Moch Faisal Karim
Biographic Data
| ID | 119971 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Moch Faisal Karim |
| GIVEN NAMES | Moch Faisal |
| FAMILY NAME | Karim |
| SIGNATURE | KARIM M F |
| AFFILIATIONS | Binus University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5444-2141 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 51 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 93 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 51 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
State Capitalism and the Spatial Politics of Tourism: Governing Tourism Development in Indonesia During Global Disruption
This article examines how crises reconfigure the relationship between state power, capital, and tourism development. Situating tourism within debates on state capitalism and neoliberal governance, it argues that global disruption does not merely halt tourism accumulation but reveals how states selectively govern tourism spaces according to political and strategic priorities. Drawing on comparative case studies of Mandalika and Lagoi in Indonesia …
Layered Incoherence in Middle Power Foreign Policy: Indonesia and the U.S.‐China Rivalry
Amid the intensifying U.S.‐China rivalry, middle powers, especially those from the global south, are often portrayed in IR literature as strategic hedgers, expected to balance between major powers to preserve regional autonomy and stability. Yet many, like Indonesia, display contradictory foreign policy behaviour by rhetorically championing inclusive engagement while increasingly courting China through selective alignments. This article challenge…
Narrating commitment, deferring compliance: Symbolic temporality in global environmental governance
How do states remain credible participants in global environmental governance despite persistent gaps between environmental commitments and their implementation? Existing scholarship often treats such inconsistencies as failures of credibility or compliance. This article advances an alternative explanation. It argues that states manage enduring contradictions not by resolving them at the level of policy outcomes, but by narratively sequencing the…
Economic nationalism as a quest for liberation: The anti-colonial roots of Indonesian IPE and their persistence
This article revisits economic nationalism through the lens of postcolonial political thought, examining its role not simply as a developmental strategy but as a liberatory project grounded in anti-colonial struggle. Focusing on the Indonesian case, it foregrounds the contributions of three foundational thinkers, Sukarno, Tan Malaka, and Hatta, whose political-economic visions articulated distinct yet interconnected understandings of economic nat…
Fractured Promises: Developing Countries and the Global Contestation of the $100 Billion Climate Finance Pledge
In 2009, developed countries pledged to transfer $100 billion ($100BCG) yearly from 2020 to developing countries to support their adaptation and climate change mitigation. The failure to deliver on this promise has created enduring debate, especially within social media. This paper investigates how discourses about the $100BCG are framed on X (formerly Twitter) and vary depending on actors in developed versus developing countries. We analysed 179…
Hard and Soft Neo‐Mercantilism and the Politics of Resource Security in the Age of Geoeconomic Rivalry
As supply chains become weaponized in the context of intensifying geoeconomic rivalry, why do similarly exposed industrialized states adopt divergent strategies toward strategic resource dependence? This article examines how the United States and Japan, both reliant on Chinese rare earth elements (REE), respond differently to China's dominance in this sector. We argue that variation in state responses stems from differences in securitization and …
Adopting the Palm Oil Moratorium Under External Pressure: Indonesia's Response to the EU’s RED II
Certification as strategy: Human rights, regulatory gaps, and foreign policy in Indonesia’s fight against IUU fishing
Markets over rights? Fragmented regionalization of business and human rights in Asean
Chinese network power and patronage embeddedness in Indonesia
Forum: Global Perspectives on Democracy Support in Light of the Wars in Gaza and Ukraine
This forum critically reflects on the democracy support agenda and its future in light of the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the decline of Western political and normative dominance, and overall global democratic backsliding. Posing four topical questions to five leading scholars in the field—from Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia—it finds that these wars appear systemic in the sense that they sharpen alr…
From dependency to development? Pursuing foreign capital in rising Asia's financial order
The rise of Asia in the international financial order, exemplified by China's emergence as a source of foreign capital, has fundamentally changed the dynamics of foreign direct investment (FDI) in emerging nations. In light of this transformation, these nations have gained greater agency to develop their own strategies for attracting foreign capital. This study analyses Indonesia's pursuit of foreign capital through hybrid state activism, a strat…
Toward a truly global IR: Southeast Asia’s challenge to Western Dominance
The Return of Authoritarian Neo-Liberalism in Indonesia
Beyond Integration: Confronting Financialization and Industrialization Challenges in Asean Amidst a Shifting Global Order
Assessing the China Threat: Perspectives of University Students in Jakarta on the South China Sea Dispute and the Belt and Road Initiative
Regulatory regionalism and the limits of Asean banking integration: The case of Indonesia
