The world’s biggest nickel producer and owner of the largest nickel reserve, Indonesia, has banned the export of its nickel ore two years ahead of schedule in 2020. This action prompted the...Show moreThe world’s biggest nickel producer and owner of the largest nickel reserve, Indonesia, has banned the export of its nickel ore two years ahead of schedule in 2020. This action prompted the European Union to file a complaint at the World Trade Organization in November 2019. Two years later, the Panel has ruled in favor of the European Union. Specifically, Indonesia’s export prohibition and domestic processing requirement on nickel ore were deemed inconsistent with the prohibition of export prohibitions and restrictions under the purview of Article XI:1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Instead of backing down, Indonesia has now appealed the Panel Report to the Appellate Body. This thesis draws from International Compliance Theory and combines the management approach and enforcement approach. Through descriptive qualitative analysis utilizing primary and secondary resources, it aims to investigate the reasons behind Indonesia's non-compliance. Indonesia’s appeal and persistent downstreaming efforts are deeply rooted in its ambition to reach high-income status by 2045, thus shedding light on the political-economic significance of the nickel sector. Lack of clarity on exemptions regarding export restrictions and inactive Appellate Body further provides an opportunity to prolong non-compliance with WTO Ruling.Show less
Smallholders are far from dead. In many cases around the world, smallholder farmers represent the backbone of rural and national economic development and are considered as both “beneficiaries and...Show moreSmallholders are far from dead. In many cases around the world, smallholder farmers represent the backbone of rural and national economic development and are considered as both “beneficiaries and agents of sustainable development”. The expansion of commodity crops has positively impacted rural livelihoods, providing employment and boosting general well-being among rural communities. This, however, changed the way farmers interact with nature, leading to negative externalities such as deforestation practices, wildlife endangerment and unsustainable working environments. Palm oil (PO) has attracted global attention for its ambiguous and often problematic nature. On the one hand, palm oil’s market rapid growth in Indonesia raised dramatic environmental concerns, as its development has come at the expense of fundamental human rights and biodiverse, carbon-rich tropical forests. On the other hand, it brought rural development and increased the national economy, placing smallholder farmers on a leading position. To investigate this trade-off of growth, the thesis was guided by the research question “how does the inclusion of smallholder farmers in the PO GVC contribute to sustainable inclusive development?” and was supported by the following three sub-questions: 1. What are the socio-economic implications of PO expansion on smallholder farmers in Riau and Jambi provinces? 2. What are the environmental implications of PO expansion in Riau and Jambi and how are these linked to smallholder farming? 3. To what extent has smallholders’ participation in the PO GVC contributed to the shift to the sustainable production of the crop and what facilitates this transition? The thesis was built on the sustainable and inclusive development theoretical framework and shed light on the role of smallholder farmers in enhancing rural livelihoods and boosting national economic growth. The analysis concludes that PO production has played a relevant role in poverty reduction and economic growth in Riau and Jambi, Indonesia. More specifically, its expansion manifested into increased income, access to land and capital, rural development through infrastructure and services and improved household dietary quality and food security. However, because of the strong influence of the Indonesian government's transmigration programme, inequality among farmers arised, as transmigrant smallholder families were given financial and technical support, while autochthonous ones generally were left forgotten. At the same time, palm oil expansion has replaced substantial amounts of tropical forests and led to numerous land conflicts across Indonesia.Show less
China is a rising power, something that has become increasingly evident in the South China Sea dispute in the past decade. In 2009, China for the first time officially and unilaterally declared...Show moreChina is a rising power, something that has become increasingly evident in the South China Sea dispute in the past decade. In 2009, China for the first time officially and unilaterally declared sovereignty over a large part of the South China Sea (SCS). At that time, both the biggest and smallest states of the region, Indonesia and Singapore, did not belong to the so-called ‘claimant states’. However, the increased tension in the SCS as a consequence of China’s maritime expansion leads to both states being affected by this dispute. Therefore, this thesis aims to examine the question ‘’How and why have Indonesia and Singapore responded to the increased Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea, despite both initially not being claimant states?’’ Outlining the developments in the South China Sea and looking at the dimensions of economic relations and domestic political factors, this thesis will try to explain the responses of Indonesia and Singapore to an increasingly assertive China in the South China Sea in the past decade. What could be concluded is that while Singapore and, to a greater extent, Indonesia are economically increasingly dependent on China, which could lead to turning a blind eye to China’s behaviour in the SCS, the two Southeast Asian states have instead increasingly criticized China in the past decade in order to go against its growing assertive behaviour. This response comes out of dynamics in domestic politics that does not allow the two states to behave submissively.Show less
