The Role of Cities in Energy Diplomacy: Indonesia, Japan and the Surabaya-Kitakyushu Partnership

What is it about?

Energy diplomacy is usually conducted by the national government. However, the case of sister city cooperation between the City of Surabaya, Indonesia, and Kitakyushu, Japan, shows how sub-state actors perform energy diplomacy by developing technology to create public spaces that apply energy efficiency and energy-saving principles. This research gives a different angle of energy diplomacy by elaborating the role of the city government. Proofing our perspective, we applied qualitative methods by gaining data from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, then adjusted with the literature about energy diplomacy. By developing the existing concepts, this paper argues that energy diplomacy actors have expanded and have been carried out by city governments, yet still adhere to the states’ foreign policy corridor in the energy sector. They ultimately strengthen the principle of energy utilization that has been regulated at the national level within the framework of bilateral cooperation with other sub-state actors.

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