Jayaprakash Narayan and Indira Gandhi, 1966–74: Before the Rivalry

When the Gandhian Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) gave the clarion call of Total Revolution, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi responded heavy-handedly by imposing the Emergency in India in 1974–5. This all-encompassing duel has dominated politics and political scholarship since. Their domestic clash has established many analytical prisms for the contemporary public sphere in India, particularly personality politics versus people’s power, single party versus coalition grouping, electoral democracy versus authoritarian dictatorship, and student/youth movements versus generational status quo. Simultaneously, it has also highlighted their differences in a way that has served to bury their affinities and agreements—not only on obscure matters. This article seeks to soften this dichotomy on the basis of their correspondence, and complemented by other primary material, to sketch their consensus in an earlier period. It shows that before their break, the socialist JP and the statist Indira Gandhi exhibited complementary stands on national issues regarding Nagaland, Kashmir and Bangladesh. This national nearness complicates their later adversarial politics on domestic issues, adds dimension to our understanding of the mid-1960s and mid-1970s, and contributes to contemporary understandings of their respective places in narratives of the state against society in India.

The Hobbesian Moment

This chapter reviews how once in power, populist leaders try to assert their political dominance, which is invariably contested by some societal and institutional actors, and shows how this moment of decisive political confrontation determines the ulterior trajectory of the populist government. If populist chief executives succeed during this moment, an aggrandized executive emerges and electoral democracy will transition to a hybrid regime; if they are defeated or constrained, the possibility of regime change is averted. The chapter identifies the permissive and productive conditions that explain the failure or success of populist leaders in emerging victorious from this inflection point. The key permissive condition is voters’ support for radical institutional change. The key productive condition is the ability of populist leaders to use the state’s repressive apparatus to impose their political will. An additional productive condition is sometimes present: the organization and mobilization of low-income voters to support the populist project.

Voter Confusion in Surabaya: The Problem of Ballot Design and Incompetence [Kebingungan Pemilih di Surabaya: Masalah Desain Kertas Suara dan Inkompetensi]

The simultaneous scheme in the 2019 elections in Indonesia caused voter confusion, especially in the legislative elections. Citizens who are confused and disappointed when voting candidates characterize the declining quality of representation in electoral democracy. This study aims to determine the factors of confusion among citizens when they are in the voting booth. The case study research was conducted in Surabaya by interviewing 54 residents after the general election using recalling questions and in-depth interviews. The results show that the voter confusion factor is the effect of the complex design of the 2019 legislative election ballot paper, the lack of socialization about election procedures, and the difficulty of respondents understanding the simultaneous election models. The competency category shows that voter confusion is the respondents' low interest in political discussions and inadequate political knowledge. These two competence issues affect the quality of voters' political participation. Voter confusion in Surabaya generally motivates the phenomena of incorrect and misleading voting.AbstrakSkema serentak dalam pemilu 2019 di Indonesia menimbulkan fenomena kebingungan pemilih, khususnya pada pemilihan legislatif. Warga yang bingung dan kecewa pada saat memilih kandidat mencirikan menurunnya kualitas representasi dalam demokrasi elektoral. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendapatkan faktor-faktor kebingungan warga saat berada di bilik suara. Penelitian studi kasus dilakukan di Surabaya dengan mewawancarai 54 warga pasca pemilihan umum dengan menggunakan teknik recalling question dan deep interview. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa faktor kebingungan pemilih merupakan efek dari desain kertas suara pemilihan legislatif 2019 yang kompleks, minimnya sosialisasi mengenai tata cara pemilu, dan sulitnya responden memahami pemilihan model serentak. Kategori kompetensi menunujukkan bahwa kebingungan terjadi karena rendahnya ketertarikan responden dalam diskusi politik dan rendahnya pengetahuan politik. Dua masalah komptensi ini berefek pada kualitas partisipasi politik pemilih. Kebingungan pemilih di Surabaya secara umum memotivasi fenomena incorrect voting dan misleading voting.

Praktik Kewargaan dalam Arena Institusi Informal Era Demokratisasi

Most studies on citizenship have only focus on the practice of citizenship in the context of formal state institutions. On the other hand, there are relatively few studies discussing citizenship practices in informal institutions. Therefore, this study examines the practice of citizenship in Islamic boarding schools/pesantren in the form of bonds as jamaah. This article intends to map the operation of pesantren as a binder of social ties between its citizens, as well as the pattern of relations between kiai and santri. This research shows that pesantren acts as lebenschraum habitus which installs the perceptions and expressions of its citizens. Pesantren is also a locus of power that has a significant influence on political and civic practices. As a locus of power, there is symbolic capital which is represented and reproduced continuously so that the symbolic capital produces economic, social, and cultural capital. The surplus of capital owned by the lora enables them to transform from the habitus of pesantren, to the habitus of political society and the state through the mechanism of electoral democracy. Even though the pesantren with all their supporting elements have a clientelistic relationship pattern, there is a public morality that can be transformed to strengthen the democratization agenda in the future.

