Decoupling norms and practices : religious freedom and international norms in Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to analyse why and how Indonesia decouples the norm of international religious freedom. It advances the social learning theory to explain how state actors learn from social sanctions and their and other countries in adopting international norms. This study argues that decoupling, characterized by the state's stance of adopting international norms without fully implementing them in domestic policy, is not merely a result of Indonesia's vulnerable position under national and international pressures, nor is it a consequence of seeking incentives to uphold a favourable global image. Instead, decoupling is an outcome of social learning of state actors through interactions with strong elites or transnational advocacy networks. Rather than viewing decoupling as a uniform outcome, this study proposes three forms of decoupling that reflect the quality of interactions: thick, thin, and conditional decoupling. State actors have learned that decoupling constitutes the most effective strategy for responding to social sanctions while simultaneously preserving local norms, particularly the conception of a religious state embedded within Pancasila. State actors employ embedding and reshaping strategies in decoupling. To substantiate the argument, the study examines religious blasphemy law in two cases of decoupling in post-reformation period: the judicial review of Law No. 1/PNPS/1965 in 2009 and the enactment of Law No. 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code.