Bukan Sekadar “Kekuatan Normatif”: Uni Eropa, Good Governance, dan Diskursus Pembangunan Indonesia Pasca-Orde Baru

Abstract

Indonesia and the European Union (EU) have been starting to cooperate in many sectors since 1990. However, there have been shifts the area of cooperation after the New Order. EU, through Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (firstly signed in 2003), has been agreed to take part in strengthening Indonesia’s civil society organisations. EU offers some funded program to be conducted by Indonesia’s civil society organisations in broad range of area, mainly in human rights, democratic participation, and development agenda, and good governance. This cooperation agreement made EU as one of main partner for Indonesia’s civil society organisations to strengthen their capacities in community empowerment and policy advocacy. However, EU’s involvement in assisting civil society in post-Suharto Indonesia has also become an instrument for promoting EU’s norms in Indonesia. This paper will raise two questions in relations to EU’s involvement: (1) What is EU’s main motive in assisting Indonesia’s development through civil society? (2) To what extent do the projects affect social and political practices in Indonesia? By using Foucault’s concept of ‘governmentality’, this paper have analysed that EU’s involvement in assisting civil society in Indonesia through its funded projects reflects EU’s attempts to discipline the third world, particularly Indonesia and thus control the subjectivity through civil society engagement. This paper suggests that studies on EU power should address the changing discourse in international politics and how EU interacts with other global entity, particularly the third world, in a more critical perspective. Keywords: European Union, Civil Society, Development, Human Rights, Democracy, Normative Power Global Governmentality