Jokowi's challenge: the structural problems of governance in democratic Indonesia

The inauguration of Joko Widodo—popularly called “Jokowi”—as Indonesia’s new president in October 2014 has been widely celebrated as a victory for the country’s young democracy. A local furniture entrepreneur who worked his way up from the mayorship of a small town in Central Java to the palace, Jokowi is the first Indonesian president not to have originated from traditional elite networks connected to the military, bureaucracy, or party machines. Moreover, on his way to power, he defeated a right-wing populist who had offered to return Indonesia to a predemocratic political format. Had Prabowo Subianto—the former son-in-law of ex-autocrat Suharto and a leading general under his repressive rule—won the presidency, Indonesia would have faced many years of political turmoil and a possible democratic reversal. Instead, Jokowi’s coming to power secured the continuation of Indonesia’s democratization process.