Testing for Incumbency Advantages in a Developing Democracy: Elections for Local Government Leaders in Indonesia

IF 2.2 4区社会学 Q2 AREA STUDIES

Contemporary Southeast Asia Pub Date : 2020-08-31 DOI:10.1355/cs42-2c

Testriono, Scot Schraufnagel

引用次数: 1

Abstract

Abstract:This article makes the case for the importance of studying incumbency advantages in a developing democracy. Incumbency advantages are a well-known institutional feature of electoral systems in consolidated democracies, and indirectly provide a test of democratic accountability. With free and fair elections, incumbency advantage should attenuate when governments underperform. Our research tests whether this is the case in a newer democracy such as Indonesia. Specifically, we study local voting for district heads and city mayors in the 2015 Indonesian elections. We find that incumbents win a majority of the time when they run, but their re-election rates are lower than witnessed in many well-established democracies. While term limits and strategic political arrangements are an important aspect of incumbent politician turnover in Indonesia, our findings suggest that something akin to democratic accountability is also likely taking place. In addition, we find that incumbent local leaders with a stronger parochial focus, measured as spending in their district, fare better at the ballot box.

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发展中的民主制度中在职优势的检验:印尼地方政府领导人的选举

摘要:本文阐述了在发展中的民主国家中研究在职优势的重要性。在职优势是巩固民主国家选举制度的一个众所周知的制度特征，并间接地提供了对民主问责制的检验。有了自由和公平的选举，当政府表现不佳时，执政优势就会减弱。我们的研究测试了印尼等新兴民主国家是否存在这种情况。具体来说，我们研究了2015年印度尼西亚选举中对区长和市长的地方投票。我们发现，在任者在竞选时多数情况下获胜，但他们的连任率低于许多成熟民主国家。虽然任期限制和战略政治安排是印度尼西亚现任政治家更替的重要方面，但我们的研究结果表明，类似于民主问责制的事情也可能发生。此外，我们发现，现任的地方领导人更注重教区，以其所在地区的支出来衡量，在投票箱上表现更好。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Contemporary Southeast Asia Multiple-

CiteScore

2.00

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Contemporary Southeast Asia (CSEA) is one of the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute''s flagship publications. Now in its fourth decade of publication, CSEA has succeeded in building up an international reputation as one of Southeast Asia''s premier academic journals. The aim of the peer reviewed journal is to provide subscribers with up to date and in-depth analysis of critical trends and developments in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region. The primary focus of the journal is on issues related to domestic politics in Southeast Asian countries, regional architecture and community building, military, strategic and security affairs, conflict zones and relations among the Great Powers. CSEA publishes authoritative, insightful and original contributions from scholars, think-tank analysts, journalists and policy-makers from across the globe. The Editorial Committee is guided by the advice of the International Advisory Committee which is composed of eminent scholars from Asia, the United States, Australia and Europe.