Alexander R. Arifianto is Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the Indonesia Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Previously, he was a Visiting Fellow with ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute and a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame (Indiana, United States of America). He earned a PhD in political science from Arizona State University in 2012. His research interests are contemporary Indonesian politics, political Islam, and Indonesian foreign policy. Dr Arifianto has co-edited two books: Rising Islamic Conservatism in Indonesia: Islamic Groups and Identity Politics (with Leonard C Sebastian and Syafiq Hasyim) (Routledge, 2021) and The 2018 and 2019 Indonesian Elections: Identity Politics and Regional Perspectives (with Leonard C. Sebastian) (Routledge, 2021). His articles have appeared in refereed journals such as Religion, State, and Society, Asia Policy, Trans-National and Regional Studies of Southeast Asia (TRaNS), Asian Security, Asian Politics and Policy, and Journal of Southeast Asian Economies (formerly ASEAN Economic Bulletin).

• Indonesian Politics
• Comparative Politics of Southeast Asia
• Islamic Politics in Indonesia
• Political Economy of Regional Autonomy and Local Level Governance
• Civil Society Organizations and Social Movements

Phi Beta Kappa, Ripon College, 1999.

Freeport McMoran Fellowship for Indonesian Studies, Southeast Asian Studies Programme, SAIS-Johns Hopkins University, 2005-07.

Freeman Foundation Fellowship for Southeast Asian Studies, Southeast Asian Studies Programme, SAIS-Johns Hopkins University, 2005-07.

Hardt Graduate Fellowship in Religion, Conflict, and Peace Studies, Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, Arizona State University, 2010-11.

Association of Asian Studies, Member, 2007-present.

Working Papers

• WP300 | Analysing Transformative Local Leadership in Indonesia

  12 December, 2016

Policy Reports

• Political Islam in Indonesia during Prabowo Subianto’s Presidency

  05 August, 2025

• Jokowi's Legacies and the Incoming Prabowo Administration: Change or Continuity?

  28 June, 2024

RSIS Commentary Series

• Jokowi's Latest Reshuffle: Stabilising the Ruling Coalition?

  16 June, 2022

• NU’s 2021 National Congress: Contestation Within

  02 December, 2021

• Indonesia’s New Lockdown: Jokowi’s Legacy?

  13 July, 2021

• Jokowi’s Sixth Reshuffle: Securing His Legacy?

  30 April, 2021

• All Politics is Local: Retired Officers in Regional Elections

  17 March, 2021

• Indonesia's New Parties: Evolving Conservative Landscape?

  19 November, 2020

• Pancasila Guidance Bill: Tweaking Indonesia’s Ideology?

  08 July, 2020

• Indonesia’s Islamic Charities: Plugging Gaps in Economic Relief

  19 June, 2020

• Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia: Government Response and Politics

  02 April, 2020

• The New Indonesian Parliament: Who Won and What It Means

  07 May, 2019

• After the Big Fight: Results and Implications

  22 April, 2019

• State of Play: Who Will Win in Largest Single-Day Elections?

  12 April, 2019

• East Java: Deadheat in a Battleground Province

  27 March, 2019

• Prabowo Subianto: Reluctant Yet Strong Contender

  14 January, 2019

• Joko Widodo: Vulnerable Despite Strong Incumbency

  11 January, 2019

• CO18123 | The Jockeying Gathers Pace: Fluidity Of Candidates and Parties

  20 July, 2018

• CO18110 | Regional Setback For Jokowi?

  28 June, 2018

• CO18107 | West Kalimantan: Identity Politics at the Forefront

  26 June, 2018

• CO18098 | The East Java Gubernatorial Race: Dead Heat but Non-Controversial

  18 June, 2018

• CO18069 | Islam and Indonesia’s Presidency Race: A Defining Role?

  18 April, 2018

• CO18064 | Pilkada Serentak: Role of Identity Politics

  04 April, 2018

• CO18032 | Indonesia’s Ideological Convergence: Emerging Trend in Islamic Regulations?

  27 February, 2018

• CO17228 | Islamic Defenders Front: An Ideological Evolution?

  04 December, 2017

• CO17213 | Islam with Progress: Muhammadiyah and Moderation in Islam

  10 November, 2017

• CO17136 | Indonesia Ban on Civil Society Bodies: Spot On or Overreach?

