Ruling Indonesia... Jokowi's presidency in an era of democratic crisis and great power competition

Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, ruled Indonesia for a decade, from 2014 to 2024. The world's fourth-largest country and third-largest democracy, Indonesia began a turbulent democratic transition in the late 1990s, as the country's ethnic and religious diversity posed major challenges to governance. Initially seen as a reformer who might challenge oligarchic structures, Jokowi soon came to be seen, but steadily, as a threat to democracy. By the end of his presidential term, he had achieved the highest approval ratings among Indonesia's post-authoritarian presidents, and had become the president with the most control over the country's political elite. Based on exclusive interviews with Jokowi and several of Indonesia's top leaders, Governing Indonesia shows Jokowi as a president obsessed with his economic development agenda, subordinating all other aspects of governance to that goal. His focused approach achieved unprecedented economic and popular successes, but seriously undermined the integrity of Indonesia's democratic institutions. Markus Metzner provides a comprehensive assessment of his decade in power, analyzing Jokowi's domestic record in the context of his attempts to improve Indonesia's position in the international competition for power and resources. More importantly, his obsession with pushing Indonesia toward industrialization while neglecting democratic development represents the ambitions and challenges of many Global South leaders trying to reconcile economic development, rising Sino-American tensions around the world, and human rights concerns. Therefore, this book offers valuable insights into how twenty-first-century great power competition and the global decline of democracy affect the central arenas of the Global South.