East Timor Independence: The Changing Nature of International Pressure

Abstract

This chapter explores the interplay between globalization, ethnic conflict, and the enforcement of norms in the international system. It shows how the shift from the bipolar system to what Robert Paster called the ‘Liberal Epoch’ delegitimized Indonesia’s hold on East Timor. In Indonesia, concerns the continuing crackdown in East Timor mixed with the Asian economic crisis of 1997–1998 to prompt Australia and the United States to abandon Suharto in hopes of political change and economic reform. The independence of East Timor was a portentous outcome of this process. The chapter explores the evolution of US and Australian policies over the years and its impact on Indonesia’s policy regarding East Timor. Complex linkages among Indonesian domestic politics and its foreign policy accounted for the country’s behavior toward East Timor. The chapter also examines these linkages. Since capturing East Timor, Indonesia’s official policy stated that the East Timorese joined Indonesia of their free will.