The seminar Identity Politics and Democratic Backsliding in Southeast Asia and Beyond, held at the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) on 16 October, brought together scholars working on contemporary political developments in Southeast Asia and beyond. The programme featured six papers, including contributions by Martin Slama, Mark Stadler, Amanda tho Seeth, Zbyněk Mucha, Douglas Kammen and Tuwanot Phattharathanasut, followed by commentaries from discussant Dominik Müller and extensive academic discussion. The event was organised by the Oriental institute CAS and was supported by a Strategy AV21 programme.
The six presentations covered Indonesia, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, and Thailand, addressing a broad range of geographical contexts and research themes. One of the key topics concerned the changing role of identity politics in Indonesia’s presidential elections. Whereas nationalist and religious issues featured prominently in the 2014 and 2019 campaigns, contributing to social polarization, their significance diminished considerably in 2024. The campaign instead focused more strongly on populist promises, political pragmatism, and economic concerns.
The discussions also challenged the assumption that Islamic populism and religious-nationalist mobilization were the principal drivers of Indonesia’s recent democratic backsliding. Particular attention was given to executive aggrandizement—the gradual expansion of executive power through formally legal and legislative mechanisms. Initiated under former president Joko Widodo and further advanced under incumbent president Prabowo Subianto, this process has weakened institutional checks and balances and expanded executive influence over other branches of government and the civil service. From this perspective, Indonesia’s democratic regression is more convincingly explained by the concentration of political power than by religious or ethno-nationalist mobilization alone.
Another theme was the changing public expression of political Islamism in Indonesia, characterised by a shift from overt political mobilization towards socio-cultural forms of influence. Following the banning of organizations such as Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), other actors have gained prominence, including factions within Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the world’s largest Muslim organization. NU rejects the concept of an Islamic state and promotes the principles of Humanitarian Islam and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. However, some of its international engagements, including relations with Iran and China, raise questions about the relationship between its stated commitment to democratic and humanitarian values and its engagement with authoritarian political systems.
Other contributions addressed the role of guerrilla veterans as a stabilizing factor in Timor-Leste, the involvement of Islamist actors in democratic processes in Bangladesh, and the role of Thailand’s ethnic Chinese population in the country’s relations with China. Together, the presentations highlighted the complexity of political change across Southeast Asia and underscored the need for further comparative research into the relationship between identity politics, political power, and democratic resilience.
The seminar provided a platform for scholarly exchange within the Central European community of Southeast Asian studies and laid the groundwork for further academic collaboration, with future meetings planned in Czechia or elsewhere in the region.