The Malaysian Election Commission: Navigating Electoral Authoritarianism and Political Change

The urgency of electoral reforms has long been identified as a key to improving democracy in Malaysia. For decades, electoral manipulation through gerrymandering, malapportionment, and issues with the electoral roll and conduct of elections have undermined democratic quality and competition. The Malaysian Election Commission (EC) has – understandably – come under scrutiny for its role in facilitating and sustaining these problems. However, what requires a greater level of attention is the question of how the EC – despite its position as a constitutional institution that exists independently from the other branches of government – has operated in ways that undermined Malaysia's democracy and maintained a dominant party regime for over six decades. This Article brings this to light by examining the structural, institutional, and political conditions that shape the EC's operation, particularly with regard to re-delineation of constituencies and the conduct of elections. It argues that flaws in constitutional design, along with subsequent constitutional amendments, have rendered the EC vulnerable to partisan capture and thus affected its ability to function as an independent constitutional institution. In addition, this Article demonstrates how changes in political imperatives and judicial restraint in reviewing the EC's decision-making have also contributed to the deficiencies in Malaysia's electoral democracy.

An Overview of the State of Electoral Democracy in Africa

Most recent accounts paint a bleak and gloomy picture of the state of global democracy. This is particularly so in Africa where the optimism of a democratic revival in the 1990s is rapidly giving way to narratives of doom and gloom. Using survey data compiled by well-established regional and global international organisations, this paper assesses the state of electoral democracy in Africa, reviews the challenges that have been encountered, and considers the prospects for the future. The trend in the evolution of electoral democracy on the continent in the last three decades points to an authoritarian mobilisation and resurgence. Although elections have become the norm, these elections are increasingly being used to disguise all forms of undemocratic governance. The major lesson to be drawn from the study is that there is no African country where democracy and constitutionalism can be thought of as firmly consolidated and secure. The number of countries which are declining due to failed or flawed electoral processes, or which show signs of stagnation, far exceed those that have improved to one degree or another. Current developments are not random ad hoc efforts to undermine the credibility of elections and democracy but rather, rational and well-calculated responses by ruling African elites who seek to perpetuate their rule. What this points to is the need to rethink strategies for promoting genuinely competitive elections, democracy, and constitutionalism.

Are People More Satisfied with Democracy When They Feel They Won the Election? No

Citizens who voted for a party ending up in government are more satisfied with democracy than those who supported a party that ends up in the opposition. The assumption is that voting for a party that is included in the government produces a perception of having won the election, which increases one’s level of satisfaction with democracy. This (assumed) mediation has never been directly tested. In this research note, we provide the first empirical test of this mediation using data from the Making Electoral Democracy Work project, which includes a question tapping whether the respondent perceives the party she voted for won or lost the election. We do not find support for the mediation hypothesis. We conclude that the meaning of the higher (lower) satisfaction observed among those who voted for a party included in the government (or in the opposition) remains ambiguous. Our research has important implications for the conceptualization of what it means to win or lose an election.

Botswana’s 2019 General Elections: A Referendum on General Ian Khama

On October 23, 2019, Botswana held its twelfth free and fair election. For the first time in the history of Botswana’s electoral democracy, a former president (Ian Khama) defected from the ruling party and supported the opposition. The opposition coalition, working informally with Khama, mounted a spirited campaign against the well-oiled machine, the incumbent and long-ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). Seabo and Nyenhuis reflect on the 2019 general election, analyze the outcome, and consider the implications for the future of Botswana’s electoral democracy. They argue that barring other factors, the BDP’s resounding victory was mainly a result of Batswana’s rejection of former president Ian Khama.

Networked insurgence and an anti-electoral democracy: Bangkok space 2014–2020

Bangkok presents a rich history of popular uprisings directed against its periodic military dictatorships. Then, in 2006 and 2010 there were uprisings of increasing theatricality, playing to a hoped-for global audience, but now against democratically elected governments. January 2014 saw this insurrectional performance art raised to a new plateau where the city itself became the stage and the portrayed villain no longer the government, but government as such— against electoral democracy and for some vague, imagined ideal that might be seen as post-electoral democracy based in civil society rather than political parties. An ensuing military-drafted constitution built on this rejection, leading to manipulated elections in 2019 and a new, quasi-elected, monarchist-military government scarcely understandable outside the context of the dark euphoria of 2014. Then in 2020 the tide of insurgence turned again, against the military hegemony but also against the monarchy—a seismic shift. The paper’s focus is on these events of 2014 and their 2020 denouement, also on their implications for both the space and the form of the city in a digital age.