The Implementation of Indonesian Soft Power through Swaggering Strategies in Asian Games 2018 Denik Iswardani Witarti and Anggun Puspitasari Budi Luhur University, Jakarta, Indonesia Keywords: Nation Branding, Asian Games, Swaggering Strategy Abstract: Sport has been known as an effective method for carrying out social integration, forming a national identity and improving the global image. Sports in the modern era have been constructed as the capital of a country. Sport can be a method of domestic political imaging, and externally can be used as a means of diplomacy. In the Indonesian context, sports are used as soft power which is implemented into the Swaggering Strategy to form national image (nation branding). Related to the Swaggering Strategy, sports are used as one of the instruments for holding mega-events in an effort to show the capability of the country, in this case, Indonesia uses the implementation of the 2018 Asian Games as an effort to implement the Swaggering Strategy. At the end of this study, it was found that the implementation of the Asian Games was very effective in an effort to shape the country’s image. Thus, Indonesia is expected to increase development in other sectors. The use of the 2018 Asian Games global scale sports event can also be used by Indonesia as a media for diplomacy by the government. 1 INTRODUCTION ing of a country’s nation branding, automatically the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and a healthy busi- In the era of globalization, the complexity of rela- ness climate within the country can be achieved. tions between countries is characterized by efforts to In order to improve the ranking, various strategies outperform one country and another. At the end of are needed by utilizing the power of a country. The October 2018, the World Economic Forum (WEF) power of a country is theoretically divided into two published a report of the Global Competitiveness In- types, hard power, and soft power. Hard power is dex (GCI) 2018. Hundreds of countries in the world more compelling and violent, for example by using were assessed and examined their competitiveness military force. In contrast to the transactional hard and quality. Indonesia is included in this study list and power approach, the soft power approach is more in- in this report, Indonesia experienced a downgrade. spirational in that it attracts others with the power of Referring to the report, as many as 140 countries were emotional intelligence such as building close relation- included in the GCI list this year and Indonesia was ships or bonds through charisma, persuasive commu- ranked 45th. This ranking is an increase from the pre- nication, diplomacy, and cultural influences, thereby vious year which placed Indonesia ranked 36th. In making other people affected (Nye Jr, 2004). In the addition, in Southeast Asia, Indonesia ranked 4th, far use of state-owned soft power, there are several strate- behind Singapore that ranked 2nd, Malaysia which gies that can be implemented, one of which is the was ranked 25th and Thailand which was ranked 38th. swaggering strategy (Wrong, 2017). (Schwab, 2017). After the Cold War, the soft power approach can WEF also analyzes that Indonesia’s weak compet- be more developed as a way to improve a country’s itiveness is one of them is the simulation of a culture competitiveness, one of its concrete forms is sports of investment and confidence in the low business sec- culture. Sport has been known as an effective method tor. Indonesia must have a strategy to create a good in- for carrying out social integration, forming a national vestment climate by making various innovative efforts identity and improving the global image. Sports in the to improve the nation’s branding so that the flow of modern era have been constructed as the capital of a investment and confidence in the business sector can country. Sport can be a method of domestic political increase (Petrarca and Terzi, 2018). With the increas- imaging, and externally can be used as a means of 187 Witarti, D. and Puspitasari, A. The Implementation of Indonesian Soft Power through Swaggering Strategies in Asian Games 2018. DOI: 10.5220/0009104201870194 In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Social, Economy, Education and Humanity (ICoSEEH 2019) - Sustainable Development in Developing Country for Facing Industrial Revolution 4.0, pages 187-194 ISBN: 978-989-758-464-0 Copyright c 2020 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved ICoSEEH 2019 - The Second International Conference on Social, Economy, Education, and Humanity diplomacy (Grix and Brannagan, 2016). Regarding to the swaggering strategy, sports can be used as one of the instruments for holding mega events in order to demonstrate the country’s capabil- ities. In its history, there have been several coun- tries that have managed to hold mega sports events which can ultimately enhance the country’s image at a global level, including the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup, the SEA Games, the Asian Games, the Winter Olympics, and others. The success of holding this mega event has become one of the benchmarks of the nation’s branding (pretensions), including Indonesia, which has successfully hosted the Asian Games in Figure 1: Soft power instruments 2018 (Freeman, 2012). Through the momentum of holding the 2018 Asian Games sports event, Indonesia seeks to use its or interests. This soft power can be realized in foreign soft power to build the Nation Branding at the global policy instruments and techniques run by a country. level by using a swaggering strategy. Thus, Indonesia Nye explained that with Soft Power ”the best pro- is expected to increase development in other sectors. paganda is not propaganda” (the best propaganda is The use of the 2018 Asian Games global scale sports not propaganda ”, and also explained that” credibil- event is used by Indonesia as a media for diplomacy ity is the scarcest resource ”(credibility is the rarest by the government. This is because, there are repre- source) (Nye, 2012). Nye introduced this term in sentations and diplomatic activities by individuals or his book, ”Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of groups involved in sports events and in conjunction American Power” (Nye, 1990). Nye then developed with existing governments (Wagar, 2009). the concept further through his book, ”Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics” (Nye Jr, In practice sports are used to convey messages or 2004). According to Joseph Nye, soft power is: the shape the image that a country wants to form (Grix ability to get through a rather than through coercion and Houlihan, 2014). The holding of mega sports or payments attraction. Some forms of soft power in- events such as the 2018 Asian Games is increasingly clude tourism, culture and so on. Thus, in pursuing its being used as a media for diplomacy in various coun- national interests the state can never act alone. tries in order to build the image of a country to change This concept requires other actors such as pri- perceptions of issues that are developing in the coun- vate agents, religious and educational institutions, and try and encourage rapid development of the country. transnational companies engaged in the business of Therefore, researchers are interested in seeing how In- trade, communication and information, art, and cul- donesia uses its soft power through the momentum of ture (interdependence). This concept refers to the organizing the 2018 Asian Games in building a posi- non-military power of the state such as the economy, tive image of Indonesia through a swagging strategy. culture and things that realists call low politics com- pared to hard power such as defence and military is- sues, soft power also has quite crucial problems for 2 SOFT POWER, NATION the country. The success of soft power depends on the BRANDING & SWAGGERING credibility of the country concerned and acceptance from the target country. Attractions and inducements STRATEGY are social reconstructions so that new soft power will have an effect if there is a two-way relationship. The Soft power is one of the concepts promoted by Joseph following are the components that can be categorized S. Nye. Soft power is a term that is widely used to as the soft power of a country. interpret or explain a process of relations and realiza- The success of a country in competing in the tion of power. The meaning of soft power itself is an global market is very much influenced by the na- ability to do everything and control others, to make tion’s Branding. Every country seeks to build a Na- it do something that they do not necessarily want to tion Branding to influence relations with other coun- do (things and control others, to get to what they oth- tries. Nation Branding is one of the main components erwise would). Soft power is a superior national re- that can be the starting point for bilateral relations be- source as the ability of the state that can be used to in- tween one country and another. In this relationship, fluence other countries to achieve the desired results there are also actors who play a role in it, namely 188 The Implementation of Indonesian Soft Power through Swaggering Strategies in Asian Games 2018 state actors and non-state actors. Both of them al- tween two countries that had been involved in a long ways try their best to create a good image or image enough feud (Volcic and Andrejevic, 2011). of their country to the international community. Na- According to Martin Muller, events categorized tion Branding covers various aspects, such as politics, by size and size are divided into giga events, mega economics, culture, business and sports.