Community Development and the Third Wave of Decentralisation in Indonesia: The Politics of the 2014 Village Law

Abstract

In 2014, Indonesia became one of the very first countries in the world to provide far- reaching autonomy and fiscal devolution to its 75,000 villages. A new Village Law (Law 6/2014) gave villages the right to manage village-scale activities, empowered the village government and provided substantial national and district funds to do so. In 2019, each village received approximately USD 110,000 for village development from central and district governments. This article outlines the trajectory and result in implementing the Law and analyses some of the challenges in terms of collective action, village development and grassroots democracy.