A good international citizen? Examining the cause of the Netherlands’ willingness to repatriate colonial heritages

Abstract: Many former colonial powers have been reluctant to return cultural heritages acquired during colonial context for various reasons. The Netherlands is a unique example where it is willing to repatriate cultural heritages acquired in colonial context back to its original country unconditionally. This thesis examines the causes of the Netherlands willingness to repatriate cultural heritages by using example of its repatriation efforts with Indonesia. The analysis employs the good international citizen theory by the English school of international relation. By elaborating each characteristic of a good international citizen, I try to unpack whether or not the Netherlands fulfil the criteria and if it does what is the consequences. The result shows that the Netherlands fulfils several criteria in order to be a good international citizen, such as compliance with international law, support for multilateralism, and leadership or improving international standard. There is a room for improvement in international good deed criteria where I draw from an example of apology. By being a good international citizen, the Netherlands holds a role as a civilizing agent and guarantee its position in international society. Being a good international citizen is also in line with the Netherlands foreign policy vision to promote international rule of law and peace promotion