Sub-National Government and the Problem of Unequal Development in ASEAN Economic Integration: Case of Indonesia

Authors

  • Agus Suman Brawijaya University
  • Pantri Muthriana Erza Killian Brawijaya University
  • Ni Komang Desy Arya Pinatih Brawijaya University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21512/jas.v5i1.2060

Keywords:

ASEAN, Indonesia, development gap, sub-national government

Abstract

Economic integration, as a prevalent phenomenon in contemporary international relations, brings with it several problems including in the practice of development. Krapohl & Fink (2013) argue that regional integration can follow three different developmental paths which are intra-regional interdependence, extra-regional dependence and intra-regional asymmetries and hence regional integration can actually reinforce current situations rather than changing it. With regards to this, ASEAN is following the second path, creating a reliance on external actors and thus requiring member states to be highly competitive in the global level. However, this strategy ignores an important element, the intra-national development gap, since ASEAN is mostly focused in overcoming the intra-regional gap. This paper therefore seeks to elaborate the problem of increasing intra-national development gap due to regional integration by using Indonesia as a case study. The findings show that regional integration in Indonesia can actually widen the national development gap due to three main reasons. First, ASEAN integration is highly top-down in nature, thus limiting the role of Indonesia’s sub-national governments (SNGs) and private actors in the process; second, differing capacity of Indonesia’s sub-national governments to engage in IR provides higher opportunities for some while creating hindrances for others and lastly, the high transactional cost of intra-national economic activities in Indonesia causes the benefits of economic integration to be highly concentrated in one area. Therefore, there needs to be a larger role for SNGs in regional integration particularly in the most underpriviliged area of Indonesia.

 

Dimensions

Plum Analytics

Author Biography

Ni Komang Desy Arya Pinatih, Brawijaya University

Ni Komang Desy Arya Pinatih is currently lecturer at International Relations Department, Brawijaya University, East Java, Indonesia. Her research interest is transnational crime, regionalism and Southeast Asian studies.

References

REFERENCES

• Abugattas, L. 2004. Swimming in the Spaghetti Bowl: Challenges for Developing Countries under the New Regionalism. Policy issues in International Trade and Commodities Study Series, No. 27. United Nations: New York and Geneva

• Antique & Rini, E. 2009. ‘Otonomi Daerah Picu Pertumbuhan Daerah Turun’ in Vivanews. Retrieved October 24, 2015 from http://bisnis.news.viva.co.id/news/read/82675/otonomi_daerah_picu_pertumbuhan_daerah_turun

• Association of Southeast Asian Nations Seretariat. 2014. ASEAN Statistical Yearbook 2014. Jakarta. ASEAN Secretariat

• Badan Pusat Statistik. 2015. Foreign Direct Investment Realization by Province. Retrieved October 25, 2015 from http://www.bps.go.id/linkTabelStatis/view/id/1337

• Balaam, D.N & Dillman, B, 2011, “Introduction to International Political Economy”, 5th Edition (International Edition), Pearson

• Beeson, M. 2013. “Living with Giants: ASEAN and the Evolution of ASEAN Regionalism” in Trans-Regional and National Studies of Southeast Asia Vol. 1 Issue 2

• Carbaugh, R, 2005, International Economics, South Western

• Gavin, B, 2005, Reconciling Regionalism and Multilateralism Toward Multilevel Governance, United Nation University CRIS Occasional Papers

• Gibson, R. 2011. A Primer on Collaborative Multilevel Governance. Canadian Regional Development

• Guido, B. & Kamarulnizam A. 2011. ‘Indonesian Perceptions and Attitudes toward the ASEAN Community’ in Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 30, 1, 39-67. ISSN: 1868-4882 (online), ISSN: 1868-1034 (print)

• Hill, H & Menon, J. 2010. ‘ASEAN Economic Integration: Features, Fulfillments, Failures and the Future’ ADBI Working Paper Series on Regional Economic Integration No. 69

• Hooghe, L & Marks, G, 2002, ‘Types of Multilevel Governance’ in Les Cahiers Europeens de Sciences Po, No. 03. Paris: Centre D’etudes Europennes at Sciences Po

• Krapohl, S & Fink, S. 2013. “Different Paths of Regional Integration: Trade Networks and Regional Institution-Building in Europe, Southeast Asia and Southern Africa” in Journal of Common Market Studies Vol. 51, Issue 3

• Ministry of Trade, Republic of Indonesia. 2015. Growth of Non-Oil and Gas Export: Provincial Period 2010-2015. Retrieved October 25, 2015 from http://www.kemendag.go.id/en/economic-profile/indonesia-export-import/growth-of-non-oil-and-gas-export-provincial

• Pambudy, N.M. 2011. Menguatkan Degup Jantung Ekonomi in Kompas. Retreieved October 25, 2015 from http://megapolitan.kompas.com/read/2011/03/04/02490645/twitter.com

• The Asia Foundation. 2008. Biaya Transportasi Barang Angkutan, Regulasi dan Pungutan Jalan di Indonesia. Retrieved October 24, 2015 from https://asiafoundation.org/resources/pdfs/movinggoodslightbahasa.pdf

• The World Bank. 2014a. Reducing Inequality in Indonesia. Retrieved October 24, 2015 from http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/indonesia/brief/reducing-inequality-in-indonesia

• The World Bank. 2014b. Mempercepat Pergerakan Container di Pelabuhan Utama Indonesia. Retrieved October 25, 2015 from http://www.worldbank.org/in/news/feature/2014/02/19/moving-cargo-faster-in-indonesia-main-sea-port

• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. 2007. Trade and Development Report: Regional Cooperation for Development. Retrieved October 25, 2015 from http://unctad.org/en/docs/tdr2007_en.pdf

• World Trade Organization. 2015. List of All Regional Trade Agreements. Retrieved October 25, 2015 from http://rtais.wto.org/UI/PublicAllRTAList.aspx

• Wunderlich, J.U. 2012. “Comparing Regional Organization in Global Multilateral Institutions: ASEAN, the EU and the UN”

Downloads

Published

2017-11-13
Abstract 614  .
PDF downloaded 351  .