ABSTRACT
Questions about improving the quality of government are more than just academic in Indonesia today; they are pressing, practical questions. Indonesia has long been considered a classic example of a “developmental authoritarian” state – one that fostered economic success and delivered concrete material benefits as a claim to political legitimacy while simultaneously creating institutions through which popular participation in politics was structured, channeled, and, thereby, marginalized (see, among many others, Rao 2004). With a radical decentralization of responsibilities to regional (district) governments underway as of January 2000, continuing economic turmoil, and frequent shifts in national leadership (having only recently completed its first transition to a directly elected president), Indonesia is still in the midst of economic, social, and political change. From the national to the local level, the structures and behaviors taken for granted during the Soeharto/New Order era are being challenged and, in many cases, overturned. This chapter is a snapshot at a point in time of this dynamic and focuses on the role of villagers’ social activities in creating more participatory and accountable local governments, and aims to contribute an empirically grounded analysis to inform discussions of the reforms of local governance.
