Hybrid Governance of Village Development: Patronage, Procedural Compliance, and Local Village Facilitator Mediation in Serang Regency, Indonesia

Article Sidebar

PDF
Published: Nov 2, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15575/ks.v8i2.54470
Keywords:
frontline mediation, hybrid governance, local patronage, local village facilitators, procedural compliance

Main Article Content

Nurlaeli Hidayanti
Institut Pemerintahan Dalam Negeri
Neni Alyani
Institut Pemerintahan Dalam Negeri
Ikhbaluddin Ikhbaluddin
Institut Pemerintahan Dalam Negeri

Abstract

This study examines how Local Village Facilitators (Pendamping Lokal Desa [PLDs]) mediate tensions between compliance with top-down policies and bottom-up participation in village development in Serang Regency, Banten, Indonesia. It specifically seeks to explain frontline mediation mechanisms that the village governance literature has not adequately addressed. The study employs a qualitative approach with a case study design. It draws on in-depth interviews with PLDs, Professional Facilitators (Tenaga Pendamping Profesional [TPPs]), and village government officials and members of the Village Consultative Body (Badan Permusyawaratan Desa [BPD]) and analyzes the data thematically. The findings show that village facilitation operates within a hybrid governance configuration. PLDs maintain formal compliance while adapting policy implementation to local conditions; however, substantive responsiveness weakens when administrative burdens increase, facilitation capacity remains limited, and patronage strengthens elite bargaining power within participatory forums. Under high-risk conditions, PLDs use documentation, hierarchical consultation, compromise, and administratively safe measures as risk-mitigation strategies. In contrast, stronger institutional support, greater room for contextual adaptation, cooperative village governments, active communities, and functional BPDs increase the likelihood of substantive participation. These findings highlight the need to simplify regulations, strengthen PLDs’ mediation capacity, and improve their institutional protection. The study contributes to the literature by developing the concept of frontline mediation to explain how regulation, discretion, patronage, and participation interact within village governance.

Article Details

Issue
Vol. 8 No. 2 (2026): Khazanah Sosial
Section
Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Copyright and License

Authors who publish with Khazanah Sosial agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain the copyright of their work and grant Khazanah Sosial the right of first publication. The work is simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0), which permits others to share the work, provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors and the original publication in Khazanah Sosial is acknowledged.

  2. Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of their work, such as depositing it in an institutional repository or including it in a book, provided that its initial publication in Khazanah Sosial is acknowledged.

  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to share their work online, including through institutional repositories and personal websites, before and during the submission process. Such sharing may facilitate scholarly exchange and increase the visibility and citation of published work. For further information, see The Effect of Open Access.

References

Adib, M. (2025). Daftar Dana Desa 2025 Terkecil di Serang Terima Kurang dari Rp 800 Juta. Tribun News. https://batam.tribunnews.com/2025/04/30/daftar-dana-desa-2025-terkecil-di-serang-terima-kurang-dari-rp-800-juta

Annahar, N., Widianingsih, I., Muhtar, E. A., & Paskarina, C. (2023). The Road to Inclusive Decentralized Village Governance in Indonesia. Sustainability, 15(11), 8616. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118616

Antlöv, H., Wetterberg, A., & Dharmawan, L. (2016). Village Governance, Community Life, and the 2014 Village Law in Indonesia. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 52(2), 161–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2015.1129047

Aspinall, E., Berenschot, W., Savirani, A., & Ruhyanto, A. (2025). Analysing and explaining variation in village governance regimes across Indonesia. South East Asia Research, 33(1), 12–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/0967828X.2025.2483168

Aziz, N. L. L. (2016). Otonomi desa dan efektivitas dana desa. Jurnal Penelitian Politik, 13(2), 193–211. https://doi.org/10.14203/jpp.v13i2.575

Badan Pusat Statistik. (2024). Statistik Potensi Desa Indonesia 2024. Badan Pusat Statistik. https://www.bps.go.id/id/publication/2024/12/10/2f5217e2d6a695a0830290a7/statistik-potensi-desa-indonesia-2024.html

Bakkeli, V. (2023). Handling Tensions in Frontline Policy Implementation: Legitimating, Interpreting, and Shielding a Disruptive Intervention. International Journal of Public Administration, 46(9), 625–635. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2021.2009856

Bakkeli, V., & Breit, E. (2022). From “what works” to “making it work”: A practice perspective on evidence‐based standardization in frontline service organizations. Social Policy & Administration, 56(1), 87–102. https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12757

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Bunnell, T., Ann Miller, M., Phelps, N. A., & Taylor, J. (2013). Urban Development in a Decentralized Indonesia: Two Success Stories? Pacific Affairs, 86(4), 857–876. https://doi.org/10.5509/2013864857

Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Darveau, K., & Hannon, D. (2017). Barriers and Facilitators to Voluntary Reporting and Their Impact on Safety Culture. The International Journal of Aerospace Psychology, 27(3–4), 92–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/24721840.2018.1442221

