External challenges and domestic responses in Indonesia's foreign policy

Abstract

This thesis is motivated by an interest in a particular aspect of foreign policy, namely foreign policy change. It focuses on alterations of a nation's pattern of external relations. This study attempts to contribute to an understanding of the characteristics of Indonesia's foreign policy before and after Soeharto's New Order and then the direction of foreign policy at present and into the future. The nature of the problem for this case study relates to the search for an explanation of external challenges and domestic responses in Indonesia's foreign policy at the point at which influences arising in the international system cross into the domestic arena and at which domestic politics is transformed into international behaviour. This case study of Indonesia will show how and why foreign policy change took place. The method is basically simple. It describes Indonesia's pattern of foreign relations at t1 and then the actions taken by the Indonesian government, specific agencies, and political elites to establish new patterns. Finally, a look at t2 indicates the degree of change. This is done in five periods of Indonesia's foreign policy change and continuity, namely Soekamo's Old Order Era periods (1945-1965), Soeharto's New Order Era periods (1965-1998), and three Indonesian governments in the Reformation Era; Habibie periods (1998-Oct l999), Abdurahman Wahid periods (1999-July 2001), and Megawati Soekarnoputri periods (2001-October 2004). In the Reformation era of Indonesia there have been remarkable changes and challenges in the broader Indonesian political sphere. One of the most noteworthy aspects of Indonesian foreign policy in the post-Soeharto era has been the extent to which it has been shaped by domestic factors. Specifically the changed climate following the fall of Soeharto impacted on the foreign policy process in the following ways: (i) it opened it up to greater public scrutiny and criticism; (ii) it increased the number and weight of foreign policy actors; (iii) domestic political and economic imperatives influenced the choice of priorities and their implementation. This thesis studies how much, how fast, by whom, and what cost and risk Indonesia's foreign policy is being reoriented from Soeharto's New Order to the Indonesian Reformation Era at the advent of the 21st century. The varying roles of key domestic actors are acknowledged and assessed. The study reveals that since the fall of Soeharto, Indonesia's foreign policy has been enduring successive crises so as to avoid becoming a failed state. Indonesia's diplomacy was called upon to play a substantive role in meeting an array of challenges in the economic, political and social fields that threatened the unity, integrity, and sovereignty of the Republic.