The Fickle Balance between State Power and Civil Freedom
After publishing Why Nations Fail (2013), Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson published their latest book, The Narrow Corridor (2019).
By
Komaruddin Hidayat
·7 minutes read
Their thoughts make for an interesting read on the dynamic development of Indonesian politics, a historical struggle to reach a balance between the state, society and the freedom of its citizens. The history of the nation has always been one of political turbulence, with the pendulum swinging between the demand of freedom of its citizens and the need for strong state institutions. The two are frequently hard to synchronize.
Before the emergence of formal state institutions, the community still needed a comfortable order of life and a feeling of security. Then there appeared a hierarchical social order, controlled by strong and charismatic people, reinforced by ethnic and religious sentiment. Such a social structure by Acemoglu is called a cage of norms. One of the problems faced by the Afghan Government these days is the power of exclusive communalism, such as the Pashtuns and other groups whose existence is like a state within a state, so that it is difficult to create national peace. The Pashtuns are very loyal to strict local laws and traditions, which are partly drawn from religions they understand. The position of women is very backward as if only a complement to men. According to Acemoglu, this cage of norms is still strong in various African countries.
Emergence of “Leviathan”
The Englishman Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) is the author behind the monumental work entitled Leviathan. He was born and grew up in an environment of war, so he felt his life was overshadowed by the fear that gripped Europe at the time. Observing the chaos among European countries attacking one another, he came to the conclusion that humans were basically wolves taking on each other, or Homo homini lupus.
To Hobbes, war is a permanent state of man, whereas peace is only an interval in which each party has a balanced force to destroy the other, so that their rational choice is peace, or a cease-fire, rather than mutual destruction. Realizing the basic tendency of humans as wolves to others, according to Hobbes, the people need a strong state to guarantee their security, even if that means giving up some of their freedom to the state to avoid war.
Because Leviathan strongly emphasizes security that deprives citizens of their freedom, later it turns out to be like a leviathan, or monster. Unfortunately, those wielding state power enjoy self-glory and deliberately nurture people\'s fears to that end. The North Korean government might approach this model. Since the French Revolution (1789-1799), which fought for the principles of freedom, equality and brotherhood (liberté, égalité, fraternité), absolute monarchical governments in Europe fell after being crushed by democratization movements. The people celebrate freedom from ideas and forces that are shackling. The power of the church that was originally in the name of the voice and will of God has been challenged.
If people still recognize power outside of humans, namely God, that means they are not yet liberated people, said Sartre. Therefore, God and religion should have no place in controlling a government and state, because that would lead to absolutistic principles oppressing human freedom.
If the state is too strong and thereby threatens the freedom of its citizens, it digs its own grave. People who were initially apathetic and felt pressured in their order will be consolidated and hardened into a wave of resistance. However, on the contrary, people who are too free and do not obey the ethical and legal guidelines will make the state, government and society weak, unable to carry out the development agenda.
Therefore, in Daron Acemoglu\'s terms, people must have bargaining power, so that the leviathan is shackled, or state power is constrained, and he will not become a despot.
We have had a bitter experience in the New Order of failure to maintain the balance between state power and civil freedom. Guided democracy was actually a genius and realistic idea for a very large and diverse Indonesian society.
There is a shared space between the state and society to discuss the national agenda. However, the New Order government did not give the people enough space and failed to maintain an authoritative, clean and people-serving bureaucracy, so the roaring train of fast development suddenly came to a halt. Various carriages and components were loose and falling apart. The luggage spilled everywhere. We experienced turbulence and political disruption that overturned the life of the state, requiring at least one generation to rediscover a new balance.
Mass organizations and temptation of power
The emergence of reforms and new policies is marked by a spirit of criticism and antithesis to the New Order\'s political reality and culture. The devolution of power, restrictions on presidential terms of office, a multiparty setup and the freedom of the press are all part of the pendulum swinging back from the New Order\'s political culture. Out of all of them, the most successful is the creation of freedom of the press and the restriction of the presidential term.
Therefore, the path of freedom or independence, if not fought for and guarded by the community, will narrow, as implied in the title of the book The Narrow Corridor.
Freedom does not come naturally but must be fought for. In pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) language: alhurriyyah tuthlab, la tu’tha. Independence is sought, not given. It is natural, that the power even tends to be oppressive and corrupt. Therefore, the path of freedom or independence, if not fought for and guarded by the community, will narrow, as implied in the title of the book The Narrow Corridor.
In Indonesia, the role of civil society organizations is very instrumental as a counterbalance to the power of the state. Two major mass organizations, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, must recognize their historical and political role in taming leviathan, so that civil power is not paralyzed before a state that tends to be hegemonic. Especially at this time when political parties are also sucked into the network of state power, the two above organizations, together with other mass organizations and independent intellectuals, must appear as a counterweight definitely and critically to maintain a balance between state and society. For CSOs, it is indeed a temptation, even more so when they have a lot of voting power in presidential elections.
According to Acemoglu and Robinson, the long experience of the United States of America provides an example of a success story of how the balance between the state and society is built and maintained. The pillars of the state are strong, while an ethnically and religiously pluralistic citizenry has the freedom to criticize its government while respecting ethics and the rule of law and loyalty to the great ideals of the US. Opposition parties even have become an integral part of preserved political life in the US. They can fight fiercely, but both remain loyal to fighting for the interests of the state and its citizens above the interests of the party.
Acemoglu also discussed the experimentation of the Prophet Muhammad in reconciling conflicts in Medina by offering social contracts to accommodate the plurality of tribes and religions, known as the Medina Charter. The Prophet Muhammad carried out a politics of detribalization, replaced by social consensus, an idea that far preceded Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) about general will and social contract. But unfortunately, the very modern experimentation of the Prophet Muhammad before the time was buried by the rise of tribal power in the Arab world shortly after he died.
The Medina Charter is similar to the ideology of Pancasila, a kalimatun sawa, or common denominator that is the meeting point of various tribes, religions and cultures, which also includes a formula for state-community balance in a single Indonesian homeland.
Komaruddin Hidayat, Cofounder of Madania Indonesia Education Foundation