Democracy and Welfare in Indonesia’s Reform Era

Abstract

Many political experts claim that the purpose of democracy is to provide welfare to its citizens. The link between democracy and prosperity has long been contested among scholars of political science and economics, including with what is happening in Indonesia as the third largest democracy in the world. Therefore, it becomes extremely relevant to think about the diversity of democratic gains in Indonesia from time to time, and to be associated with the impact of democracy on welfare in the form of an increase in the human development index (HDI). This article attempts to analyse the impact of democracy on welfare specifically on human development index in Indonesia during the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Administration (Reform Era). An important issue to be investigated in this research is to describe and analyse the factors the enactment of democracy, as well as its impact on welfare in Indonesia, and search for the factors that cause the failure of democracy and economic development in Indonesia, especially those related to the low human development index in Indonesia. Through qualitative research methods, it was found that the higher the index of democracy, the more probability that the level of welfare with HDI output also increased as well. Since the reform era, Indonesia has shown success in the development of democracy in the political field, followed by the performance of the economic and social field. The study also supports the general statement that democracy does give effect to the improved welfare.