Gender politics of Sultan Hamengkubuwono x in the succession of Yogyakarta palace

The aristocratic theory is essential in the kingdoms’ political system because some countries use monarchical leaderships in the modern era. However, no research has been conducted on the aristocratic theory to examines succession in kingdoms without male descendants. This research aims to review the aristocratic theory in the succession practice in the Yogyakarta Palace. This research employed a qualitative approach. Data was collected using interviews, focus group discussions (FGD), and secondary sources. In-depth interviews were conducted to obtain information about the views and attitudes of the Yogyakarta Palace on gender issues. Furthermore, FGDs were conducted with women activists, academics, political parties, and mass media figures. Secondary data was obtained from the relevant journals and news. The FGD and secondary data were used to confirm the validity and reliability of the data and information. The results showed that there were succession conflicts in kingdoms without male descendants. Consequently, a discretive policy is needed to change traditions that limit female successors. The theoretical implication of this research is that the aristocracy theory cannot be applied to all kingdoms. Policy makers in monarchical systems need to prepare discretive policies to minimize conflict during succession when there are no male descendants. © 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.