Why do states sometimes comply with international law and sometimes not? For generations, legal scholars have been trying to answer these questions through theories such as economic analysis, reputational cost, and state interest. However, most of these theories assume state as a unitary actor, and fail to recognize the diversity of actors and individuals involved in the international law policy making processes. This research therefore offers a socio-legal approach and methodology to understand the question by looking at the empirical micro-policy level in Indonesian domestic actors and institutions.

In particular, this research looks at Indonesia's compliance with the United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea. It draws from a series of case studies and qualitative interviews with an epistemic community of international lawyers and legal advisors in Indonesia who are specializing in law of the sea, in the foreign ministry, navy, coast guard, ministry of fisheries, as well as academia. Through these interviews it helps us to understand and appreciate how their experiences, knowledge, and strategy promote or avoid Indonesia’s compliance with the law of the sea.

This seminar is Aristyo's mid-term doctoral candidature presentation.

About the speaker

Aristyo Rizka Darmawan is a Ph.D Scholar at the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University. He is also a lecturer in international law and senior researcher at the Center for Sustainable Ocean Policy at the Faculty of Law Universitas Indonesia. His research focuses on the intersection between international law of the sea, foreign policy and maritime security in Southeast Asia.

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Image credit: Satellite image of just a few of the thousands of volcanic islands that make up the nation of Indonesia, from the NASA Johnson flickr account, free to use under the CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 licence.