Path Dependence and Constrained Path Creation in a Newcomer Political Organization Party: Insight from Post Democratic Transition Context

Muhammad Sakur, Muslem Muslem, Kirwan Kirwan

Abstract


Stalled progress on institutional change was curtailed by a path-dependence mechanism, such as increasing returns and self-reinforcing coordination effects. Bringing institutional accounts to study the Gema Bangsa Party (GBP), a newcomer political party in Indonesia seeking to challenge established party structures through organisational and programmatic innovation. This article found the path-creation within an endogeneity strategy to change. In this case, though the path dependence mechanism revealed in the case under examination is shaped by the internal legacy of the organisation (e.g., leadership culture, routines, or elite conflicts), it is also strongly shaped by external sources operating through state regulation, the structure of electoral competition, and the norms of the party organisational field. This argument was backed up by interview findings showing that the party, although faced with "old player" hegemony challenges under the internal governing system, also performed small changes made within the party, such as decentralising party power, thereby converging between old and "new" schools. The theoretical implication is the expansion of the path dependence reading from a mere mechanism of "path dependency" that grows endogenously within organisations toward a model that incorporates external path enforcement as a path reinforcer toward limited path-creation.

Keywords


Gema Bangsa Party; Path Dependence; Path Creation; Historical Institutionalism; Political Party

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.31293/pd.v25i2.9486

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