Democracy in Indonesian Strategic Narratives. A New Framework of Coherence Analysis

Anna Grzywacz

doi:10.1177/1868103420903594

Abstract

Indonesia’s rise, its democracy promotion, and engagement in the democratisation of regional institutions have often been analysed in scholarly literature in the recent years. Indonesia’s “democratic turn,” both internal and external, increased its relevance in international relations. The academic discussion focuses on the role and meaning of Indonesia’s contribution. The aim of this article is to broaden the debate by analysing the meaning of “democracy” in Indonesian narrative investigated from the perspective of the strategic narratives concept and to propose a new framework for the assessment of narrative based on its coherence. Therefore, the research question is – Are the strategic narratives of democracy articulated by Indonesia coherent? The analysis shows, and it is an argument, that with some exceptions strategic narratives are incoherent and this incoherence has two dimensions: intra- and inter-incoherence. The argument is substantiated by an analysis of Indonesian foreign policy strategies and political speeches.

Highlights

Indonesian policy, both internal and external, has raised doubts about the quality of democracy in the country since 2015
Many recent publications focus on Indonesian democracy and democracy promotion, especially by testing their arguments on the examples of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) (Acharya, 2014; Karim, 2017; Ruland, 2017; my work Grzywacz, 2019)
Some scholars focus on the interplay between Indonesian democratisation and its foreign policy (Poole, 2015; Ruland, 2009; 2014; 2017); other academics on democracy promotion – suggesting that Indonesia’s democracy promotion is a result of its role conception and a reflection of a will of political elites to increase Indonesia’s significance in international relations (Karim, 2017) as well as that it is a part of the state’s middle power strategy (Karim, 2018)

Summary

Introduction

Indonesian policy, both internal and external, has raised doubts about the quality of democracy in the country since 2015. The criticism is relevant to the assessment of international roles Indonesia has enacted since 2003.2 Among several roles, the role of a democracy promoter is of particular importance as it is critical for the state’s international position (Karim, 2017: 385–386). It facilitates the improvement of relations with the Western countries, especially important after the beginning of the democratic transition in 1998 when the West was providing financial support..

Literature Review

A Framework of Strategic Narrative and its Coherence

Conclusion