Inclusive governance typically denotes an ethical framework that assures jointly, participatory, and culturally sensitive policy-making, especially in the execution of urban child protection initiatives. This research digs into and discusses the public discourse around the Indonesian Kota Layak Anak (Child-Friendly City/KLA) policy, examining the different media narratives on how they emancipate, legitimize, obfuscate, or thwart the principles of inclusive governance. By using a corpus-assisted discourse analysis (CADS) method, the authors carry out an analysis of 136 articles from different national and local media that were published between 2011 and 2025, and talk about the KLA implementation in Surakarta. The analysis operationalizes inclusive governance along system (collaborative, multi-level governance), actor (accountability, deliberative participation), and culture (community-driven governance) dimensions. The findings reveal that community narratives and cultural narratives prevail discursively and that these heavily draw on local traditions, communal involvement, and symbolic activities. Conversely, accountability and institutional collaboration are practically absent from media scrutiny, often mentioned in passing or in gratuitous terms. The media appears to portray KLA more as a ceremonial success rather than an arena for structural policy reform. The article proposes a discourse analysis framework for understanding how these narratives support or undermine inclusive governance. The study thus contributes to the literature of governance evaluation, policy framing, and discourse analysis by designing a replicable method to assess how the public narration mirrors or masks multi-actor urban policy realities.

This research investigates how Indonesia’s decentralization framework affects the recognition and protection of Indigenous communities’ entitlements. Using qualitative methods with a normative juridical, the research analyzes the prevailing legal provisions (Article 18B (2) of the 1945 Constitution, Law 23/2014, Law 6/2014, Law 41/1999, Law 5/1960), and Regional Regulations. In addition, interviews are used to determine the effectiveness of implementation, selected based on criteria (policy makers, policy implementers, and affected indigenous communities). The informants involved in this research consisted of 17 individuals, including: Head of Wali Nanggroe, Head of Civil Registration Officials, Head of Community Empowerment Services, Head of Sub-District, Head of Village, Head of Traditional Institution, and Traditional Figures.The findings reveal that although Indigenous Peoples are constitutionally recognized, implementation at the regional level still faces various challenges, such as weak harmonization between central and regional regulations, and limited understanding by regional governments regarding the substance of Indigenous rights. Several regional governments have not issued specific regional regulations concerning the recognition of Indigenous Peoples or face obstacles in their implementation. This research recommends the need to strengthen legal policies that support the recognition and protection of Indigenous rights through intergovernmental synergy and the enhancement of institutional capacity at the regional level.

This study examines participatory urban governance in the management of public rental apartments (Rusunawa) in the 24-26 Ilir area of Palembang City, Indonesia. It explores how fragmented institutional arragements and weak coordination among government agencies shape the daily governance of public housing and how residents respond. Using a qualitative ethnographic approach, data were gathered through participant observation, in depth interviews with 20 informants, and field documentation. The findings show that governance of public housing in Palembang operates within institutional fragmentation, where the absence of clear authority and coordination creates governance vacuums that are filled by local actors( neighborhood heads and senior residents). Citizen participation emerges as an adaptive, community-drivenpractice that sustains everyday management despite limited formal support. This participation is largely informal, negotiated, and rooted in social solidarity rather than formal policy mechanisms. The study reframes urban governance as a lived and negotiated process, emphasizing that sustainable public housing management requires recognizing local capacities, institutionalizing deliberative space, and collaborative support from municipal authorities. The research contributes to the discourse on particatory governance in mid-sized cities of the Global South by highlighting the value of community-based management as a foundation for inclusive and context-responsive urban policy.

The regulation and enforcement of business competition law by Business Competition Supervisory Commission Commission (KPPU) aim to prohibit anti-competitive practices in the procurement of goods and services. The implementation of this policy is carried out by providing services to the public who suspect collusion. This study employs a qualitative method with a descriptive approach. The findings indicate that KPPU's policy in e-procurement oversight has effectively deterred perpetrators of collusive practices. KPPU has successfully applied the principle of New Public Management (NPM), which has increased public trust in the institution, as reflected in KPPU's annual reports. The number of public reports received by KPPU has increased each year, while the occurrence of tender collusion has consistently declined. However, KPPU still faces a challenge in terms of time efficiency. This issue has led to an accumulation of cases that should have already entered the investigation stage.

The North Aceh Regency ranks second in domestic violence (DV) cases in the Aceh Province, following the city of Banda Aceh. This study examines a Gender Transformation-based Empowerment Model for Victims of Domestic Violence, aiming to analyze and describe an economic empowerment model that enables victims to enhance their welfare and independence. Employing qualitative research methods through a phenomenological approach and literature review, data were collected via interviews with representatives from the North Aceh Office of Social Affairs, Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, local government stakeholders, and victims of domestic violence. The findings reveal that economic factors are the predominant causes of domestic violence in North Aceh. Government assistance in the region remains largely focused on legal and psychological support, while economic empowerment initiatives are still limited in scope. The implementation of a Gender Transformation-based economic empowerment model offers victims access to economic resources and helps to challenge prevailing societal norms and power structures that marginalize women. This approach promotes gender equality by enabling victims to participate more actively in economic and social spheres, including access to education, vocational training, and employment opportunities.

