public Services
Institutional reforms introduced after the collapse of the New Order regime have brought state–society relations in Indonesia under increased scrutiny. This paper uses an evaluation of Law 25/2009 on Public Services as a means to assess whether the new political setting has increased the leverage of the citizenry over the state. Adopted in July 2009, the law introduced a range of regulations for public service providers. It also expanded the resp…
Local Politics in Indonesia
One of the many ironies of Indonesia’s self-perception as a rising power and an emerging market is that the world does not seem to reciprocate these feelings. It sometimes looks as if the archipelago is only on the map of Western oil and mining executives as well as board room members of ailing Canadian cell phone companies that are desperately trying to make up for lost market shares in rich countries. Developments in the world’s largest Muslim-…
Identifying Patterns in the Accumulation and Exercise of Power in post-New Order Indonesia
Revisiting the inclusion-moderation thesis in the context of decentralized institutions
Institutions figure prominently in explanations for why radical parties forego their agendas and subject themselves to democratic principles when included in politics. Analyzing the Prosperous Justice Party’s political trajectory across Indonesia’s multi-level government structures between 1999 and 2009, I show that the Islamist party has gradually adopted more moderate behavior not only in national politics, where institutional incentives are co…
Subnational Islamization through Secular Parties
The Arab Spring has reinvigorated debate about the impact of Islamist groups on policymaking, particularly the adoption and implementation of Islamic law (shari'a), in democratizing, Muslim-majority countries.Most studies on shari'a policymaking emphasize the causal primacy of Islamist parties operating within formal institutions and describe how, in the context of democratization, Islamist parties press for the adoption of shari'a law in opposit…
Boundary Control
There have been two important developments in the comparative study of authoritarianism in recent years. First, there is a renewed interest in the role of institutions in establishing and maintaining authoritarianism (Schedler 2009; Pepinsky 2013). Second, a research agenda has emerged that focuses on local authoritarianism and the obstacles to the spread of democracy within countries in contrast to previous studies that examined authoritarianism…
Indonesia's Changing Political Economy
Indonesia's Changing Political Economy: Governing Roads. By Jamie Davidson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Hardcover: 292pp. When Joko Widodo, aka Jokowi, announced that he would run for president of Indonesia in 2013, he not only promised to weed out corruption and increase transparency, but also that he would pursue a new style of leadership altogether. Focusing on plight of masses, Jokowi pledged that he would no longer be behold…
Indonesian women and local politics
In her new book, Dewi Kurniawati Hastuti seeks to counter the ‘general perception ... that Islam is a source of discrimination and oppression against women ...’ (p. 1). To this end, she examines the di
The Politics of Shari'a Law
The Islamization of politics in Indonesia after 1998 presents an underexplored puzzle: why has there been a rise in the number of shari'a laws despite the electoral decline of Islamist parties? Michael Buehler presents an analysis of the conditions under which Islamist activists situated outside formal party politics may capture and exert influence in Muslim-majority countries facing democratization. His analysis shows that introducing competitiv…
Democratization and the diffusion of shari’a law
The democratization of politics has been accompanied by a rise of Islamic laws in many Muslim-majority countries. Despite a growing interest in the phenomenon, the Islamization of politics in democratizing Muslim-majority countries is rarely understood as a process that unfolds across space and time. Based on an original dataset established during years of field research in Indonesia, this article analyzes the spread of shari’a regulations across…
Democrats and Autocrats
Journal Article Democrats and Autocrats: Pathways of Subnational Undemocratic Regime Continuity within Democratic Countries , by Agustina Giraudy. Curbing Clientelism in Argentina: Politics, Poverty, and Social Policy , by Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro. Get access Democrats and Autocrats: Pathways of Subnational Undemocratic Regime Continuity within Democratic Countries, by Agustina Giraudy . New York : Oxford University Press , 2015 , 214 pp., $84.95 Ha…
Women and sharia law in Northern Indonesia
"Women and sharia law in Northern Indonesia: local women's NGOs and the reform of Islamic law in Aceh." Journal of Gender Studies, 25(5), pp. 613–614
