Everyday citizenship in democratizing Indonesia

Democratization in 1998 gave Indonesian citizens many more rights on paper than before. Yet their daily lives remain dominated by powerful elites. Why is this so?

What we call post-colonial citizenship studies aim to bring the everyday lives of large numbers of ordinary citizens back into the picture. They call for some critical distance from conventional images of the autonomous, rights-claiming citizen. Instead, they highlight political economy, the history of state formation, and informality.

Citizenship in Indonesia is highly informal, personalized, and mediated. State institutions are weak and socially embedded. Citizens regularly depend on personal connections to gain services. This mutes their experience of “rights.”

We explain this pattern of citizenship historically. The latest “critical juncture,” in 1998–1999, was largely won by predatory provincial elites, who captured state resources and controlled their flow to local clients. Decentralization thus seriously impaired the quality of citizenship, particularly for the poor majority.