Diego Fossati’s Unity through Division: Political Islam, Representation and Democracy in Indonesia
Roundtable in Asia Policy 19.2

Diego Fossati’s Unity through Division: Political Islam, Representation and Democracy in Indonesia

Roundtable with Michael Buehler, Noory Okthariza, Djayadi Hanan, Sana Jaffrey, Leonard C. Sebastian, and Diego Fossati
April 30, 2024

Is Indonesia’s democracy in decline? Michael Buehler, Noory Okthariza, Djayadi Hanan, Sana Jaffrey, Leonard C. Sebastian, and Diego Fossati discuss political representation in Indonesia and the reasons behind Indonesians’ increased satisfaction with their political system.

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Unity through Division: Re-Evaluating Democracy in Indonesia

Michael Buehler

Islamic Political Alignment in Indonesia: Does It Truly Hold?

Noory Okthariza

Strengthening As Well As Weakening: The Contradicting Roles of Islam in Indonesian Democracy

Djayadi Hanan

Curating Citizens’ Verdict on Indonesian Democracy

Sana Jaffrey

The Return of Aliran to the Lexicon of Indonesian Politics

Leonard C. Sebastian

Author’s Response: Unity through Division—Developing an Alternative Account of Indonesian Politics

Diego Fossati


Michael Buehler is a Reader in Comparative Politics in the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS, University of London (United Kingdom). He specializes in Southeast Asian politics, and his teaching and research interests revolve around state-society relations under conditions of democratization and decentralization.

Noory Okthariza is a PhD student in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland (United States). He is on leave from his position as a researcher at the Jakarta-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies (Indonesia). His areas of interest include party politics, political Islam, and causal inference with a particular focus on Southeast Asia. His research is funded by the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP).

Djayadi Hanan is Head of the PhD in Political Science Program at the Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia and Executive Director of Lembaga Survei Indonesia (Indonesia). His research interests include presidential democracy, democratic cultures, voting behavior, and student and religious movements.

Sana Jaffrey is a Research Fellow at the Australian National University’s Department of Political and Social Change (Australia) and a Nonresident Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Leonard C. Sebastian is a Senior Fellow in the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies and the Coordinator of the Indonesia Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University.

Diego Fossati is an Associate Professor of Public and International Affairs at City University of Hong Kong (China). He studies representation and political behavior, especially in the context of East and Southeast Asia.


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