| Abstract: | The devolution of power to subnational governments and the involvement of civil society in policy decisions and implementation are the twin pillars of neoliberal governance reforms in post-authoritarian Indonesia. Yet, for the poor, these reforms have failed to bring about downward accountability and popular participation. Based on a political ethnography in the Priangan highlands of West Java, this article explores how a civil society approach to decentralization has compromised local democracy. Drawing on state–society relations, state formation, and institutional choice literatures, and focusing on power relations, social structures, and historical experiences in Indonesia, the article illustrates the complicity of civil society in the failure of decentralization to benefit the poor. |