Village fund is still the primary driving force in village development in Kediri District because 44.93% of village revenue in Kediri District is contributed by village fund. However, there are still obstacles in the implementation of village fund policy in Kediri District, such as administrative problems, limited human resources of implementers, communication barriers, inadequate facilities and infrastructure, regulatory inconsistencies, and low community participation. Based on these conditions, this study attempts to analyze the dominant factors that influence the implementation of village fund policy in Kediri District. By referring to the Edwards III’s “Direct and Indirect Impact on Implementation Model” and using quantitative methods, it is known that Resource, Disposition, and Bureaucratic Structure Factors have a significant influence on the implementation of village fund policy in Kediri District while the Communication Factor has no significant effect. However, when the four variables are tested simultaneously, the result shows that Communication, Resource, Disposition, and Bureaucratic Structure together have a significant influence on the implementation of village fund policy in Kediri District.

Since gaining independence in 1945, Indonesia has experienced several forms of democracy, each prevailing during different political periods and continuing to evolve to the present day. These shifts in democratic practice have spurred scholarly interest across disciplines. This study aims to analyze the development of research on democracy in Indonesia from 1958 to 2021. This research uses bibliometric analysis to map scholarly publications on democracy in Indonesia. 861 scientific journal articles indexed in the Scopus database were analyzed. The data were processed and visualized using VOSviewer and NVivo 12 Plus software to identify patterns, trends, and key contributors in the field. The analysis revealed that 2020 marked the highest number of research publications on democracy in Indonesia. Indonesia contributes the most to this field, while Democratization is the journal with the most relevant publications. Mietzner is identified as the most prolific author in this area of study. Several topics emerged as dominant or emerging areas within the field, including citizenship, presidentialism, minority rights, civil-military relations, patronage, ethnicity, and institutionalization. These areas present significant opportunities for further investigation.

This study aims to critique the community empowerment program (Prodamas) in Kediri City, Indonesia. Using Carol Bacchi’s What’s the Problem Represented to Be? (WPR) analytical framework, this study explores how the problem of community empowerment is represented in policy documents, as well as how these representations are produced, disseminated, and maintained. This study employs an interpretive qualitative method, utilizing data sources that include local government regulations, case study reports, and the results of semi-structured interviews with residents. The results shows that Prodamas portrays the community as a passive entity that requires motivation to participate, while structural dimensions such as social inequality, local power relations, and limited citizen capacity are not addressed in the policy. This representation produces discursive and institutional effects that strengthen bureaucratic dominance, reduce the meaning of empowerment to procedural activities, and limit citizen agency. This article makes a theoretical contribution by offering a critical analysis of community empowerment programs in the context of developing countries. This article also encourages a shift in the empowerment approach from mere administrative participation to the formation of a more equitable and reflective political space for citizens at the local level.

This study examines public service governance at the sub-district level in Musi Rawas Regency, focusing on the integration of local wisdom and the principles of New Public Governance (NPG). The research highlights the importance of collaboration between government agencies, vertical institutions, and the community in improving service efficiency and responsiveness. Using a descriptive qualitative approach, the study identifies key elements of effective public service governance, including collaboration, flexibility, risk management, and innovation. The research aims to analyze how local wisdom can play a role in addressing contemporary challenges in public service, such as transparency and accountability. The integration of local wisdom is deemed capable of building trust and fostering active participation, particularly through personalized approaches that respect cultural values and the implementation of decentralized services. The study also emphasizes the importance of technology and policy frameworks in ensuring the sustainability of service innovations, including direct engagement with rural communities. The research method employs a descriptive qualitative approach, utilizing data collection techniques such as Focus Group Discussions (FGD), interviews, documentation, and observation, involving 20 key informants. The findings reveal that the combination of NPG principles with local wisdom can create a governance model that is not only efficient and transparent but also responsive to the values and needs of local communities. This integrated approach indirectly strengthens trust, accountability, and inclusiveness in public services while offering a model that can be applied in other regions facing similar challenges.

This study explores public responses to celebrities elected as members of the Indonesian House of Representatives for the 2019–2024 term. The study adopts a corpus-assisted discourse analysis (CADS), a methodological approach that combines corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis to identify dominant patterns, lexical features, and thematic structures in large-scale textual data. A dataset of 26,120 tweets mentioning 14 celebrity legislators was collected through data scraping from October 2019 to June 2024. The data were processed using Google Colaboratory and R Studio for cleaning, and analyzed with AntConc to identify linguistic patterns, keywords, and thematic categories. The analysis reveals that discussions are concentrated on a few prominent figures—namely Krisdayanti, Rano Karno, and Eko Patrio highlighting themes such as personal background, lifestyle, legislative activity, and public image. Findings show that public opinion is polarized, with both positive and critical evaluations of celebrity-legislators’ effectiveness and authenticity. This study also highlights the intersection between entertainment and formal politics in Indonesia. Policy implications highlight the need for capacity-building and transparency mechanisms to support celebrity politicians in promoting effective public communication and democratic accountability.