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Article: Comparing Indonesia's party systems of the 1950s and the post-Suharto era: from centrifugal to centripetal inter-party competition.
- Article from:
- Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
- Article date:
- October 1, 2008
- Author:
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In 1957, Indonesia's party system collapsed after seven years of protracted political and ideological conflict. Amid calls for alternative forms of governance, the breakdown of party politics contributed to the downfall of parliamentary democracy and eventually helped to install Sukarno's authoritarian Guided Democracy. By contrast, in 2008--10 years after Indonesia's second attempt at a democratic system had been launched--the party system appeared to be remarkably stable, with only the most pessimistic observers believing in the possibility of its early demise. Partly as a result of this stability in the contemporary party system, the effectiveness of today's democratic ...