From Collective Action to Connective Action
Rethinking the Logic of Youth Mobilisation in Contemporary Indonesia's Politics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22429159 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ari Ganjar Herdiansah (0000-0002-6956-6665, Padjadjaran University), Muhammad Andi Firmansyah (0009-0000-1904-2655, Padjadjaran University), Cusdiawan Cusdiawan (0009-0006-3187-6138, Universitas Pamulang) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-18 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1868-1034 • E-ISSN: 1868-4882 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/18681034261469201 |
| OpenAlex | W7169657649 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 42 |
This article investigates why Indonesia's 1998 Reformasi movement secured institutional breakthroughs, while post-2019 youth protests have yielded primarily symbolic impacts. Utilising political process theory and a path-dependency perspective, the study argues that this divergence results from the complex interplay of media ecology, grievance structures, elite configurations, organisational mediation, and access to institutional channels. Analysis reveals that the 1998 success was facilitated by a convergence of systemic political opportunities, robust organisational capacity, and widespread cognitive liberation. In contrast, the 2019–2025 cycle operates within a digital ecology that accelerates horizontal mobilisation while facilitating selective state responsiveness and issue fragmentation. The effectiveness of youth activism in hybrid regimes depends on the capacity to construct collective-connecting infrastructures and institutional relays that translate viral momentum into sustained policy change. It suggests that durable reform requires movements to bridge the gap between digital-age connectivity and the structural depth of traditional organisational mediation.
Collective action · Construct (python library) · Contentious politics · Convergence (economics) · Divergence (linguistics) · Elite · Grievance · Politics · Social movement · Asian Studies and History · Political Conflict and Governance · Populism, Right-Wing Movements
Oligarchy
Tweets and the Streets
The Hybrid Media System
The digital repression of social movements, protest, and activism
The Legacies of the Reformasi Movement in Indonesia
Media and Protest Logics in the Digital Era
Opposing Suharto
Problems of Democratisation in Indonesia
Democracy in Indonesia
Reorganising Power in Indonesia
Power in Movement
Oligarchy in the Jokowi government and its influence on the implementation of legislative function in Indonesia
Labor Rights in East Asia
Perspectives on Student Political Activism
Indonesia On The Edge of Competitive Authoritarianism
Indonesia’s Democratic Paradox
Now out of Never
The limits of autocratisation in Indonesia
Flirting with Autocracy in Indonesia
Oligarchy and Democracy in Post-Suharto Indonesia
Platforms, Politics, and the Crisis of Democracy
Elections Without Democracy
To Repress or to Co‐opt? Authoritarian Control in the Age of Digital Surveillance
A Comparative Framework for the Analysis of International Student Movements
Freedom to hate
The Logic of Connective Action
Elite Collusion in Indonesia
Fighting the Hellhounds
Many Clicks but Little Sticks
Conceptualizing Political Opportunity
Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970
Crossing Movement Boundaries
From cities to networks
Resource Mobilization and Social Movements
| Highly cited | No |
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