International society: the social dimensions of Indonesia's foreign policy

Realism has been the dominant conceptual approach to studying Indonesian foreign policy. This article, however, considers realist analyses to be insucient since their emphasis on the struggle for power and security in the system of states has led to the neglect of the importance of perspectives which focus on order. To ll the gap it then intends to apply the English School perspective which focuses on the concept of international society to trace the nature and function of Indonesian foreign policy. Two cases are examined, including the Asian African Conference and Association of South East Asian Nations, to demonstrate the relevance of international society for policy ideas and action. The central argument is that the Indonesian elite worldview indicates that the creation and maintenance of order in international societies are ones which are prominent objectives legitimizing the conduct of Indonesia's external relations

Militarising Counterterrorism in Southeast Asia Incompatibilities and Implications for ASEAN

The occupation of the city of Marawi in the southern Philippines and a series of terrorist attacks in Indonesia which followed it demonstrate that terrorism is a persistent and enduring threat to Southeast Asian security, despite the governments’ concerted efforts on countering terrorism since 9/11 and the Bali Bombings in 2002 and 2005. Security specialists and defence officials in the region believe that ASEAN has to intensify its cooperation to address the challenge of terrorism through the use of military forces. This article, however, claims that the militarised counterterrorism has no institutional, normative and practical basis within ASEAN’s main security structure, the APSC. This is followed by dual implications for the broader security agendas, affecting democratisation and sharpening mistrust among ASEAN states which challenges ASEAN centrality in regional security affairs

Indonesia in the South China Sea: Foreign Policy and Regional Order

This paper looks at how Indonesia contributes to the creation of a relatively peaceful and stable Southeast Asian region after the Cold War. It examines Jakarta’s diplomacy in the South China Sea, and explains its implications for the making of the regional order. The argument is that Indonesia’s impact on regional security has been apparent in its attention to the improvement of rule-based interaction among states in the region. However, recent developments have demonstrated that Indonesia’s initiatives, formulated in the Indo-Pacific Cooperation Concept, are unsuccessful due to the lack of support from other ASEAN states. This paper shows that great powers politics in the troubled waters has hindered the advancement of Indonesian’s orderdriven policy

Understanding lndonesia-Autsralia Relations in Three Models of lnternational System

The relationship between Indonesia and Australia is an interesting and important subject of study in the field of international relations. In explaining the dynamics of the two countries’ relations, academics and practitioners usually refer to a theoretical approach focusing on each party’s assumed interests in both national and regional contexts. This article, however, presents an alternative style of analysis by examining and comparing the impacts of international systems on the conduct of foreign policy. Arguably, there are three models of international systems: the anarchical state-centric model, the relational polycentric model, and the combinative model. The systems influence the setting in which policymakers consider and stage actions. Therefore, they inform how conflict and cooperation between Jakarta and Canberra occur. The discussion proceeds in two parts. The first part explores the three models of international systems. The second part investigates the implications of each system for territorial issues, conflict, and cooperation

The changing perspective of international relations in lndonesia

This article explores the development of international relations (IR) in Indonesia with special focus on the changing trends in its theoretical perspectives. It argues that the academic works examined reflect the ways in which Indonesia’s IR scholars perceive and theorize the nature of the dynamics of external political environments and their connections to the state’s foreign relations. The argument is elaborated in two related parts. The first section discusses the theoretical perspectives that developed during the Cold War period, which focuses on the propensity toward historical realism and regionalism. The second part of the discussion examines recent developments in which Cold War perspectives have been reconsidered, and in many respects modified into three new categories of theoretical thinking, namely reform, resistance, and eclecticism. The changing theoretical trends reveal that Indonesia’s IR scholarship is open and innovative. The conclusion comments on the development of the Indonesia’s IR

The Consequence of Ethical Criticism of Intelligence on Countering Terrorism in lndonesia

The global war on terror has raised debates between liberals and realists on the position of ethics in intelligence operations. On the one hand, liberal ethicists insist that the conduct of intelligence gathering to counter terrorism must not violate the security rights of citizens. On the other hand, proponents of realism consider national security to be of greater importance than ethical principles governing individual freedom. This article tries to present an alternative point of view by examining the consequence of ethical criticisms of intelligence activities on the Indonesian government’s counterterrorism measures. It proposes two approaches to understanding the connection between ethics and intelligence: examining the nature of the terror threat, and looking at the sociopolitical situations which affect the role of the state’s security agencies. Arguably, securitizing intelligence by enforcing an ethical reconceptualization of intelligence roles increases the challenges facing Indonesia’s intelligence operatives and damages the effectiveness of the government’s counterterrorism policy

Indonesia’s Policy on Climate Change Mitigation: Constraints and Solutions

Recently the impact of climate change has been an increasingly important policy issue to the Indonesian government. It makes serious programs to support the global climate change mitigation action. This article is aimed at analyzing the application of Indonesia’s climate change policy. The focus is on crucial problems that constrain its effectiveness both at international and domestic levels. The discussions indicate that Indonesia’s multilateral diplomacy to protect the environment is affected by the rise of global power politics as the consequence of the contestation between China and the United States. Meanwhile, internal actions are hindered by the complex social, economic, and cultural barriers. The efficacy of the policy is considerably weakened. To conclude, however, this author tries to offer some potential solutions for strategic planning and policy improvement