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Building Bridge Between Indonesia and India: A Cultural Perspective

Idin Fasisaka

Department of International RelationsUdayana University

15 September 2015

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After Cold War: International order?

To speak of (a) containing threats or of (b) managing particular international interactions is…

to speak of shaping, building, or establishing the whole of international order…

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After Cold War: How to order international politics?

Implementing policies on how to design the relations among states:

Realists: fantasize power politics: order-producing effects of material threat systems.

Institutionalists: fantasize common interests: order-producing effects of cooperation in pursuit of mutual goals.

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Skeptical… that power politics and common interests are sources of international order or factors that contribute to international order?

Neither power politics nor common interests can create stable, shared expectations and behaviors among states: neither the two speak for themselves.

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What about identity as source of international order?

Identity refers to the cognitive, sociological, emotional, and other non-tangible bonds among states that constitute their roles in relations to one another and so provides states with a desirable self definition or concept (Ashmore and Jussim, 1997)

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Narratives and Politics?

Homo fabulans: storytellers. Who do we think we are, based on the stories of: national, ethnic, racial, gender, class, or religious kinds?

When do we discover a shared tradition or a feeling of belonging with others? → When our experiences and stories match

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A Shared Tradition?

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Does identity matter?

States can develop any variety of identities with each other, ranging from: collective knowledge of positive self-other bonds (friends) to collective knowledge of negative self-other bonds (enemies) (Wendt, 1999)

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Are identities ever fixed or finished?

Identity is relationship that is always in process, whether that means emerging, evolving, or breaking down (Connolly, 1991)

IR theory: to integrate the theories of the tangible world of material power and interests with more ideational theories.

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India’s Cultures

• Culture has influenced the foreign policy approaches: leaders' preferences and perceptions.

• Values like pluralism and tolerance fostered by Nehru's ‘peaceful coexistence’ policy, underpinning a disdain for forceful humanitarian intervention.

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Identity and values in Indian foreign policy

The less well known civilizational links with Southeast Asia: Indian cultural exports like Hinduism, Buddhism, Sanskrit, and Islam without producing cultural superiority.

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India: from ‘Look East Policy’ to ‘Act East Policy’

• Modi government (since may 2014) and the Minister for External Affairs, Smt. Sushma Swaraj termed the new phase as ‘Act East Policy’ which in a sense meant that more substantial implementation of many elements of the LEP.