Indonesia’s Parallel Engagement with BRICS, the OECD and the EU

Indonesia is simultaneously engaging with BRICS and acceding to the OECD as part of its broader strategy to navigate an increasingly fragmented global economic order. This joint Clingendael Institute and Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia Policy Brief analyses both the motivations for and consequences of Indonesia’s two-pronged approach. How does this approach fit into Indonesia’s foreign policy culture more broadly? What are the political economic goals Indonesia seeks to achieve, and how? Moreover, what would be apt ways of responding to Indonesia’s grand strategy for the Netherlands and the EU, for instance, through its Global Gateway instrument? The aim is to identify lessons for EU-Indonesia relations from both European and Indonesian perspectives.

The policy brief does not assume the existence of a consolidated Indonesian grand strategy guiding participation across these platforms. Rather, it approaches Indonesia’s BRICS accession as a high-level political decision taken in a context of increasing global uncertainty, whose economic and institutional implications remain uneven and contested. The paper therefore combines explanatory analysis with a critical assessment of the potential consequences of BRICS membership – particularly considering Indonesia’s simultaneous engagement with ASEAN, the OECD, and the EU, and its bilateral engagements with the United States (US) and China.

The policy brief starts with an analysis of Indonesia’s decision to join the BRICS grouping as well as the motivations for and consequences of doing so. Second, it discusses how Indonesia’s parallel strategy to join the OECD fits in the larger picture of Indonesian foreign policy. Building on this, the policy brief outlines policy options and recommendations for the EU and the Netherlands and, finally, concludes.

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Authors

Raoul Bunskoek - Senior Research Fellow and Program Lead of the 
Clingendael China Centre

Andrew Mantong -  Researcher at the Centre for Strategic and 
International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia

M. Habib Abiyan Dzakwan - Researcher at the Department 
of International Relations at the CSIS Indonesia.

Tobias Koster - Researcher at the Clingendael China Centre

Ellen Schepers - Former Research Assistant at the Clingendael China Centre.