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) aims to integrate the banking industry in the region. To achieve this, ASEAN members have agreed to create the ASEAN Banking Integration Framework (ABIF) to support such integration. Despite being endorsed in 2014, the framework remains vague and lacks clear policy coordination arrangements as well as standardisation instruments that enable ASEAN member states to integrate their banking sectors. …
How the state frames its engagement in renminbi internationalization: The case of Indonesia
The rise of China has accelerated Renminbi (RMB) internationalization. While there seems to be global support for RMB internationalization, there is a gap in understanding how developing nations, facing potential domestic skepticism, rationalize and articulate their support. This article discusses narratives that states use to legitimize their support for RMB internationalization. Using the case of Indonesia, this article examines the country's p…
Indonesia’s Regional and Global Engagement: Role Theory and State Transformation in Foreign Policy
Karim examines the changes and continuity of Indonesia’s foreign policy in the post-authoritarian era, under presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Joko Widodo. Indonesia conceptualised and aimed to adopt four principle roles after 2004 – being a voice for developing countries; being a regional leader; being an advocate for democratic and human rights; and being a bridge-builder. These roles, however, were by no means stable and were constantly …
NGO and Global Voluntary Standards in Sustainable Seafood: The Case of Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) in Indonesia
This article examines the role of non-governmental organisation in supporting the implementation of global voluntary certification. This article investigates how World Wildlife Fund (WWF) helps implement the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) ecolabel standard in Indonesia. As the world’s second-largest aquaculture fish-producing country, many Indonesian seafood products are rejected in the international market due to quality problems. This ma…
Bureaucratic Politics and Informality in Foreign Policy-making: The Case of Indonesia-China Relations
How do governments respond to bilateral relationships characterised by growing economic cooperation on one side and concerns about national security on the other? The existing literature has mainly employed systemic, domestic and individual levels of analysis, but has failed to scrutinise the important bureaucratic aspect of policy-making. By focusing on Indonesia’s policy towards the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) assertiveness in the South …
Approaches to Indonesia's Foreign Policy: Area Studies, FPA Theory, and Global IR
This article traces the evolution of Indonesia's foreign policy studies, highlighting the major theoretical and methodological trends that have shaped their current form. As a starting point, we introduce a discourse on non-Western Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA), having developed beyond the dominance of the Western-rooted International Relations (IR) discipline. The authors encounter that Indonesia's foreign policy studies evolve through two stage…
Assessing Indonesia’s Asean Chairmanship in 2023
Enhancing Global IR Knowledge Production in Southeast Asia Through Quality Publications
Tourism in Asean: A Catalyst for Regional Integration
Middle power, status-seeking and role conceptions: The cases of Indonesia and South Korea
This article examines how role theory can enhance the middle-power literature in understanding the role preferences of middle powers. Rather than treating it as merely a function of material capability or good international citizenship, this article resituates middle power as a concept of international status that states aim to pursue through the enactment of role conceptions. Thus, it reinstates a conceptual distinction between ‘middle-power sta…
Role conflict and the limits of state identity: The case of Indonesia in democracy promotion
This paper aims to analyse why Indonesia projects democracy as a state identity by taking on the role of democracy promoter? This paper argues that Indonesia's aspiring role as a democracy promoter is not a manifestation of a firm and coherent democratic political culture, which is more likely to be a permanent feature of states. Thus, rather than seeing it as firmly established state identity, instead, Indonesia's democratic identity should be s…
The limits of global human rights promotion: Indonesia’s ambivalent roles in the UN Human Rights Council
Post-authoritarian Indonesia has emerged as a state advocating human rights values in the Asia-Pacific region. However, its policies in promoting these values at the global level remain limited. This can be seen in Indonesia's reluctance to strengthen global human rights governance, particularly in the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council. In addressing the puzzle, this article shows that Indonesia's standpoint on the global human rights issu…
Role Legitimation in Foreign Policy: The Case of Indonesia as an Emerging Power under Yudhoyono's Presidency (2004–2014)
This article analyzes how foreign policymakers legitimize their enactment of role conceptions to play a more active role at the global level toward a potentially reluctant domestic audience. In order to reduce the likelihood of domestic role contestation while at the same time subscribe toward ego and alter expectations, it is necessary for policymakers to legitimize role conceptions and their enactments toward domestic audiences. This article de…
