Local institutional actors and globally linked territorial development in Bekasi District: A strategic coupling?

Abstract

Ever‐changing spatial divisions of labour have led to an altered integration of many developing countries into global production networks (GPNs), leading to new spaces of territorial development in these countries. Against this background, this paper examines the role of local institutional actors in co‐shaping territorial development driven by global industrial relocation. Drawing on the case of Bekasi District, Indonesia, this paper nuances the notion of ‘strategic coupling’ in specific national and local settings of developing countries. Drawing on empirical material obtained through a series of in‐depth interviews conducted between 2012 and 2016, our analysis reveals that although local institutional actors have participated in Bekasi District's territorial development processes they sometimes exhibit a hesitant and less‐than‐creative attitude in this participation. Meanwhile, non‐local actors, most notably private developers and central government agencies, tend to have a more significant leverage in these development processes at the local level, suggesting complex institutional arrangements in tying Bekasi District's assets with GPNs.