Globalization and Democracy: Challenges for Indonesia

Abstract

For Indonesia, an economic crisis which hit the country in 1997 was a blessing in disguise. Without that, it is quite difficult to bring the dramatic social changes for the country, including the overthrown of the authoritarian rule. Economic crisis has promoted economic liberalization and weakened the ideas of protectionist economic policy. Indonesia's commitment inpromoting economic liberalization has also encouraged the country to take an active role in promoting regional economic forums. Indonesia uses ASEAN as a collective bargaining in response to the changing global economy. In this case, the establishment of AEC can be regarded as an instrument for ASEAN in response to the global economy. Unfortunately, Indonesia's commitment in encouraging a deeper economic integration of ASEAN has not been supported by its domestic politics in promoting the substantial democracy. Corruption has become a serious problem for the country in promotingdemocracy along with its commitment in response to globalization.