As did other Muslim countries which had acquired political freedom, Indonesia after the 1998 democratization also had Islamists, who had been distanced from politics of reality, seeking to realize their ideals through elections and party systems. The formation of the Prosperous Justice Party, which inherited the secret student movement organization tarbiyah from Suharto’s authoritarian regime, is a representative case. Existing studies revealed limitations in selecting cases and units of analysis when explaining the political mobility of the Prosperous Justice Party as it rose to a major party in Indonesia, and especially failed to consider the uncertainty within the party system which was rising due to sociopolitical changes in Indonesia, namely Islamization and localization. Thus this lecture will explain the national support for the Prosperous Justice Party which is in stagnation since ideological deradicalization and the exceptional election results in some regions with absolute Catholic domination in terms of “normalization” and “project of commonness” respectively.

Speaker: Park Jung Hoon (Senior Researcher at Sogang University Institute of Social Sciences)

Bio

Visiting Researcher at Korean Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (2013)
Completed Ph.D. course in Political Science, National University of Singapore
Master’s degrees in Political Science, Sogang University and the University of Floria
Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Sogang University