ABSTRACT
The most important negotiation between the United States and Indonesia after the end of the cold war hegemonic order was about the Indonesian socio-economic crisis of 1997–9. This crisis took place in the context of a broader Asian economic crisis, which started in Thailand in May 1997. The preference and power structure of US-Indonesian bargaining also changed to the benefit of the United States: In US-Indonesian diplomatic history, bargaining had often been about strategic cooperation, in which the United States exchanged economic benefits for political actions by the Indonesian elite. Analysis of the bargaining processes related to Indonesia's economic crisis indicates clearly that the end of the cold war created a setting in which the authoritarian elite of Indonesia was too weak to resist America's determination to support democracy. The changing global power setting affected the bargaining leverage of the negotiators by influencing the way in which the diplomatic relationship was framed.
