Indigenous village governance: Lessons from Indonesia

Abstract

This article explores the model of indigenous village governance as an approach to determine locality value adopted. This approach was chosen in order to criticize the concept of governance which has so far neglected the value of locality that exists in society. This research uses the qualitative method while analyzing the individual and social relationships of people living in Tanah Toa, Indonesia. The research focus is on indigenous governance actors, processes, and regulations. The result shows that Tanah Toa runs the governance with locality value based on three aspects. The first consists of civil society groups while neglecting partners such as market and state. The second focuses on determining whether service delivery to the community is more inclusive, isolated and not integrated with the modern government system. Thirdly, it is self-regulatory, with the rule that runs in government initiated by the community.