Erosion or decay? Conceptualizing causes and mechanisms of democratic regression

Gerschewski, Johannes

doi:10.1080/13510347.2020.1826935

Cited by 36 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 80 publications

(23 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Research on democratic regression at the global level began in 2006 and has continued since then (Gerschewski, 2021;Haynes, 2021;Wagemann, 2018). A certain global trend has been discovered and the case has usually applied to G20 and geopolitically dense countries (Diamond, 2021).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratic regression in Indonesia: Police and low-capacity democracy in Jokowi's administration (2014–2020)

Siregar

Raffiudin

Noor

2022

JSP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Discussions about democratisation have often revolved around the strengthening or weakening phenomenon/notion of democracy. This research is a continuation of previous studies on democratic regression in Indonesia. Charles Tilly (2007) examined democratic regression from democracy and de-democratization theory through the concept of low-capacity democracy. Tilly's perspective argues a low-capacity democratic process occurred during the Joko Widodo administration in Indonesia from 2014 to 2020 when the state implemented the Police as a political instrument to maintain power. As a result, the character of the Police deviated from democratic principles, leading to a problem for police professionalism. The study employs qualitative methods, in which the primary data is obtained from in-depth interviews with several key informants. The secondary data is gathered from scientific works of literature and news in online media. This study indicates how low-capacity democracy developed through: first, the Indonesian regime's intervention and exercise of control by involving and appointing police officers to civilian positions; second, police repression against civil liberties; and third, the Police's justification for their authority and power. Thus, this study confirms Tilly's argument that a low-capacity democratic process occurs when democratic countries pursue undemocratic methods by manipulating the Police as an instrument to strengthen the power of the regime. The recommendation of this study is to strengthen democracy in terms of law enforcement by the supervision of parliament and supervisory institutions to retain the Police’s role as an independent law enforcement institution.

show abstract

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratic regression in Indonesia: Police and low-capacity democracy in Jokowi's administration (2014–2020)

Siregar

Raffiudin

Noor

2022

JSP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This decay of democratic institutions and norms that keep the powerful in check (Gerschewski 2021) put in doubt the stability of democracies and opened the search for explanations why citizens in democracies are letting go off institutions that should shield them from authoritarian abuse. One of the explanations proposes that the institutions constraining the power of incumbents are not equally important to all citizens at the same time (Singer 2018).…”

Section: Reforms Of Democratic Checks and Balances And Democratic Bac...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rose-colored glasses or suspicion? Effects of coalitional cues on evaluations of checks and balances reforms

Mazepus¹

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Why do citizens (re-)elect leaders and parties that systematically undermine democratic institutions? Democratic backsliding is a process in which political leaders with authoritarian tendencies alter democratic checks and balances. Reforms of checks and balances can reshape and undermine existing democratic institutions and skew the political playing field in the advantage of authoritarian incumbents and their supporters. How do citizens respond to such reforms? In this article I study the effects of coalitional allegiance on (a) support for reforms and (b) motivations assigned to the reformers who propose to change checks and balances. Importantly, I study whether participants evaluate such reform proposals differently than other proposals. As reforms altering checks and balances pose a threat especially to the citizens in the opposition – their democratic rights might be constrained – the stakes in such reforms are high. I compare the checks and balances reforms to a simple administrative reform that does not have differential effects on citizens depending on their position vis-à-vis the government. I used a mixed-design survey experiment with a large sample (N = 1040) of Polish citizens. The results show that (1) the supporters of the ruling coalition evaluate all reforms through rose-colored glasses, whereas the opponents are more suspicious of potential violations of democratic rules; (2), the administrative reform was evaluated more positively and not seen as ill-intended, by contrast with the checks and balances reforms. All in all, this study indicates that even citizens, who find democratic institutions very important, see reforms of checks and balances differently depending on who proposes them. Overall, however, the reforms of checks and balances are not received with great enthusiasm of citizens.

show abstract

“… 17 Another reason may be the shrinking of democratic space because of security interests and the power of transnational capital. 18 At least the people of the UK seem to disagree with their government’s vaccine nationalism . 19…”

Section: Giving Hope a Sporting Chancementioning

confidence: 99%

Giving hope a sporting chance: COVID-19 as a beneficial epidemic?

Pas

Ooms

2021

BMJ Glob Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Erosion or decay? Conceptualizing causes and mechanisms of democratic regression

Cited by 36 publications

References 80 publications

Democratic regression in Indonesia: Police and low-capacity democracy in Jokowi's administration (2014–2020)

Democratic regression in Indonesia: Police and low-capacity democracy in Jokowi's administration (2014–2020)

Rose-colored glasses or suspicion? Effects of coalitional cues on evaluations of checks and balances reforms

Giving hope a sporting chance: COVID-19 as a beneficial epidemic?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About