“The Politics of Educational Decentralisation in Indonesia: A Quest for Legitimacy is a well written, analytically sharp, and compelling study of educational decentralisation in Indonesia. Irsyad Zamjani, provides fresh insights into this important topic. The author treats educational reform as a window into much deeper questions about power, the government’s responsibility to its citizens, and social change in Indonesia. His findings should interest academics as well as practitioners with an interest in educational reform.” ―Professor Christopher Bjork, Vassar College, New York
“This is a remarkable book which should appeal not only to Indonesian scholars, but also to educationists and political scientists, to name just a few. By tracing the path of decentralisation in the Indonesian educational reform in the early 2000s, Zamjani shows how the central and municipal governments struggled in different ways to retain control over education in their domains through various mechanisms largely related to claims of legitimacy. The study is grounded in new institutional theory, and the interview and case study data provide a richness and depth in showing the dynamics of reform attempts.” ―Professor Lawrence J. Saha, Australian National University, Canberra
This book discusses the dynamics of educational decentralisation in post-reform Indonesia. Taking sociology’s new institutionalism approach, and drawing upon data from documents and interviews with strategic informants, the book investigates how institutional legitimacy of educational decentralisation was garnered, manipulated, and then contested. Besides analysing global institutional pressures which influenced the national adoption of decentralisation reform, and the central government’s attempts to restore its legitimacy, the book also offers comparative case studies of education governance in two local districts to highlight how this reform is responded to at the local level.
Author(s): Irsyad Zamjani
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 318
City: Singapore
Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction
Localising the Global Problem
Why Does Legitimacy Matter?
The Role of the New Institutionalism
Institutional Environment
Decoupling
Structuration and Destructuration
Methods
The Logic of the Book
References
2 Institutional Change and Indonesian Education Governance
Introduction
The Religious Construction of Education
Education and the Colonial State
The Mercantilist Era
The Ethical Policy
Education and Nation-State Building
The Organisational Arrangement of Education Governance
Localising the Global Ideological Confrontation
Education and the Neoliberal Bureaucratic State
Conclusion
References
3 Why Legitimacy Matters: The Institutional Perspective of Educational Decentralisation
Introduction
Decentralisation and Educational Decentralisation
Educational Decentralisation in Indonesian Literature
Assessing Theoretical Arguments on Globalisation and Its Relevance to the Worldwide Expansion of Educational Decentralisation
The Institutional Perspective of Educational Decentralisation
Isomorphic Pressure
The Duality of External and Internal Pressures
Decoupling
Organisational Fields: Structuration and Destructuration
Conclusion
References
4 Managing Global and Local Institutional Pressures: Decentralisation and the Legitimacy Project in Indonesia
Introduction
Educational Decentralisation and the Duality of Local and Global Pressures
The Legitimacy Crisis: From Local to Global Delegitimation of the Centralist Governance
Isomorphic Pressures: Global Institutionalisation and Its Actors
The Duality of Pressure in Indonesian Educational Decentralisation Reform
The Global Pressure: From Normative to Coercive
From the National Crisis of Legitimacy to International Delegitimation
Decentralisation and the Central Government Response to the Pressure
Decentralisation as a Compensatory Legitimation
The Task Force for Education Reform
Managing the Institutional Contradiction
Decentralisation and the Rise of Local States
Local State-Based Decentralisation Versus School-Community-Based Decentralisation
Managing the Contradiction
Conclusion
References
5 Manipulating the Institutional Legitimacy: The Centralised Standards in the Decentralised Structure
Introduction
The Decoupling Justified
The Discourse of Local Incompetence
The Means–End Decoupling Approach
The 2003 National Education System Law
Three Standardisation Regimes
Standardisation and the Regulatory Governance
The Audit Culture
School Accreditation
Teacher Certification
National Examination
Redistributive Policy and the Return of Interventionism
The Standardisation Effect: Structuration and Destructuration
The Structuration Effect
The Destructuration Effect
Conclusion
References
6 Educational Decentralisation and the Rise of the Neo-Patrimonial State: The Case of Kupang City
Introduction
The Political Construction of the Neo-Patrimonial Bureaucracy of Kupang
Decentralisation and the Politicisation of Local Bureaucracy
The Reproduction of Patronage in Kupang’s Bureaucracy
The Structure of Local Education and the Policy Initiatives
Neo-Patrimonialism and the Politicisation of Local Education Governance
The Ceremonial Professionalisation of Local Education Authority
Challenging the External Pressure: The Case of School Principal Appointments
The Politicisation of Formal Structure: The Case of Student Admissions
Internal Resistance to the Neo-Patrimonial Education Governance
Conclusion
References
7 Educational Decentralisation and the Rise of the New Managerial State: The Case of Surabaya City
Introduction
Decentralisation, Managerialism and Education
The Political Construction of the Managerial State of Surabaya
The Making of the New Managerial Leadership
From Bureau-Professional to Managerial Leadership
The Recruitment of School Principals as Professional Managers
The Performative Culture and the Expansion of Managerial Reforms
Teacher Performance Allowance
The Budget Restriction
School Rationalisation
The Creation of International Standard Schools
Responses to the Managerial Reforms
Contesting the Rhetoric of Social Justice Settlement
The Return to Bureaucracy and the Myth of the Autonomous Manager
Managerialisation with(out) Privatisation
Conclusion
References
8 Conclusion
Introduction
Summary of the Findings
Some Theoretical Implications
The New Institutionalism and the Study of Change
External and Internal Legitimacy
Bringing the State Back into the Institutional Analysis of Education
Some Policy Implications
A Standardised Anarchy
Towards the Separation of Normative from Regulative Institutions in the Decentralisation Context of National Standardisation: A Policy Recommendation
Limitations
Suggestions for Future Research
The Global Context
The Local Context
Conclusion
References
Bibliography
Index
