Policy Diffusion in A Social Security Reform: A Study Case of the National Social Security System in Indonesia

Abstract: There has been an ongoing debate in the study of diffusion in policy making processes. Acharya (2009) believes that economic crisis was one of the reasons why the phenomenon of diffusion of foreign norms succeeds in Asian countries. It is argued that those norms replacing or assimilated to local ones could increase national self-strengthening (Acharya 2009). Furthermore, he believes that there is the possibility of diffusion because of the characteristic of political actors in those countries, which are active interpreters of external values. However, Berman (2001) states that there are many other conditions that lead to it such as political structures/institutions and ideologies, which are formed historically and by construction. This research thesis thus wants to see how international norms have been diffused and influenced the policy making process in Indonesia, with the study case: the role of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the development of the Law of National Social Security System (UU SJSN). Using a constructivist approach with policy diffusion theory and mixed methods, the research finds that there was a dominant influence by some of the SJSN team members and there are four mechanisms of policy diffusion that happened in the process of policy making. These are socialization/persuasion, learning, soft coercion, and domestic fit.