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View all search resultsBeyond realpolitik: Why the world needs meta-diplomacy
Pancasila is a philosophical framework that offers an alternative to the excesses of realpolitik.
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Members of the National Flag Hoisting Troop dance after the commemoration of Pancasila Day at the Pancasila Building, a historic hall within the Foreign Ministry compound in Jakarta, on June 2, 2025. (AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
A
t a time when global politics is increasingly driven by coercion, strategic rivalry and transactional diplomacy, the world is facing not only a crisis of power, but also a crisis of moral direction.
International institutions are struggling to contain conflicts, while geopolitical competition continues to erode trust among nations. In such an environment, the world needs more than military deterrence or economic leverage; it needs a renewed ethical foundation for international relations.
Indonesia may already possess one in Pancasila: a philosophical framework that offers an alternative to the excesses of realpolitik through what may be called meta-diplomacy, or values-based diplomacy.
Every June 1, Indonesians commemorate the birth of Pancasila. Yet the occasion is far more than a symbolic remembrance of a historic speech by first president Sukarno in 1945. Pancasila represents the culmination of Indonesia’s long historical experience and civilizational search for a common foundation capable of uniting an extraordinarily diverse society.
Political independence alone was never sufficient to build a nation. Indonesia required a philosophical basis rooted in values emerging from its own historical and cultural realities.
In an era of globalization that often encourages the homogenization of values, Pancasila does not function as a defensive wall separating Indonesia from the outside world. Rather, it serves as a moral compass that allows Indonesia to engage actively with the international community without losing its identity or historical direction.
The challenge today is how to reinterpret Pancasila amid a global order increasingly shaped by unilateralism, power politics and transactional diplomacy.
