Perspective Chapter: Security Governance and Authoritarian Continuity in Post-Authoritarian Democracies – Indonesia’s National Security Strategy (1988–2024) in Comparative Perspective

This perspective chapter examines the evolution of Indonesia’s national security governance from the final decade of the New Order (1988–1998), through democratic transition and institutional re-configuration during Reformasi (1998–2014), to executive security governance under President Joko Widodo (2014–2024). It asks how strategic coherence can be produced in the absence of a single codified National Security Strategy (NSS) and a permanent National Security Council (NSC), and how selected executive-centred governing practices may be adapted after authoritarian regime change. Drawing on historical institutionalism, securitisation theory, and civil–military relations (CMR), this chapter develops the concept of Adaptive Authoritarian Continuity (AAC) and applies the Priority–Institutional Structure–Threat Interpretation–Civil Role (PIT-C) framework. The analysis combines documentary research with 45 semi-structured elite interviews conducted between 2022 and 2024. It finds substantial democratic and institutional transformation after 1998, including the abolition of Dwifungsi Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia (ABRI), the separation of Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and Indonesian National Police (POLRI), and the expansion of civilian participation. At the same time, differentiated security institutions generated continuing co-ordination demands, while presidential co-ordination and arbitration remained important within the post-2014 architecture. The AAC therefore identifies governing-logic continuity rather than regime or institutional continuity, showing how selected practices associated with executive-centred security governance may be transformed and re-deployed within a substantially changed democratic order.