Obedient liberals? Mass attitudes in a monarchy enclave

Abstract

Mass attitudes in a monarchy context are understudied relative to those in advanced and new democracies. By employing the case of a monarchy enclave in Yogyakarta province, Indonesia, this article tries to uncover mass attitudes towards democracy in such a setting. It is based on public opinion surveys conducted by PolGov Universitas Gadjah Mada with 2181 respondents. The study finds a strong existence of obedient liberals, i.e. people who believe in liberal views and embrace values of self-expression but are proud of having a non-democratic political system. While this distinguished attitude revisits Almond and Verba’s allegiant citizens, this article aligns with the revisionists of the civic culture model by arguing that a political regime, i.e. the monarchy enclave, helps pave the way for the presence and persistence of obedient-liberal mass attitudes. This distinct mass attitude in turn explains how the monarchy enclave has survived for decades.