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Strategies to raise our geopolitical profile
Indonesia cannot thus stand idle while global powers and interests maneuver around us.
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On diplomacy: Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi explains progress of Indonesia's foreign policies in a press statement at the Foreign Ministry office's Pancasila Building in Jakarta on Oct.26. (Antara/Puspa Perwitasari)
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ontemporary geopolitical developments have been shaped primarily by two powerful forces. First, the rise of economically successful, illiberal democratic Russia and soft-authoritarian China, with their muscle-flexing in Eastern Europe and the Middle East as well as the South China Sea, has challenged prevailing global narratives on the primacy of liberal democratic ideals.
In offering global values that compete directly with the liberal democratic world order, China even poses actively as a champion of “Asian values” on the premises of state responsibility, social stability, trade and growth. As the world’s economic center of gravity shifts to the East, these values could replace United States-driven Western values, economist Danny Quah maintains.
Distrust in the West is also increasing toward globalization and regional integration. A 2016 survey by The Economist and YouGov demonstrates that less than half of respondents in America, Britain and France believe globalization as a “force for good” and generally abhor immigration. Donald Trump’s victory in the US, Brexit and the unprecedented popularity of neo-nationalist parties across Europe further suggest how many in the West are turning their back on globalism.
Another yet potent geopolitical game changer in the 21st century is the advent of a “network society,” as Manuel Castells argues, in which global financial and multimedia networks become ever more interlinked with major networks of politics, cultural production, defense and security, even global crime. These networks hold extraordinary power in shaping state capacity, as they cooperate and compete with each other to set rules and norms that accommodate their interests and values.
Multimedia and political networks were attributed to being the primary facilitator of the Arab Spring that left much of the Middle East and North Africa in political turmoil. Moreover, researchers, including Andrew Foxall, cite how these networks have aided “soft power” offensives for newly emerging powers such as Russia, whose state-backed media channels successfully penetrate Western audiences and challenge Western-dominated information outlets.
What implications do all these developments hold for Indonesia? Located in the Asia-Pacific, Indonesia was dubbed das totenkreuz (the death cross) as early as the 1940s to symbolize the everpresent dangers — and opportunities — in an area where numerous geopolitical interests meet and clash, as AR Soehoed once argued. Indonesia cannot thus stand idle while global powers and interests maneuver around us.
One strategic imperative for Indonesia is to strengthen resilience by institutionalizing geopolitical awareness among its policymakers and the public. Mastery of geopolitical knowledge and history is crucial for understanding and setting the broader political narratives of postmodern conflicts, as a recent work by Gao Hongwei and Tao Chun suggests.
