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Sovereignty and Responsibility in IndonesiaThe conventional narrative about Indonesia and human rights protection shows that state security has triumphed over human rights and security. More recently, the literature has taken on a more positive outlook that acknowledges the progress that has occurred since the Reformation in 1998. Both of these accounts are incomplete and portray only one part of the story. This thesis aims to provide a new and more balanced perspective on Indonesia’s orientation toward human rights by investigating how Indonesia has understood and interpreted the idea of sovereignty and responsibility over time. By posing the question in relation to the historical development of responsible sovereignty, it is possible to assess the contemporary potential for Indonesia to implement Responsibility to Protect (R2P). This thesis used social constructivism as a theoretical framework. Social constructivism provides the historical and discursive tools to understand how the ideas of sovereignty and responsibility have emerged and evolved in the course of Indonesian history through a dynamic social process of norm localization. To explain the dynamic in the construction of meanings and understanding of sovereignty and responsibility in Indonesia since the early independence, this thesis adopts a qualitative research method. In particular, this thesis focuses on the language used by various actors to explain and justify their conducts. By utilizing this framework of analysis, this thesis investigates the dynamic process of norm localization by which sovereignty and responsibility norms have been understood by Indonesian society, adapted to local context or contested by local values, and then implemented within Indonesian society over historical periods in Indonesia. This thesis found that Indonesia’s conceptualization of sovereignty has always had an account of responsibility, however, the balance between the rights and responsibilities of the sovereign has varied during the post-independence era in Indonesian history. Human rights have been part of Indonesian politics since independence, but human protection or protection of civilians from violence only emerged in a short period in the early 1950s and then gained momentum back after 1998. Indonesia’s discursive engagement with sovereignty and responsibility for human rights protection was carried out through a complex process of norm localization, which is shaped not only by the normative context but also by material power and interests within domestic society. The ideas of popular sovereignty and responsibility for human protection were modified by the Indonesian government and other relevant actors in each historical period to make them congruent with Indonesian national values. By understanding this historical and social construction of sovereignty and responsibility, it is understood that the recent (and partial) endorsement of R2P by the Indonesian Government is possible because the framework resonates well with the idea of responsibility that has been part of Indonesian politics since independence. However, the potential for Indonesia to implement and mainstream R2P in a comprehensive manner is limited because Indonesia prefers to focus on prevention measures only and put careful approach to the responsive measures that allow for military intervention.