Why do Indonesian politicians promote shari’a laws? An analytic framework for Muslim-majority democracies
Taking the discussion in the existing literature on the adoption of shari’a laws in democratising Muslim-majority countries as a starting point, we posit that there are two broad motivations for democratically-elected politicians to adopt shari’a laws and regulations: ideological conviction on the one hand and response to the expressed or perceived preference of constituents on the other hand. The ‘demand side’ can be further divided into the pre…
Illiberal Practices
While scholarship on subnational regimes in democracies has grown considerably over the past decade, its focus has remained somewhat narrow. Concretely, existing works predominantly focus on the conditions that facilitate the rise and fall of subnational authoritarian regimes in federal democracies. In other words, this literature does not take into account that a broad range of subnational regime types may exist, not all of them fully authoritar…
Becoming Better Muslims
Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority & Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia." Politics, Religion & Ideology, 19(3), pp. 421–422
A research agenda for studying legislative incumbent turnover in new democracies, using Indonesia as a case study
Legislative incumbent turnover rates are an important indicator for the quality of a democracy. Low turnover rates may indicate the presence of oligarchic structures while high turnover rates may be a sign of political instability. Yet, there is little research on incumbent turnover in new democracies. This article will suggest ways to address this gap in the literature by looking at Indonesia. The country is not only the third largest democracy …
Limitations to subnational authoritarianism
In recent years, a sizeable literature on subnational authoritarian regimes in democracies has emerged. In some countries local authoritarian enclaves have persisted despite the democratization of politics at the national level. Even more intriguing, new subnational authoritarian regimes have emerged in the context of national level democratization. Finally, scholars have noted that there is considerable variance in subnational authoritarian regi…
Hybrid Regimes within Democracies
Indonesia in 2020
The coronavirus dominated Indonesian politics in 2020. Rather than propelling Indonesia in new directions, however, the pandemic amplified existing political and societal dynamics
Authoritarian diasporas in Indonesia and the Philippines
The article compares the political trajectories of authoritarian diasporas in Indonesia and the Philippines, namely the subset of former regime officials that disperse across the electoral space after a regime transition. The main finding is that after the Suharto and Marcos dictatorships collapsed in 1998 and 1986 respectively, Indonesia's authoritarian successor party (ASP) fared better than the ASP in the Philippines. However, the authoritaria…
Do discriminatory laws have societal origins? The diffusion of anti-Ahmadiyah regulations in Indonesia
Government laws and regulations discriminating against religious minorities are on the rise worldwide. Scholars have debated whether or not society-based discrimination is a pre-condition for government-based discrimination. Examining an original dataset of regulations discriminating against the Ahmadiyah community in Indonesia, this article argues that calls from within society to restrict the freedom of religious minorities are neither a suffic…
Indonesia in 2024
Indonesia in 2024 witnessed significant political, economic, and social developments. February’s elections resulted in the controversial victory of Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka as president and vice president, raising concerns about democratic backsliding and dynastic politics. Other political developments included ongoing judicial manipulation, weakened democratic institutions, and the further politicization of anti-corruption mea…
Indonesia in 2025
Indonesia’s politics in 2025 were shaped by the Prabowo administration’s drive to consolidate authority while containing recurring mass protest. Proposals to revise electoral and party rules, alongside renewed memory politics that rehabilitated elements of the New Order, underscored ongoing democratic erosion. At the same time, student-led mobilization, and the state’s alternating use of concessions and coercion, functioned as the main societal c…
Political science (22 works) · Asian Studies and History (19 works) · Law (18 works) · Politics (18 works) · Political economy (13 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Democracy (11 works) · Economics (10 works) · Indonesian Election Politics and Participation (10 works) · Law (9 works)