Foreign Policy in Times of Crisis: Venezuela's Blockade Policy towards Brazilian Aids

Venezuela, an economically oil-dependent country in South America, has experienced a turmoil of economic crisis since 2014 under the administration of President Nicolás Maduro. This crisis has been spilling towards social and political issues, with one being the emergence of an opposition group led by Juan Guaidó. This crisis, at first, has invited sympathy from various international actors, both states and non-states, with one being Brazil under the leadership of President Bolsonaro. Brazil at first is actively sending logistical aids towards the Venezuelans. However, in February 2019, President Maduro decided to fully-blockade Venezuela-Brazil borders for any human or goods movement. Beside the individual factor of the state's leader, group factor, specifically its cabinet which still acquires legitimacy from the leader, is also often seen as affecting and advising a policy in the time of a crisis. This paper aims to analyze the presence of President Maduro’s cabinet towards the Brazil border blockade in Venezuelan Crisis in 2019. By using the groupthink paradigm, this paper argues that there is a position of convergence between the members of the cabinet with the background of: (1) the dominance of nationalist military groups loyal to President Maduro; (2) the same ideology of left-wing political spectrum. It also argues that beside the two internal factors above, the external factors of regional and global tension towards Venezuela also create an isolation as an element of stress towards this government. This paper concludes that the combination of the three factors above become the main factors that formulated the blockade policy. Keywords: economic crisis, foreign policy, groupthink, Venezuela

Ekspor Sampah Uni Eropa ke Indonesia sebagai Bentuk Eco-Imperialism

Environmental policy has become an important aspect in reviewing environmental issues in international relations. The European Union is a regional institution that has been very active in international environmental cooperation. However, at the same time the European Union is one of the largest waste exporters to countries in Asia, including Indonesia. Waste export is a free trade mechanism that allows developed countries to send waste to developing countries to be processed as industry materials. This then becomes contradictory to the commitment of the European Union in promoting environmentally friendly policies and policies for the export of waste are considered as a form of eco-imperialism. This article discusses how the waste export policy by the European Union has become a form of ecological colonization for Indonesia as a waste recipient. Keywords: waste export; eco-imperialism; environmental policy

Diplomasi Panda dan Hubungan Bilateral China-Jerman Tahun 2016-2019

Since the 7th century, China has been giving their endemic animal, Giant Panda, as one of public diplomacy practices also known as Panda Diplomacy. Chinese Panda Diplomacy only applies to countries that have had historical trade and mutual links with China. This research will discuss the Chinese government's effort to implement panda diplomacy to Germany, which has been the main importer of high-technology products for China since 1999. As the relationship between two countries has its ups and downs, Xi Jinping commanded China’s Wildlife Conservation and Association to lend a giant panda as a friendship symbol for both countries. This paper employs a qualitative method using the Eytan Gilboa framework to analyze public diplomacy application with time, purpose, public opinion, government and instrument as the research variables. From those variables will show how panda diplomacy as a public diplomacy practice with long term relations as a result. Keywords: China, Germany, Panda, Public Diplomacy

Repositioning Culture in International Relations: Confucianism as Geopolitical Instrument

Confucianism is a culture taken from the name of a thinker, namely Confucius and is considered the basis of Confucian teachings. The basic view of Confucianism is to invite people to live an orderly, peaceful and happy life and placing the rulers as one of the key factors in achieving the ideals of the country. The aim of this study is to identify and evaluate the chronology of Confucianism and its implications for China's geopolitical sustainability. The method used is qualitative with constructivist ideas to create a comprehensive thought allocation on the impact of Confucianism from the perspective of cultural superiority. The results obtained are that, over time, Confucianism has developed into a tool for the Chinese state to carry out geopolitical instruments to achieve geostrategy for the expansion of territorial boundaries. On the one hand, Confucianism can become a superior culture that places the fighting spirit of the people. On the other hand, this flow can become a trigger for war when each region that is to be recruited for China's expansion has a culture and beliefs that are different from their own. Keywords: Confucianism, China, Geopolitics, Geostrategy.

Pandemi dan Pemenuhan Hak Anak: Studi Kasus Peran Unicef di Yaman pada Masa COVID-19

Covid-19 outbreak that was discovered in China in December 2019 has crippled the world economy and caused the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen to be hampered. In addition, there are still wars that cause damage to health facilities. The war, the Covid-19 pandemic, and Cholera disease are adding to the devastating effects on growing children in Yemen. UNICEF, as an IGO that focuses on children, reports that in 2020 there were approximately 34 cases of child abuse and attacks on educational facilities involving children. This research describes the role of UNICEF in Yemen from 2019 to 2020 in fulfilling children’s rights due to 3 disasters, namely Covid-19, internal conflict, and cholera that occurred in the country. This research looks at the role of international organizations as aid providers which is manifested in the form of Humanitarian Assistance. As a descriptive study, data for this research is collected from 2019 to 2020, including reports from The UNICEF, the WHO website, the UN website, and various verified mass media. UNICEF's role in the form of Humanitarian Assistance in Yemen is manifested in 5 programs: education, child protection, nutrition, health and sanitation. Keywords: UNICEF, Yemen, Humanitarian Assistance, Covid-19 Pandemic, Children’s Rights.

