Dinamika Kawasan Asia Pascakolonial: Warisan Historis Konferensi Asia Afrika 1955 dalam Pembentukan Solidaritas Regional

The 1955 Asian-African Conference (AAC) provided an important forum for Asian and African states to address postcolonial challenges and navigate the dynamics of great-power rivalry. This study examines the contribution of the AAC to the development of regional solidarity and cooperation norms in postcolonial Asia through Alexander Wendt’s constructivist perspective. It employs a qualitative approach combining a literature review with document analysis. The study draws on President Sukarno’s opening speech, academic literature, and relevant official publications. The analysis focuses on the concepts of common fate, social interaction, collective identity, and the reproduction and institutionalization of norms. The findings indicate that shared experiences of colonialism and the vulnerability of Asian states amid great-power rivalry did not, by themselves, produce solidarity among states. Rather, solidarity developed through diplomatic interactions and negotiations that brought together different interests and gradually fostered a shared understanding. This understanding was subsequently articulated in normative terms through the Bandung Principles, particularly the principles of sovereignty, equality, non-intervention, and peaceful settlement of disputes. These principles were later reproduced and further developed through various regional cooperation frameworks, including ASEAN, ZOPFAN, SEANWFZ, and NAASP. The study therefore argues that the AAC is better understood as a source of normative contribution to the development and continuity of regional solidarity. Its influence operated through the formation and reproduction of shared understandings rather than through a direct causal relationship between the AAC and the establishment of regional institutions.