Introduction: Social Movements and Democratization in Indonesia

This introductory chapter focuses on the collective contribution of progressive social movements to Indonesia's transition to democracy and their collective fate in the decades since. This sets the scene for the case studies to follow. It also explains how the relationship between social movements and democratization is understood in this context. Social movements consist of networks involving a diverse range of actors, including individuals, groups, or organizations that may be loosely connected or tightly clustered. Democratization, meanwhile, is a process through which a polity moves toward “a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives.”