Institutional Dynamics of Regulatory Actors in the Recruitment of Migrant Workers
This paper examines how institutional dynamics among regulatory institutions affect the governance of the recruitment of Indonesian low-skilled migrant workers. Two institutional reforms have been made to create better governance for Indonesian migrant workers in the post-authoritarian era. One was the establishment of the National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers ( BNP2TKI ) while the other was the granting o…
The Return of Authoritarian Neo-Liberalism in Indonesia
Assessing the China Threat: Perspectives of University Students in Jakarta on the South China Sea Dispute and the Belt and Road Initiative
How regional organisation survives: Asean, hedging and international society
How can a regional organisation survive in great power contests? This article uses the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the empirical case to address the puzzle. The inquiry is important for three reasons. First, the recent developments in world politics have shown the increasingly penetrative actions of the major powers into regional multilateral organisations. Second, looking at ASEAN, the internal cohesion and solidity of the …
When trade and foreign policy collide: Indonesia in Doha development round
This article examines Indonesia’s conflicting roles in global trade governance, particularly in the Doha Development Round. This article argues that multilateral trade governance is utilised by Indonesian foreign policymakers to be the arena for Indonesia’s aspiration to exercise a greater role at the global level. This aspiration is reflected in its support towards liberalisation agenda at the global level. However, the commitments made, as well…
State transformation and cross-border regionalism in Indonesia’s periphery: Contesting the centre
This article examines how the decentralisation and fragmentation of the Indonesian state and resultant central–local dynamics affect cross-border regionalism in Indonesia’s periphery. It argues that cross-border regionalism projects are best understood as sites for scalar contestation over regulatory control between central and local government. Moreover, scalar contestation around cross-border regional projects is characterised by the struggles …
Informality, Paradiplomacy, and Cross-Border Cooperation: The Development of Tourism on Bintan Island, Indonesia
This article examines how informality has enhanced the ability of the local government in Indonesia's Bintan Island to achieve cross-border cooperation for tourism development, despite the constraints imposed by the central government.The local government, the article illustrates, has negotiated between the development of the local tourism industry and its increasingly tense relations with the central government by using informality through patro…
Crafting consensus: Indonesia’s discursive strategies in legitimising free trade policy
Despite its emphasis on trade, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been perceived as a liberalisation agenda motivated primarily by strategic concerns with fewer economic benefits. This article analyses the strategies of Indonesia's trade policymakers to legitimize its leading role in RCEP. It is argued that Indonesia's legitimation strategy is implemented through the invocation of two discourses: Indonesia's historical pos…
Waiting for Hard Balancing
The continuity of stable peace in East Asia, especially Southeast Asia, since the end of the Cold War raises one major question: why is there no apparent balancing behaviour against China, the emerging great power in East Asia? In response to this question, exceptionalists argue that there will be no balancing behaviour against China from Southeast Asian states, while soft balancing theorists argue that the balancing behaviour has already occurre…
How the state frames its engagement in renminbi internationalization: The case of Indonesia
The rise of China has accelerated Renminbi (RMB) internationalization. While there seems to be global support for RMB internationalization, there is a gap in understanding how developing nations, facing potential domestic skepticism, rationalize and articulate their support. This article discusses narratives that states use to legitimize their support for RMB internationalization. Using the case of Indonesia, this article examines the country's p…
Institutional layering in climate policy: Insights from Redd+ governance in Indonesia
Regional integration and business interest: Understanding the role of the Asean business advisory council
This article examines the role of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) as a region-wide business representative in strengthening the implementation of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2025. Despite the importance of ASEAN-BAC in regional governance, there is a dearth of literature that systematically discusses ASEAN-BAC and how it contributes to the process. To further understand the Council's ro…
Integrating European Muslims Through Discourse? Understanding the Development and Limitations of Euro-Islam in Europe
Waiting for Hard Balancing
The continuity of stable peace in East Asia, especially Southeast Asia, since the end of the Cold War raises one major question: why is there no apparent balancing behaviour against China, the emerging great power in East Asia? In response to this question, exceptionalists argue that there will be no balancing behaviour against China from Southeast Asian states, while soft balancing theorists argue that the balancing behaviour has already occurre…
Role conflict and the limits of state identity: The case of Indonesia in democracy promotion
