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Conference Proceeding
Proceedings of the National Conference of UI Postgraduate Political Science
Conference Proceedings Synopsis
This proceedings is a collection of scholarly articles from the National Conference aimed at opening critical dialogue on the main challenges facing contemporary Indonesian democracy and global democracy. Stemming from shared concerns over the rising sporadic social upheavals in various regions of Indonesia, the conference invites academics, researchers, practitioners, and civil society to examine the dynamics of Indonesian democracy, increasingly influenced by three major forces: oligarchic politics, digital transformation, and the climate crisis.
The conference and its proceedings position democracy not merely as a formal political system, but as an arena of power relations continuously negotiated between the state, economic-political elites, technology, and society. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the articles in this proceedings seek to explain how these three factors intertwine and contribute to the erosion of representation, social inequality, and weakening public participation—which can lead to progressive politics, as well as the strengthening of a state increasingly behaving in an authoritarian direction.
Oligarchy Panel
This panel discusses the dominance of oligarchy in various sectors of political, economic, and social life in Indonesia. The articles in this panel examine how oligarchy operates through political parties, elections, public policy, natural resource management, and foreign policy.
Issues such as food security, extractive industrialization, populism, money politics, meritocracy crisis, and the weakening of democratic opposition are analyzed as manifestations of elite power concentration. This panel also pays special attention to the impact of oligarchy on women’s representation, labor movements, civil society, and democratic institutions, including election administration and bureaucracy. Overall, this panel asserts that oligarchy is a key factor in the erosion of the quality of Indonesian democracy.
Digital Panel
The Digital Panel highlights the role of digital technology as a new arena for political contestation and democracy. The articles in this panel discuss phenomena such as digital authoritarianism, technological oligarchy, platform capitalism, and the use of artificial intelligence, buzzers, influencers, and algorithms in electoral politics. In addition to opening new participation opportunities, digital spaces are also portrayed as media for normalizing power, manipulating public opinion, and reproducing inequality. This panel features analyses of digital campaigns, platform workers, Gen Z resistance, and the paradox of digitalism that potentially weakens substantive democracy. Thus, this panel positions digital technology as an ambivalent field between emancipation and control.
Climate Crisis Panel
The Climate Crisis Panel examines the relationship between democracy, power, and environmental damage in the context of climate change. The articles within it discuss conflicts in natural resource governance, state-corporate crimes, extractive development, and the marginalization of vulnerable groups—especially women, indigenous communities, children, and people with disabilities—in facing ecological crises. This panel also reviews the dynamics of climate, energy, and sustainable development policies, including debates on indigenous peoples, coastal communities, nuclear energy, and waste management. Critically, this panel shows that the climate crisis is not merely an environmental issue, but a democratic crisis closely linked to power relations and social justice.
Conclusion
Overall, this proceedings presents critical reflections on the state of Indonesian democracy under structural pressures and changing times. By linking oligarchy, digitalization, and the climate crisis, this collection of articles is expected not only to enrich academic discourse but also to foster public critical awareness and formulate directions for more inclusive, just, and sustainable democratic policies and practices.