Through the Shared Cultural Heritage Programmes of the last few decades, the Dutch government uses international cultural exchange for diplomatic ends. To build diplomatic relations despite...Show moreThrough the Shared Cultural Heritage Programmes of the last few decades, the Dutch government uses international cultural exchange for diplomatic ends. To build diplomatic relations despite difficult history and heritage, the Netherlands stress that the history and heritage they share with Indonesia and Suriname is shared and therefore important to preserve. Although this policy is quite successful in Indonesia and partly in Suriname, the heritage diplomacy does not really engage with postcolonial views on 'shared' history.Show less
Ever since the start of the war on terror, governments worldwide have struggled with countering the narratives that are spread by violent extremist organisations. Recent academic research has...Show moreEver since the start of the war on terror, governments worldwide have struggled with countering the narratives that are spread by violent extremist organisations. Recent academic research has produced several prescriptions that indicate what aspects potentially successful counter-narrative, alternative narrative and government strategic communications programmes need to possess. Testing the scholarly recommendations on target audience, message, messenger and medium to the actual policies of Malaysia and Indonesia, it becomes apparent that the policies of both states are partially congruent with the dominant ideas in the literature. However, what both Malaysia and Indonesia lack is a clear delineation of target audiences based on level of radicalisation, the provision of alternative things to do to complement their alternative narrative programmes and a comprehensive strategy to combine online and offline measures to achieve the most sustainable effect. Still, when comparing the respective policies of the two states, it must be noted that Malaysia is more congruent with the scholarly prescriptions than Indonesia. The most important differences between the two states are that the Malaysian authorities showcase a more sophisticated awareness and application of the relevant academic definitions and take a rather comprehensive approach to providing government strategic communications, the latter of which is practically lacking in the case of Indonesia.Show less
The economic benefits brought by Indonesia’s palm oil industry come with significant environmental costs including yearly forest fires and transboundary haze. The slow progress of state regulatory...Show moreThe economic benefits brought by Indonesia’s palm oil industry come with significant environmental costs including yearly forest fires and transboundary haze. The slow progress of state regulatory efforts spurred some international private stakeholders to form a private multi-stakeholder governance institution; the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which uses market-driven instruments such as sustainability certification to promote environmentally sound practices among its members. Using a mix-method design analyses on interviews, meeting minutes, attendance records and other primary and secondary data, the thesis assesses RSPO against three global political economy schools of thought: neoclassical, statist and critical political economy. The findings support the neoclassical perspective to a certain extent as they show that RSPO has gradually built a robust and comprehensive sustainability certification system with a strong focus on peatland management and protection. RSPO achieves its progress, despite the voluntary nature of its membership, by establishing a strong foundation of democratic governance within its decision-making processes. However, the thesis also finds an imbalance of political power between the different membership sectors in RSPO’s internal governance and an accumulation of authority in the hands of a few influential members that have resulted in marginalization of certain stakeholders, most notably the Indonesian growers and civil societies. The perceived lack of political representation of Indonesian stakeholders in RSPO - an institution that purports to ‘govern’ one of the most lucrative industries in the nation - seems to validate the statists’ notion that PMG institutions seek to reduce and replace the role of the state. This exclusivity has led to the formation of a rival certification system by the state: The Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil.Show less
This thesis examines the evolution of the relation between the Netherlands and Indonesia and in particular the development cooperation between these two countries. It is demonstrated that the...Show moreThis thesis examines the evolution of the relation between the Netherlands and Indonesia and in particular the development cooperation between these two countries. It is demonstrated that the Netherlands utilizes development cooperation in order to fulfil its moral obligation to help those in need and in order to create opportunities to realize its economic interests. The Dutch approach of development cooperation between the Netherlands and Indonesia has evolved from a predominantly multilateral one, as it wanted to be a neutral donor due to colonial sensitivity, to a bilateral approach through ODA support directly to the Indonesian government and distributed by the Dutch embassy in Jakarta. Dutch development cooperation has focused on several themes, such as education, water management, and good governance, mainly to create effectivity and efficiency as well as to utilize Dutch knowledge in and of these areas, and later also due to budgetary reasons. This thesis is set out to answer the following research question: How has Dutch development cooperation with Indonesia evolved and to what extent has Dutch official development assistance contributed to development in Indonesia in the period of 1998 to 2016? In order to answer this question, this thesis will first examine the evolution of Dutch development policies in general before turning to the practical impacts of Dutch development policies in Indonesia from 1998 to 2016.Show less
