Review of Marcus Mietzner, Reinventing Asian Populism: Jokowi’s Rise, Democracy, and Political Contestation in Indonesia. Honolulu: East-West Center, 2015. 74pp.

Abstract

The election of Joko Widodo (or better known by his nickname "Jokowi") as Indonesia's seventh president in the 2014 presidential election marked a milestone in the country's young democracy. For the first time, a businessmanturned-politician who was not related to the usual clutch of political and business dynasties in Indonesia was elected as the president. Furthermore, Jokowi was the first head of state who used to assume the office of local government head. Hence, Marcus Mietzner's monograph is a timely contribution to an understanding of the factors behind the rise of Jokowi to the presidency. This monograph presents the dynamics of the electoral contest between two populists, i.e. Jokowi and Prabowo Subianto, during the 2014 presidential election in Indonesia. It is divided into nine sections. In the first section, Mietzner introduces three major schools of thought commonly used by scholars to interpret post-Suharto Indonesian politics. The first school focuses on the growing power of oligarchic and predatory forces in the country's politics, economy and society. This school is also known as the oligarchy theory. Most oligarchy theorists argue that the power of oligarchic and predatory forces is so strong and deeply entrenched that it is impossible for substantial reform to take place without oligarchic approval and support. The second school of thought interprets the patterns of post-Suharto Indonesian politics based on the cartelisation model. Cartelisation scholars propose that political parties in Indonesia were collaborating instead of competing against each other in the post-Suharto era. This can be seen from the formation of the great, inclusivist "rainbow" coalitions under the