Author: Johni Robert Verianto Korwa
Korwa, Johni Robert Verianto, 2016 Earned Sovereignty: The Road to Addressing the Prolonged Conflict in West Papua - Indonesia, Flinders University, School of History and International Relations
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This thesis proposes earned sovereignty as an effective approach to resolving the protracted conflict in West Papua, Indonesia. The earned sovereignty approach can be defined as an instrument for the purpose of the conflict resolution process in reconciling the principle of self-determination and territorial integrity through its three core elements: shared sovereignty, institution building, and the determination of final status. In order to better understand the Papua case, this thesis starts by examining the conflict from its earliest days, which saw the incorporation of Papua into Indonesia, through to current events including human rights violations. Some alternatives have already been proposed to address the Papuan conflict. They include dialogue, special autonomy, and a welfare approach. However, none of them are considered effective as the people of Papua are still calling for independence and the conflict remains unresolved. For this reason, this thesis offers earned sovereignty as a more effective solution to end the prolonged conflict in West Papua. Having said that, this thesis acknowledges that the Indonesian government will probably not be interested in earned sovereignty. Therefore, several considerations are proposed, in particular, to allow United Nations intervention in Papua. Through the use of the theoretical framework of earned sovereignty, this thesis concludes that a collaboration between Indonesia (parent-state) and West Papua (sub-state) with the assistance of the United Nations, is required to make earned sovereignty work in Papua as well as to settle the conflict there.
Keywords: Earned Sovereignty, West Papua, Indonesia
Subject: International Relations thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2016
School: School of History and International Relations
Supervisor: Associate Professor Anthony Langlois