Decentralization: A question for developing countries

Abstract

Decentralization is frequently seen to provide an impact for the development of local government. However, for developing countries, such as Indonesia, decentralization is not adequately understood from an administrative concept or merely from the government politics. Obstacle found in local areas, such as a low index of human development, low local competitiveness and inadequate public service can become an issue by local politics to interfere local government. Two cases of local government in Indonesia, Jembrana and Banyuwangi regency can be the illustration of this matter based on the case analysis and on empirical data analysis in those two areas. A descriptive analysis revealed that Jembrana regency is successful in running its local government, that can be seen from its high innovative level. Conversely, Banyuwangi regency, despite having a blueprint of its innovative area, encounters failure in its application. Failure or success in those two areas is more heavily affected by local political intervention in those intended areas. In Jembrana, local politics does not too enormously interfere its local government, while in Banyuwangi the local politics strongly interferes. © 2012 Kaunas University of Technology.