The Implementation of Executive Toolbox during Jokowi-JK Administration in the Post-2014 Presidential Election

Abstract

This research will look at the dynamics that happened post-presidential election of 2014 in Indonesia, which indicated a divided government in the parliament which caused a deadlock at the beginning of the chosen presidential candidates, Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla, for the 2014 - 2019 period. This was the aftermath of the combination between the presidential system and a multiparty system, which showed the executive-legislative relationship in a multiparty presidential system. It could also reveal the inability of the government and the opposition to reach common ground multiple times. However, the case in Indonesia is quite different and interesting to explore how the government aimed to reach a balance and run their administration. The executives were using the executive Toolbox to offer politically strategic positions for the opposition to join the governmental coalition and to intervene in the internal works of political parties. The approach used for this research was a qualitative design. The concept of divided government which was put forward by Hughes & Carlson (2015), was chosen to be the theoretical framework to analyze the dynamic factors of the case. And the theory of executive toolbox usage by Raile et al. (2011) was used by the writer to analysis the presence of executive power in suppressing the dynamics that happened. The results of the research showed that the usage of the executive Toolbox was part of a response from the regime of Jokowi to create stability in facing the dynamics that happened and to gain the support of the opposite parties in the parliament to join the governmental coalition of 2014-2019’s Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla period. This indicates that the government under Jokowi, which combined a multiparty system and the presidential system, can be considered a success, especially in terms of gaining support from the coalition through the usage of the executive Toolbox.