Indonesia: domestic politics and its influence in foreign policy towards China’s belt and road initiative

This thesis founded that the process of foreign policy change is a result of the domestic politics that change whenever there is a new leader that comes into power. Especially, when a newly elected president takes control, it always brings about change in the government actor; however, despite this, the political systems dominated by political elites and military still persist. The new government comes with new interests that results in a new foreign policy direction and goals as they may not have been satisfied with the previous government’s performance and the difference in terms of how they defined the term “national interest”. Moreover, the Chinese factor also played a different role in the SBY and Jokowi governments which resulted in great foreign policy shifts as well.

本论文发现，外交政策变革的过程是国内政治变化的结果，而国内政治变化往往伴随新领导人上台而发生。尤其当新当选总统掌权时，总会引发政府行为体（government actor）的变化；然而，尽管如此，由政治精英和军方主导的政治体制仍持续存在。新政府带来新的利益诉求，进而催生外交政策的新方向与目标——这往往源于其对前任政府表现的不满，以及双方在“国家利益”定义上的分歧。此外，中国因素在苏西洛（SBY）政府与佐科威（Jokowi）政府中扮演了不同角色，同样导致了外交政策的重大转变。