Jalur Sutra Kesehatan: Upaya China Mencapai Kepentingan Geopolitik Melalui Diplomasi Vaksin

In early April 2021, China had contributed a vital role in the Covid-19 vaccine export. With the national pharmaceutical company Sinovac and Sinopharm China capable of producing over 250 million doses of vaccine, 118 million have been successfully exported to 49 countries according to Airfinity. The world distribution of the covid-19 vaccine has been deemed a failure by the WHO, from 448 million global doses only 0.1 percent of the vaccine were administered to low-income countries, and rich countries which hold 16 percent of the world's population receiving nearly half a global dose. China is able to answer the world's frustration with the western nationalism vaccine issue, as the EU and USA failed to help low-income countries to provide vaccine access. The nationalism vaccine discourages equality, as 200 million doses of vaccine produced by the United States government had approximately exported only about 4 million doses to other countries. This paper will answer how China gains global geopolitics through vaccine diplomacy? What is the role of diplomacy in promoting China's influence? Currently China focuses on expanding its influence over Asia and South America through vaccine diplomacy, under the BRI initiative this policy is then called the Health Silk Road. Keywords: Health Silk Road, Vaccine Diplomacy, Sinovac, Sinopharm

Konflik Kepentingan dalam Liberalisasi Perdagangan Garam Tahun 2009-2014

The trade liberalization of the domestic salt sector in Indonesia indicated by tariff reduction faced pros and cons. By using the concept of two-level games and governmental process, the authors found that there was a political upheaval of actors both from bureaucrats and interest groups adorning the political process in salt liberalization in Indonesia. Political upheaval occurred due to the tug of war between the two opposing parties. The pros, represented by the Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Trade, importers, and mafias supported imports of salt to meet domestic needs that cannot be fulfilled by domestic salt productions, both in quality and quantity. While the cons represented by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and salt farmers - both from associations and from non-associations - demanded salt import reduction to support the domestic salt production program and the sustainability of the domestic salt industries. Keywords: liberalization, salt, two level games, political upheaval, tug of war

Masyarakat Sipil dan Gerakan Politik: Studi Kasus Reformasi Bahrain

In early 2011, countries in the Middle East and North Africa experienced a great mass movement that demanded their country leader to step down. Bahrain was one of the countries that experienced a mass movement, where the people of Bahrain demanded a government reformation that was considered authoritarian, repressive, and discriminative. The reformation that was wanted a change within the fields of politics, social, law and economy. This research aims to determine what factors causes the eruption of the mass movement in Bahrain on 2011. The writer used the concepts that the writer used to examine the problem using the concept mass movement by Eric Hoffer and the collective action by Charles Tilly and William Gamson. Based on the data there are and the theory the writer used, the factors that caused mass movement demanding reformation in Bahrain on 2011 are the disappointment from the people of Bahrain, the existence of organization and figure tha’s capable of mobilize the citizen, and also a special condition which is the mass movement that occurred in Egypt.

Globalisasi dan Tenaga Kerja: Internalisasi Norma Sertifikasi Tenaga Kerja Pariwisata di Indonesia

Tourism is one of ASEAN's economic leading sectors. In order to improve the quality and mobility of the tourism professional workforce, ASEAN countries established ASEAN-MRA TP as the regional standard form of certification. The implementation of the ASEAN-MRA TP encourages Indonesian workers to obtain certification as proof of competence. However, the Indonesian tourism professional workforce rate is low, compared to the total tourism workforce in general. The culture of personal networking that deeply rooted in the tourism workforce is hampering Indonesian effort in implementing the ASEAN-MRA TP certification norm. By using Cortell A.P and Davis J's theory of domestic salience, this study aims to analyze the government's efforts to internalize the ASEAN-MRA TP certification norms to the domestic level, with the challenges of existing domestic cultures. There are 4 strategic actions taken, domestic institution, domestic interest, rhetoric and socialization forces.

Australia’s Middle Power Approach Towards Climate Change in Pacific Island

This article tends to examine the ways Australia approaching climate change in the region associated with its middle power status. Pacific Islands or Southwest Pacific Region is a regional territory that almost of all its surface covered by water. The region is prominent for having numbers of island countries or island states which are very dependent on natural conditions. They are vulnerable to the change of nature thus it hits their top national security. The issue of climate change in recent years has gotten more serious attention from all over the world and so does the pacific island region with no exception. Australia with its unique feature of being known as a middle power state and as the most secure nation in the region has served a distinctive approach on addressing the issue of climate change. The behavior and identity approach are adequately in line to establish certain strategies associated with middle power status in the role of guiding Australia’s foreign policy.