Globalization, protectionism, populism under Jokowi

Arianto A. Patunru
Research fellow at the Arndt-Corden Department of Economics, Australian National University

PREMIUM

Canberra / Mon, September 11, 2017 / 10:46 am

Globalization, protectionism, populism under Jokowi

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (second left), accompanied by Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi (left) and West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan (right) responds to journalists' queries after performing the Idul Adha prayer in Sukabumi, West Java, on Friday. (The Jakarta Post/Anton Hermansyah)

The world has yet to fully recover from the global financial crisis. Economic growth is still lackluster. Inequality continues to increase even in countries where poverty has gone down. These factors are widely seen as the main causes that have led to the rising anti-global sentiment around the globe, and prompted leaders to adopt populist and inward-looking policies. As a consequence, many elections and referendums have ended up with surprising results: Duterte, Brexit, Trump, and there may be more yet to come. In Indonesia, such discontent has also manifested itself in rising nationalism, which in the economic sphere takes the form of (or is used as justification for) protectionism — the rejection of foreign interference and economic policies aiming for self-sufficiency in a wide range of commodities, including those of which Indonesia is a natural net importer. But economic p...