This paper aims to analyse why Indonesia projects democracy as a state identity by taking on the role of democracy promoter? This paper argues that Indonesia's aspiring role as a democracy promoter is not a manifestation of a firm and coherent democratic political culture, which is more likely to be a permanent feature of states. Thus, rather than seeing it as firmly established state identity, instead, Indonesia's democratic identity should be s…
Liberal World Order in the Age of Disruptive Politics: A Southeast Asian Perspective
There is no question that the current liberal world order faces yet another challenge. The upcoming challenge that we are about to confront is an exceptionally different kind of challenge. This challenge is the emergence of what I call a disruptive politics in the heartland of consolidated liberal states. The two main side effects of disruptive politics can be seen at both the domestic and international levels. Domestically, there is growing rise…
Institutional Dynamics of Regulatory Actors in the Recruitment of Migrant Workers
This paper examines how institutional dynamics among regulatory institutions affect the governance of the recruitment of Indonesian low-skilled migrant workers. Two institutional reforms have been made to create better governance for Indonesian migrant workers in the post-authoritarian era. One was the establishment of the National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers ( BNP2TKI ) while the other was the granting o…
Integrating European Muslims Through Discourse? Understanding the Development and Limitations of Euro-Islam in Europe
Middle power, status-seeking and role conceptions: The cases of Indonesia and South Korea
This article examines how role theory can enhance the middle-power literature in understanding the role preferences of middle powers. Rather than treating it as merely a function of material capability or good international citizenship, this article resituates middle power as a concept of international status that states aim to pursue through the enactment of role conceptions. Thus, it reinstates a conceptual distinction between ‘middle-power sta…
State transformation and cross-border regionalism in Indonesia’s periphery: Contesting the centre
This article examines how the decentralisation and fragmentation of the Indonesian state and resultant central–local dynamics affect cross-border regionalism in Indonesia’s periphery. It argues that cross-border regionalism projects are best understood as sites for scalar contestation over regulatory control between central and local government. Moreover, scalar contestation around cross-border regional projects is characterised by the struggles …
When trade and foreign policy collide: Indonesia in Doha development round
This article examines Indonesia’s conflicting roles in global trade governance, particularly in the Doha Development Round. This article argues that multilateral trade governance is utilised by Indonesian foreign policymakers to be the arena for Indonesia’s aspiration to exercise a greater role at the global level. This aspiration is reflected in its support towards liberalisation agenda at the global level. However, the commitments made, as well…
The limits of global human rights promotion: Indonesia’s ambivalent roles in the UN Human Rights Council
Post-authoritarian Indonesia has emerged as a state advocating human rights values in the Asia-Pacific region. However, its policies in promoting these values at the global level remain limited. This can be seen in Indonesia's reluctance to strengthen global human rights governance, particularly in the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council. In addressing the puzzle, this article shows that Indonesia's standpoint on the global human rights issu…
Asean and Its Relevance amidst Pandemic
Resource boom and the politics of accountability at the sub-national level: Insight from Indonesia
A growing literature has investigated the relations between accountability and resource boom in developing economies. However, few studies focus on the emergence of political accountability in resource-rich regions at the local level. This article investigates accountability at the sub-national level in Indonesia’s resource-rich areas. While natural resource abundance in developing countries is associated with predatory states, this article aims …
Poliheuristic Theory and Indonesia’s Absence in Deep-Sea Mining (DSM)
Indonesia is among the many states that have become interested in conducting deep-sea mining (DSM) since it first became viable in the 1970s. However, it was during the administration of President Joko Widodo (2014–2019) that DSM became an important viable endeavour, with the increasing depletion of Indonesia’s mineral and metal reserves. Nevertheless, Indonesia is yet to undertake DSM activity. This article aims to explain the absence of DSM in …
Role Legitimation in Foreign Policy: The Case of Indonesia as an Emerging Power under Yudhoyono's Presidency (2004–2014)
This article analyzes how foreign policymakers legitimize their enactment of role conceptions to play a more active role at the global level toward a potentially reluctant domestic audience. In order to reduce the likelihood of domestic role contestation while at the same time subscribe toward ego and alter expectations, it is necessary for policymakers to legitimize role conceptions and their enactments toward domestic audiences. This article de…
Settling outside the WTO: The case of the Indonesia-US kretek cigarette trade dispute, 2010–2014
