Post-Colonial Indonesia

This study investigates historical and political factors that have contributed to the development of Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism (CC&N) within Indonesian public sector institutions focusing on the Local/Provincial (L/P) Government of West Kalimantan. In particular, it argues that insufficiently developed institutions inherited from colonialism, and influenced by intensive and extensive incoming flows of foreign aid, have aggravated CC&N within the Indonesian public sector. Drawing on an institutional approach, this study utilises underdevelopment theory and critiques of modernisation to guide the analysis and discussion in this thesis. It also reviews relevant theories of public administration focusing on Weber’s (1968) patrimonial bureaucracy and Theobald’s (1990) study of CC&N and public sector institutions in developing countries. Issues of democratisation and globalisation are briefly addressed in order to complete the theoretical context.