Indonesia’s Illiberal Capitalism and the 2025 Protests
A Reply to Wijaya and Jayasuriya
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19216632 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Abdil Mughis Mudhoffir (0000-0002-3045-5327, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1-15 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-08 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00472336.2026.2673122 |
| OpenAlex | W7163906052 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 24 |
Indonesia was less affected by the 2008 global crisis than many developed capitalist economies, but can it be said to have followed a similar path, leading to austerity that deepens disincorporation of the subordinate classes and the decline of liberal democracy as a source of legitimacy for capitalism? Wijaya and Jayasuriya suggest so. However, it cannot be forgotten that Indonesia’s capitalism has long relied on an illiberal political-legal order as a means of accumulation and legitimacy, despite post-1998 democratisation. This arrangement persists because there is neither a coherent progressive movement capable of shifting the balance of power nor a rupture within the capitalist fractions that introduces a new way to sustain bourgeois hegemony. Hence, characterising Indonesia as evolving towards Poulantzas’s model of authoritarian statism overlooks the specificity of the mode of capitalist accumulation. What has happened in Indonesia is the deepening of the already illiberal mode, often provoking mass protests. However, this new direction is not the result of a post-crisis re-organisation of capital but rather arises from the logic of accumulation in which sections of oligarchic alliance seek to further concentrate power and wealth in the absence of the organised left
Austerity · Authoritarianism · Capital (architecture) · Capitalism · Democracy · Legitimacy · Power (physics) · Statism · Asian Studies and History · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · World Systems and Global Transformations
Law and Politics of Blasphemy in Indonesia
Localising Power in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia
Shrinking civic space is inevitable in Indonesia
Corrupt But Functioning
The Rise of Lifestyle Activism
Opposing Suharto
State of Disorder
Reorganising Power in Indonesia
The Politics of Protection Rackets in Post-New Order Indonesia
The New Imperialism
Capitalist development, regime transitions and new forms of authoritarianism in Asia
Singapore
Elective affinity or comprehensive contradiction? Reflections on capitalism and democracy in the time of finance-dominated accumulation and austerity states
Doing business under the framework of disorder
Indonesia On The Edge of Competitive Authoritarianism
The Indonesian Economy in Turbulent Times
Impact of the Covid-19 Shock on Banking and Corporate Sector Vulnerabilities in Indonesia
Indonesian nickel sovereignty and global raced finance
New Trajectories for Political Regimes in Southeast Asia
The Rise of Authoritarian Statism in Indonesia and the Crisis of Crisis Management
Contextualising the 2025 Indonesian Protests
Authoritarian Statism and the New Right in Asia's Conservative Democracies
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |