Hefner Publishes Journal Paper on Indonesia and U.S. Foreign Policy
Robert Hefner, Professor of Anthropology and International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, published a recent journal article examining how Indonesia should figure prominently in the next White House administration’s foreign policy deliberations.
Hefner’s article, entitled “Indonesia, Islam and the New U.S. Administration,” was published in the June 23, 2016 issue of Review of Faith and International Affairs.
The issue was dedicated to invited articles from academics who work on religion and U.S. foreign policy, asking them what issues were most urgently in need of attention from the next White House administration. Hefner was asked to write about Indonesia and the urgency of repairing relations with Indonesia and Muslim allies following the rhetoric of this year’s presidential campaign.
From the text of the article:
More will be required to make any recognition of Indonesia diplomatically and strategically effective than this introductory overview implies. For one thing, the global rise of ISIS/Daesh, the failure of Arab-spring efforts at democratic renewal, and the specter of future terrorist attacks in the West have made sober public discussion of Islam and Muslims more difficult than ever in Western countries. Levelheaded policy discussion has been made additionally problematic as a result of campaigns by populist Western politicians intent on winning political advantage by stoking citizen fears of Muslims and Islam. The fact that most victims of ISIS terror have been Muslims, and that our most steadfast allies in campaigns to destroy ISIS have also been Muslim makes this narrative bitterly ironic. In sum, in making recommendations to the next administration with regards to Indonesia, any and all proposals must keep in mind, not only what is required to engage Indonesia, but the lessons Indonesia offers for an American public uncertain and confused as to the place of Islam in our ever-changing global order.
You can read the entire article here.
Robert Hefner has directed 19 research projects and organized 18 international conferences, and authored or edited nineteen books. He is former president of the Association for Asian Studies. At CURA, he has directed the program on Islam and civil society since 1991; coordinated interdisciplinary research and public policy programs on religion, pluralism, and world affairs; and is currently involved in two research projects: “The New Western Plurality and Civic Coexistence: Muslims, Catholics, and Secularists in North America and Western Europe”; and “Sharia Transitions: Islamic Law and Ethical Plurality in the Contemporary World.” You can read more about him here.