Foreign Policy Begins At Home: the Domestic Sources of Indonesia's Foreign Policy under SBY's Presidency (2004-2014)

Abstrak

This paper seeks to explain the domestic sources of Indonesia's foreign policy under SBY's presidency. It delineates two aspects of Indonesian foreign policy: the enabling environment that creates opportunities for SBY to pursue a more active participation for Indonesia in many international fora; and the structure and actors that in the past 10 years of Indonesia's democratic experience have expanded beyond the small circle of elites concerned with foreign policy. This paper suggests that democratization affects Indonesia's foreign policy establishment in a number of ways. First, political. reform that comes as a logical consequence of democratization triggers reform in the heart of foreign-policy making arena. Second, the parliament has also emerged as a new power center equipped with some Constitutional rights to oversee the conduct of Indonesia's foreign relations. Third, democratization and the political reform it has brought complicate the process of foreign policy making.