| This doctoral dissertation examines how socio-economic factors have influenced party support and party competition under the New Order government in Indonesia. It describes trends in party alignments and competition over time and shows the extent to which the general/comparative model developed in this research can explain electoral outcomes in Indonesia.;While most studies of Indonesian elections are based on provincial-level aggregates or specific case studies, this dissertation analyzes all 298 districts in 27 provinces in four elections (1977-1992).;Through multivariate regression analysis and path analysis models, this study finds that: (1) party institutionalization/tradition of party competition was the strongest determinant of party support and party competition and that its influences were stable over time; (2) the relative importance of urban-rural cleavage has increased over time; (3) the relative importance of santri-abangan cleavage has declined over time; (4) the influence of class cleavage was marginal; (5) economic development spurred greater political pluralism; (6) government activity led toward more political monism; (7) higher voter turnout favored Golkar but was detrimental to the PPP and the PDI; and (8) the relative importance of regional cleavage increased over time.;This study finds that Golkar drew its support mainly from the abangan, rural, non-industrial orientations and from the Outer Island districts; the PPP drew its support mainly from the santri, urban, industrial orientations and from the Java districts; and the PDI drew its support mainly from the abangan, urban, industrial orientations and from the Java districts.;Eight independent variables are identified: (1) urban-rural cleavage, (2) santri-abangan cleavage, (3) class cleavage, (4) economic development, (5) government activity, (6) party institutionalization/tradition of party competition, (7) voter turnout, and (8) regional factor (Java). The first five variables are developed through factor analysis, while the last is a dummy variable where Java equals 1 and Outer Islands equals 0. Variable six is measured as the average support and competition in previous elections.;In addition, this study also finds that electoral district magnitude as an alternative explanation for party competition has had little or no effect in the Indonesian electoral system. |