In 2010, Indonesia officially filled a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over a dispute regarding the US import ban on clove cigarettes. Despite the fierce exchange of arguments in the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), in 2014, Indonesia and the US agreed to cease the formal pursuit and resolve trade disputes through signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) encompassing a more comprehensive trade partnership. This paper exami…
Partial Implementation of Migrant Rights Protection? Indonesia’s Short-Sighted Approach towards Foreign Migrant Workers
This article examines the disparity between Indonesia’s efforts to protect its migrant workers abroad with its efforts to ensure the rights of migrant workers within its borders. As a state party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families ( ICRMW ), Indonesia is obliged to uphold the rights of migrant workers regardless of their migratory pattern. Despite its efforts to pro…
Role Conception of the Asia-Pacific Middle Powers: Comparative Analysis of Indonesia, South Korea, Australia and Vietnam
This article examines the variety of roles enacted by Asia-Pacific middle powers in response to the rise of China. This article identifies two factors determining such variety, especially in the security realm: alignment pattern and geopolitical constraints. We argue that the differences in level of alignment with the United States and the risk of geopolitical tension with China affect the role conception taken by the middle powers. We assert tha…
Revisiting Asean Legislation and Its Impact on Regional Governance
Deepening Connectivity and Mobility in Post-Pandemic Asean
Re-territorialization and the governance of ocean frontiers in Indonesia
This article examines the development of Indonesia’s ocean policy, particularly during the presidency of Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo (2014–present). Re-territorialization is the primary driver of Indonesia’s ocean policy under Widodo, enabling the state to create and commodify property regimes within Indonesian-controlled oceans. As a large archipelagic nation with multiple neighbours, Indonesia’s ocean frontiers face numerous challenges, including ille…
The Limits of Indonesia and India Trade Cooperation: The Case of Import Tariffs on Refined Palm Oil 2019–2020
This article examines limitations present in India–Indonesia bilateral trade relations. Since January 2019, India has imposed higher import tariffs on Indonesian refined, bleached, deodorised palm oil (RBDPO) than those imposed on Indonesia's main competitor Malaysia. This tariff policy weakened Indonesia's exports, given that India is Indonesia's third-largest export destination for palm oil. To overcome these tariff disparities, the Indonesian …
Regional integration and business interest: Understanding the role of the Asean business advisory council
This article examines the role of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) as a region-wide business representative in strengthening the implementation of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2025. Despite the importance of ASEAN-BAC in regional governance, there is a dearth of literature that systematically discusses ASEAN-BAC and how it contributes to the process. To further understand the Council's ro…
Indonesia’s Regional and Global Engagement: Role Theory and State Transformation in Foreign Policy
Karim examines the changes and continuity of Indonesia’s foreign policy in the post-authoritarian era, under presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Joko Widodo. Indonesia conceptualised and aimed to adopt four principle roles after 2004 – being a voice for developing countries; being a regional leader; being an advocate for democratic and human rights; and being a bridge-builder. These roles, however, were by no means stable and were constantly …
NGO and Global Voluntary Standards in Sustainable Seafood: The Case of Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) in Indonesia
This article examines the role of non-governmental organisation in supporting the implementation of global voluntary certification. This article investigates how World Wildlife Fund (WWF) helps implement the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) ecolabel standard in Indonesia. As the world’s second-largest aquaculture fish-producing country, many Indonesian seafood products are rejected in the international market due to quality problems. This ma…
Bureaucratic Politics and Informality in Foreign Policy-making: The Case of Indonesia-China Relations
How do governments respond to bilateral relationships characterised by growing economic cooperation on one side and concerns about national security on the other? The existing literature has mainly employed systemic, domestic and individual levels of analysis, but has failed to scrutinise the important bureaucratic aspect of policy-making. By focusing on Indonesia’s policy towards the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) assertiveness in the South …
Approaches to Indonesia's Foreign Policy: Area Studies, FPA Theory, and Global IR
This article traces the evolution of Indonesia's foreign policy studies, highlighting the major theoretical and methodological trends that have shaped their current form. As a starting point, we introduce a discourse on non-Western Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA), having developed beyond the dominance of the Western-rooted International Relations (IR) discipline. The authors encounter that Indonesia's foreign policy studies evolve through two stage…
Political science (35 works) · Economics (31 works) · Politics (26 works) · Asian Studies and History (21 works) · Law (21 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Business (15 works) · Political economy (15 works) · Law (14 works) · International trade (13 works)