  18 July, 2017

• CO17099 | Banning Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia: Freedom or Security?

  18 May, 2017

• CO17018 | Politics, Plurality and Inter-Group Relations in Indonesia - Islam Nusantara & Its Critics: The Rise of NU’s Young Clerics

  23 January, 2017

• CO16289 | Addressing Religious Intolerance in Indonesia

  28 November, 2016

• CO16194 Jokowi’s Second Cabinet Reshuffle: Implications for Indonesian Politics

  28 July, 2016

• CO16114 | Islam Nusantara: NU’s Bid to Promote “Moderate Indonesian Islam”

  17 May, 2016

• CO15273 | Simultaneous Local Elections in Indonesia: More Power for Incumbents?

  17 December, 2015

• CO15230 | The 2015 Muhammadiyah Muktamar: Narrow Win for Moderates

  28 October, 2015

• CO15189 | The 2015 NU Muktamar: Further Conservative Turn in Indonesian Islam?

  02 September, 2015

IDSS Papers

• IP25066 | Indonesia after Trump’s Tariffs: Diversifying Its Multilateral Partnerships

  13 June, 2025

• IP25002 | From 'High' to 'Normal' Politics: Muhammadiyah and the Prabowo Presidency

  09 January, 2025

• IP24104 | PKS Electoral Setbacks in the Indonesian Regional Elections: Pragmatism at the Cost of Losing Core Constituencies

  12 December, 2024

• IP24096 | Indonesian Foreign Policy under Trump 2.0: Between Non-alignment and Realignment

  14 November, 2024

• IP24089 | Prabowo's Inclusive Cabinet: Accommodating Indonesia's Islamic Factions for Political Cohesion

  30 October, 2024

• IP24085 | Indonesia-China Relations: Recent Developments and Prospects under the Incoming Prabowo Administration

  15 October, 2024

• IP24073 | Indonesia-US Relationship under Prabowo: Time for a Revival

  17 September, 2024

• IP24072 | Understanding PKB – PBNU Conflict: Power Struggle and Identity Crisis

  10 September, 2024

• IP23090 | The 2024 Indonesian Presidential Election: Heading Towards a One Round Election?

  21 December, 2023

• IP23062 | Indonesian Presidential Election: The Nahdlatul Ulama Factor

  07 September, 2023

• IP23059 | Indonesian Presidential Election: The Race Is Heating Up

  18 August, 2023

• IP23050 | From an Underdog to a Frontrunner: Understanding Prabowo’s Polls Surge

  05 July, 2023

• IP22075 | The 2024 Indonesian Presidential Election: A Growing Momentum for Anies Baswedan?

  07 December, 2022

• IP22072 | The 2024 Indonesian Presidential Election: Islam as a Decisive Factor?

  28 November, 2022

• IP22003 | Towards “Humanitarian Islam”: New Nahdlatul Ulama Chairman and the Global Initiative to Promote Religious Moderation

  26 January, 2022

Journal Articles

• “The State of Political Islam in Indonesia: The Historical Antecedent and Future Prospects” in Asia Policy, 15, 4, 2020, pp. 111-133
• “Special Editor’s Introduction: TraNS Special Section on ‘Growing Religious Intolerance in Indonesia’” (with Leonard C. Sebastian) in TRaNS: Trans-National and Regional Studies of Southeast Asia, 8, 2020, 2020. 1-5
• “Rising Islamism and the Struggle for Islamic Authority in Indonesia” in TRaNS: Trans-National and Regional Studies of Southeast Asia, 8, 1, 2020, 37-50
• “Rising Islamism and the Struggle for Islamic Authority in Indonesia” in TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, 2019
• Fionna, Ulla and Alexander R. Arifianto. “Getting to Know the Contestants of the 2014 Indonesian Parliamentary Elections,” in Ulla Fionna (ed.). ISEAS Perspective: Watching the Indonesian Elections 2014, (Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2015), pp. 41-53.
• Arifianto, Alexander R. “Explaining the Cause of Muslim-Christian Conflicts in Indonesia: Tracing the Origins of Kristenisasi and Islamisasi,” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 20 (1) (Winter 2009): 73-89
• Arifianto, Alexander R. “The Securitization of International Labor Migration: The Case of Malaysia and Indonesia,” Asian Politics and Policy, 1 (4) (Fall 2009): 613-630.

