The United States and Indonesia’s bilateral relationship has been established for years. The 9/11 attacks in 2001 that were followed by the Bali bombings a year later in Bali, Indonesia were the starting point of the counter-terrorism relationship between Indonesia and the United States. As the United States was led by George W. Bush at that time and Indonesia was under the administration of Megawati Soekarno Putri, Indonesia and United States agreed on numbers of cooperation in dealing with terrorism and radicalism. President Bush initiated the global coalition of “Global War on Terrorism” which aimed to seek partnership with countries all over the world in combatting terrorism, Indonesia was not left behind from this. Under the administration of Donald Trump and Joko Widodo, the two countries continue their partnership in counterterrorism efforts. The focus of this thesis is to analyze whether there are any significant changes in the cooperative counter terrorism efforts between Indonesia and the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump and if these affect the bilateral relationship between the two countries. The theories that are used in this research are based on the international relations theories such as bilateral diplomacy, realism, as well counter-terrorism policy. The research is using a qualitative methodology with a document-analysis approach. The researcher relied on the use of secondary sources to obtain data such as the public statement and speeches of both countries’ representatives as well as their executive orders on counter-terrorism subject. The result of this research has the conclusion that the bilateral relationship between Indonesia and United States under the administration of Donald Trump has not faced any significant changes in the counter-terrorism efforts considering both of countries’ different focus in the counter-terrorism policy which brought the bilateral relationship between the two countries in stable, good condition.
Kata Kunci : ": International Relations, Terrorism, Bilateral Relationship, Realism Ideology, Counter-Terrorism Policy"