Skip to main content
Indonesia Council Open Conference 2025
Times are shown in your local time zone GMT

Thinking of Change in Foreign Policy Strategy: Indonesia from Declared Nonalignment to Partial Multialignment

Individual Paper

Submission Description

This article unpacks changes in Indonesia’s foreign policy. The conduct of Indonesia’s foreign policy has long been understood as non-aligned. It was associated with the basic tenet of bebas aktif (independent and active) and evolving international relations of the state, which demonstrated the continuity of a non-taking side position in the Cold War bipolarity. This article contends that Indonesia is now walking towards partial multialignment. The recent domestic and external developments have proven the irrelevance of non-bloc strategy. Instead, Indonesia is partially multi-aligned by diversifying and intensifying its multilateral cooperation with China and the US, building bilateral strategic partnerships with selective major regional powers and undertaking 'normative hedging'. Nevertheless, limited national power and persistent threat perception hinder the steps toward complete multalignment. 

Presenters

Presenters

Individual Paper Presenters

Professor I Gede Wahyu Wicaksana - Universitas Airlangga