Edited Books / Special Issues

• The 2018 and 2019 Indonesian Elections: Identity Politics and Regional Perspectives (with Leonard C. Sebastian), Eds. Abingdon: Routledge, 2020
• Rising Islamic Conservatism in Indonesia: Islamic Groups and Identity Politics (with Leonard C. Sebastian, and Syafiq Hasyim), Eds. Abingdon: Routledge, 2020

Chapters in Edited Books

• “Moderate Islamic Organisations and Contestation Over Political Theology: The Responses by Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah Towards Islamism in Indonesia” in Gabriel Facal, Elsa Lafaye de Micheaux, and Astrid Norén-Nilsson (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Political Norms in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024, 337-355
• Arifianto, Alexander R. “Unpacking the Results of the 2014 Indonesian Legislative Elections,” in Ulla Fionna (ed.). ISEAS Perspective: Watching the Indonesian Elections 2014, (Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2015), pp. 62-74.
• Arifianto, Alexander R. “Indonesian Islamic Parties after the 2014 Elections: Divided and Self-Centered,” in Ulla Fionna (ed.). ISEAS Perspective: Watching the Indonesian Elections 2014, (Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2015), pp. 123-136.
• Arifianto, Alexander R., Ulla Fionna, and Gwenael Njoto-Feillard. “A Snapshot of the Campaigning in Indonesia’s 2014 Legislative Elections,” in Ulla Fionna (ed.). ISEAS Perspective: Watching the Indonesian Elections 2014, (Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2015), pp. 54-61.
• Sambodo, Maxensius Tri and Alexander R. Arifianto. “Analyzing the Economic Platforms in the Indonesian Presidential Election,” in Ulla Fionna (ed.). ISEAS Perspective: Watching the Indonesian Elections 2014, (Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2015), pp. 114-122.
• Sumarto, Sudarno, Asep Suryahadi, and Alexander R. Arifianto, “Governance and Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Newly Decentralized Indonesia.” in Yasutami Shimomura (ed.), The Role of Governance in Asia, (Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2003), pp. 27-64.

Op-Eds

• “Clerics to Coal Miners: The Decline of Indonesia’s Islamic Civil Society”, New Mandala, 4 September 2024
• “From polarisation to opportunism: organised Islam and the 2024 elections” (with Aisah Putri Budiarti), New Mandala, 22 January 2024
• “Values-based or transactional? Comparing the foreign policies of Indonesia’s presidential candidates”, Indonesia at Melbourne, 20 November 2023
• “Jokowi Takes Advantage of Turmoil within Golkar”, East Asia Forum, 12 September 2023
• “2024 Election Shaping Up as a Four-Horse Race as Elite Manouvering Intensifies”, Indonesia at Melbourne, 9 August 2022
• “Nahdlatul Ulama’s New Chair Faces a Difficult Choice: Political Neutrality or Patronage”, Indonesia at Melbourne, 18 January 2022
• “Indonesia’s Coronavirus Crisis Will Define President Joko Widodo’s Legacy as Cases Surge”, South China Morning Post, 14 July 2021
• “US-Indonesia Relations Needs a Reboot” (with Yohanes Sulaiman), East Asia Forum, 28 June 2021
• “Indonesian Ulema Council Edges Closer to the Centre of Power”, East Asia Forum, 9 December 2020
• “Religious Power Brokers and Growing Intolerance in Indonesia”, Religion and Global Society: A London School of Economics (LSE) Blog, 8 July 2020
• “Jokowi wins second term as Indonesian president, but the Islamist challenge remains”, ASPI, The Strategist, 22 May 2019
• “Is Islam an increasingly polarizing political cleavage in Indonesia? What the recent election shows”, Brookings Institute (Order from Chaos), 25 April 2019
• Alexander R. Arifianto. “What Explains Rising Islamism in Indonesia?” IAPS Dialogue, Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. Available at: https://iapsdialogue.org/2017/08/01/what-explains-rising-islamism-in-indonesia/ (1 August 2018).