Mass mobilization and the breakdown of democratic regimes: Egypt and Indonesia in a comparative perspective

Why do elite conflicts in new democratic countries produce divergent political outcomes? Under what conditions do elite conflicts lead to the survival or the breakdown of democracy? Previous studies emphasize structural, institutional, and elite factors in explaining democratic breakdown, while overlooking popular mobilization as a factor. In proposing the interaction of two variables, elite conflict and mass mobilization, this thesis argues the divergent levels of the embeddedness of mass mobilization in elite conflict during political crisis result in either the survival or the breakdown of democratic regimes. I examine Egypt and Indonesia because they underwent severe elite conflict but had different regime outcomes. Egypt is a case of a high-level embeddedness of mass mobilization in an elite conflict during political crisis, which triggered a military takeover and resulted in the breakdown of Egyptian democracy. In contrast, Indonesia is a case of a low-level embeddedness of mass mobilization in an elite conflict during political crisis, which resulted in the survival of Indonesian democracy.