The power of the chair: Indonesia’s presidency of the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council

Abstract

This study aims to analyze how Indonesia exercised formal leadership as President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) at its 61st session. The novelty of this study includes the empirical analysis of Indonesia’s inaugural presidency and the application of formal leadership theory to a middle power nation. The researcher employed a qualitative approach with a single case study design. Data were collected through document analysis, encompassing official UNHRC documents, session recordings and statements, press releases from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, non-governmental organization reports, and credible media coverage. Data were analyzed using Talberg’s (2010) concept of formal leadership across three functions: agenda management, brokerage, and representation. The findings indicated that Indonesia’s leadership was evident across all three functions: (1) agenda management through procedural efficiency that shortened session duration to save 10 percent of the UN budget; (2) brokerage through mitigating polarization between Western and developing nations, as evidenced by the consensus adoption of 29 out of 38 resolutions; and (3) representation through an impartial stance while advancing Global South priorities, supported by the participation of more than 20 high-level state officials. This study offers a theoretical contribution to International Relations scholarship regarding state formal leadership within international organizations. Due to time and access constraints during the research process, the researcher gathered data exclusively from online sources.