This thesis seeks to determine which actor had the greatest amount of responsibility for the emergence of 1965-1966 anti-communist mass killings in Indonesia and to explore why each actor opted for...Show moreThis thesis seeks to determine which actor had the greatest amount of responsibility for the emergence of 1965-1966 anti-communist mass killings in Indonesia and to explore why each actor opted for indiscriminate violence. The piece will discuss the applicability of three explanations for mass violence while using Indonesia as a case study. First theory will analyze economic reasons such as military’s financial incentives for the killings and foreign economic influences that have possibly encouraged mass violence; the second theory will look at the role of citizens and local forces through a bottom-up approach. The third theory will suggest an original explanation by van der Maat who argues that mass violence occurs when a political elite attempts to safeguard its position and seeks to eradicate dangerous intra-elite rivals through genocidal consolidation.Show less
The increase of ASEAN tasks and functions has risen to a point where human rights have become enshrined in a regional commission. How can this be explained considering the history of straight up...Show moreThe increase of ASEAN tasks and functions has risen to a point where human rights have become enshrined in a regional commission. How can this be explained considering the history of straight up human right abstinence and abuses throughout the history of the member states. I hypothesise in this thesis that the recent democratisation of regimes of ASEAN member states caused supranationalism in the form of the creation of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights. In order to consolidate the new democracy, regimes may pursuit locking them in into supranational institutions. This will prevent the democratic regime from falling back to authoritarian rule, since it’s citizens rights are protected by a higher authority, out of reach of the direct power of the regime. Results suggest this theory may hold validity in the ASEAN region where recently democratised states are more likely to support supranational institutions than the long term democracies or authoritarian states. This means change in direction and norms in ASEAN is the result of democratisation of member states that are using ASEAN as vehicle for domestic political goals.Show less
This thesis places Indonesia’s strategic regional policy for dealing with power competition within Asia in the context of its relationship with ASEAN, China and the US. The main question this...Show moreThis thesis places Indonesia’s strategic regional policy for dealing with power competition within Asia in the context of its relationship with ASEAN, China and the US. The main question this thesis addresses is whether Indonesia, as a secondary state in the Southeast Asian region, is more likely to deal with the politics of the regional order through power balancing or institutional enmeshment. It will compare the arguments of Robert R. Ross, who argues that the balance of power in Asia-Pacific politics is affected by military power, and Evelyn Goh, who argues that the regional order is more complex and that regional frameworks such as ASEAN will also help influence larger regional counterweights such as China. In focusing on the power balancing actions that secondary states take, Ross argues that Indonesia uses military power, with the US by its side, to balance against China. Goh does not believe Indonesia can simply power balance against China, but that it will also try to enmesh China in regional entities. Both Ross’s and Goh’s arguments will be tested through a case study on Indonesia’s behaviour in the regional dispute in the South China Sea to determine which of the two arguments is more relevant to Indonesia’s strategic regional policy. This study is relevant because it provides a more detailed analysis of Indonesia’s capabilities to deal with power competition in the region. This thesis concludes that Indonesia is more likely to deal with power competition in the Asia-Pacific through the enmeshment theory of Evelyn Goh.Show less
The central theme of this master thesis is how in Indonesia the relationship between the idea of democracy and the resulting political change that can be drawn from the 1900 to 1960. By means of a...Show moreThe central theme of this master thesis is how in Indonesia the relationship between the idea of democracy and the resulting political change that can be drawn from the 1900 to 1960. By means of a definition of constitutional democracy and the models of “constitutive localization” of Amitav Acharya (2009), this research has been carried out. This showed that with constitutive localization, the idea of democracy generates indigenous political change. It is necessary to take into account how particular local actors, or “idea entrepreneurs”, adopt foreign ideas to bring about political change. Their role is viewed as an effort to reconstruct foreign ideas to ensure the ideas fit with their cognitive priors and identities, which is identified as “congruence building”. Thus, a dynamic congruence building process, or “localization”, provides opportunity for foreign ideas, which may not initially cohere with local belief and practices, to be incorporated into the local norms. In Indonesian case, “Indonesian-Javanese paradigm” serves as the platform to appropriate and adapted the idea of democracy to local conditions. This analysis can serve as a diagnostic tool to help policy makers understand where and how consolidation of democratic forces could be harmonized in Indonesia. Through gaining a better understanding of the agency role of idea entrepreneur in spreading and defending democracy, this study will hopefully become an interesting case for study of political change in world politics.Show less
Climate change is becoming an increasingly important topic on the international stage and is one of today’s top priorities on the global agenda. Indonesia is of importance in any discussion about...Show moreClimate change is becoming an increasingly important topic on the international stage and is one of today’s top priorities on the global agenda. Indonesia is of importance in any discussion about climate change because of two reasons: (1) Indonesia is a country extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and (2) Indonesia contributes significantly to the problems of climate change. Therefore, it is perhaps not surprising that the Indonesian government has played an important role in the international debate on climate change. This thesis analyzes Indonesia’s contribution in the movement towards international cooperation to combat climate change.Show less
