Framing Palm Oil Diplomacy: Ideational Power in Indonesia's Strategy towards the EU Sustainability Agenda

Abstract

Indonesia’s position as the world’s top palm oil producer brings it into frequent contention with the EU over its sustainability agenda. This study applies an ideational power framework to analyze how Indonesia strategically uses and mobilizes “ideas” as part of its diplomacy strategy. Based on twenty-six interviews, the study identifies three core strategies: persuasion (scientific framing, emotional appeal, and building warm sentiments), confrontation (downplaying research, exposing double standards, and historical shaming), and hegemonization (narrative widening and coalition-building). These strategies are shaped by a range of factors, from executive policymaking to religious identity. Together, they reflect a calibrated flexibility in diplomacy, often captured by the popular Indonesian expression “playing all the cards.” This study is the first to systematically unpack these “cards,” offering insights into how a Global South country respond to contested norms promoted by a Global North entity, while also reflecting on the growing internal fusion between palm oil and nationalism in Indonesia; a stage we refer to as palm-nationalism.