Dasgupta, A., & Beard, V. A. (2007). Community Driven Development, Collective Action and Elite Capture in Indonesia. Development and Change, 38(2), 229–249. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2007.00410.x

Fritzen, S. A. (2007). Can the Design of Community-Driven Development Reduce the Risk of Elite Capture? Evidence from Indonesia. World Development, 35(8), 1359–1375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2007.05.001

Gofen, A., Meza, O., & Pérez Chiqués, E. (2022). When street‐level implementation meets systemic corruption. Public Administration and Development, 42(1), 72–84. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1970

Goldsmith, S., & Yang, J. (2026). AI and the Transformation of Accountability and Discretion in Urban Governance. Urban Governance, 6(2), 159–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ugj.2026.02.005

Hastings, A., & Gannon, M. (2022). Absorbing the shock of austerity: the experience of local government workers at the front line. Local Government Studies, 48(5), 887–906. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2021.1889516

Holzhacker, R. L., Wittek, R., & Woltjer, J. (2016). Decentralization and Governance for Sustainable Society in Indonesia. In Decentralization and Governance in Indonesia (pp. 3–29). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22434-3_1

Kementerian Desa dan Pembangunan Daerah Tertinggal Republik Indonesia. (2025a). Keputusan Menteri Desa dan Pembangunan Daerah Tertinggal Republik Indonesia Nomor 294 Tahun 2025 tentang Petunjuk Teknis Pendampingan Masyarakat Desa. https://www.pendamping-desa.com/2025/08/kepmen-desa-pdt-nomor-294-tahun-2025.html

Kementerian Desa dan Pembangunan Daerah Tertinggal Republik Indonesia. (2025b). Peraturan Menteri Desa dan Pembangunan Daerah Tertinggal Republik Indonesia Nomor 3 Tahun 2025 tentang Pedoman Umum Pendampingan Masyarakat Desa. Kementerian Desa Dan Pembangunan Daerah Tertinggal Republik Indonesia. https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Details/318988/permendesa-pdt-kemendesa-pdt-no-3-tahun-2025

Kementerian Keuangan Republik Indonesia. (2025). Kerangka ekonomi makro dan pokok-pokok kebijakan fiskal tahun 2026. Kementerian Keuangan Republik Indonesia. https://fiskal.kemenkeu.go.id/files/kemppkf/file/1747711543_kem_ppkf_2026.pdf

Lambert, S. J., & Haley, A. (2021). Implementing Work Scheduling Regulation: Compliance and Enforcement Challenges at the Local Level. ILR Review, 74(5), 1231–1257. https://doi.org/10.1177/00197939211031227

Lewis, B. D. (2015). Decentralising to Villages in Indonesia: Money (and Other) Mistakes. Public Administration and Development, 35(5), 347–359. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1741

Lipsky, M. (2010). Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services (30th anniversary expanded ed.). Russell Sage Foundation.

Lotta, G., Pires, R., Hill, M., & Møller, M. O. (2022). Recontextualizing street‐level bureaucracy in the developing world. Public Administration and Development, 42(1), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1968

Mikkelsen, K. S., Madsen, J. K., & Baekgaard, M. (2024). Is stress among street‐level bureaucrats associated with experiences of administrative burden among clients? A multilevel study of the Danish unemployment sector. Public Administration Review, 84(2), 248–260. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13673

Musadat, A. (2023). The Effects of Participatory Budgeting on Local Government Service Delivery: Evidence From Sumedang. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 59(1), 29–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2021.1931031

Muttaqin, T., van Duijn, M., Heyse, L., & Wittek, R. (2016). The Impact of Decentralization on Educational Attainment in Indonesia. In Decentralization and Governance in Indonesia (pp. 79–103). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22434-3_4

Pascoe, K. M., Waterhouse-Bradley, B., & McGinn, T. (2023). Social Workers’ Experiences of Bureaucracy: A Systematic Synthesis of Qualitative Studies. The British Journal of Social Work, 53(1), 513–533. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcac106

Sidik, F., & Habibi, M. (2024). A Prize for the Village Ruling Class: “Village Funds” and Class Dynamics in Rural Indonesia. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 54(3), 387–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2023.2193968

Sinar Banten. (2025). Dana Desa Untuk Kabupaten Serang Banten Tahun 2025 Sudah Ada. Ini Rinciannya. Sinar Banten. https://www.sinarbanten.com/2025/01/29/dana-desa-untuk-kabupaten-serang-banten-tahun-2025-sudah-ada-ini-rinciannya/

Syukri, M. (2024). Indonesia’s New Developmental State: Interrogating Participatory Village Governance. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 54(1), 2–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2022.2089904

Talitha, T., Firman, T., & Hudalah, D. (2020). Welcoming two decades of decentralization in Indonesia: a regional development perspective. Territory, Politics, Governance, 8(5), 690–708. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2019.1601595

Tummers, L., & Bekkers, V. (2014). Policy Implementation, Street-level Bureaucracy, and the Importance of Discretion. Public Management Review, 16(4), 527–547. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2013.841978

Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.