The Green Revolution has become a prominent policy framework for promoting sustainable development in Indonesia’s marine and fisheries sector. However, its implementation in small island regions often reveals a significant gap between policy objectives and local socio-ecological realities. This study aims to critically examine the convergence and tensions among the Green Revolution as a policy framework, the Blue Economy as a development model, and community empowerment as the ultimate goal of sustainable development in small island contexts. Using a qualitative approach, this study employs a Critical Narrative Review of 13 selected articles and policy documents, complemented by contextual reflections on Gili Balu, a small island cluster in West Sumbawa Regency, Indonesia. The analysis identifies three dominant themes: technocratic development approaches, community-based Blue Economy practices, and participatory empowerment. The findings indicate that while these concepts are theoretically complementary, their implementation is often constrained by weak local institutions, limited community authority, fragmented policy integration, and unequal access to resources. In Gili Balu, locally driven initiatives such as community-based tourism and marine resource conservation demonstrate the potential of adaptive and inclusive governance. The study concludes that sustainable transformation in small islands requires stronger integration between policy frameworks, local institutions, and community participation. The novelty of this study lies in its integrated analytical framework that connects Green Revolution, Blue Economy, and community empowerment to explain the dynamics of sustainable development in small island regions.
This study examines the systemic politicization of public policy in Indonesia, rooted in its historical, political, and sociocultural contexts. Adopting a Global South perspective, it challenges Northern-centric frameworks by showing how political elites strategically set agendas to consolidate power, while bureaucrats respond through adaptive strategies prioritizing visibility over substantive service delivery. Analysis of official documents from Indonesia’s Supreme Audit Agency, Corruption Eradication Commission, Ombudsman (2023–2025), and Ministry of Administrative Reform (LAKIP 2022–2024) reveals systematic decoupling: performance metrics indicate progress, yet independent assessments show persistently medium service quality at 74.64 percent. Donor influence fosters isomorphic mimicry, with 43 percent of foreign-funded e-government platforms inactive. The study develops a five-dimensional framework, elite agenda-setting, bureaucratic adaptation, donor-induced isomorphism, symbolic compliance, and digital governance paradox, capturing their self-reinforcing interaction. This framework offers an analytical tool for understanding governance in Indonesia and comparable Global South contexts.
Isnaini Muallidin· Journal of Public Policy· 0 citations
This paper examines how co-operatives and the villagisation policy shaped rural development in Tanzania and proposes an implementation model grounded in situational leadership. The objective of the study is to explain why villagisation, despite a sound rural-transformation intent, largely failed, and to derive lessons for the effective implementation of contemporary rural development policy. Using a structured desk review of historical and contemporary secondary sources, the paper synthesises rural-rebalancing experiences from China, the United States of America, and Ghana alongside Tanzania's co-operative movement and villagisation policy. The analysis shows that co-operatives historically served as instruments of rural transformation, poverty reduction, and economic empowerment, but that state intervention and political interference eroded their autonomy and converted them into instruments of state control. Similarly, although villagisation sought to accelerate rural development through centralised settlement, improved service delivery, and collective production, its coercive and uniform implementation disregarded the differing competence, commitment, and readiness of rural communities. Applying Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership Theory, the paper argues that the failure of villagisation was rooted primarily in inflexible, directive leadership that did not adapt to beneficiaries' development levels. The paper proposes an adaptive, four-style implementation model and concludes that effective rural-transformation policy requires leadership that diagnoses and adjusts to the competence and commitment of intended beneficiaries while integrating gender, youth, environmental, and poverty-outreach concerns. The main policy message is that how a rural policy is led matters as much as what the policy intends.
N. Kumburu· Journal of Co-operative and...· 0 citations
In light of the socio-environmental challenges faced by cities and the climate threats intensified by the linear economic model, it has become increasingly urgent to understand how local governments can lead the transition to more sustainable urban models, such as the Circular Economy. This research analyzes the actions and policies adopted by local governments to promote this transition in major Brazilian cities. The municipalities of Salvador (BA) and São Paulo (SP) were investigated through a multiple-case study and cross-case synthesis. The results indicate that these governments may assume roles and mobilize mechanisms consistent with institutional entrepreneurship by performing five key roles: strategic direction, normative adaptation, capacity building and collaboration networks, support for innovation and circular businesses, and circular urban management. In this research, the findings reveal a predominance of coercive institutional pressures, with a lower presence of normative and mimetic mechanisms, which limits the broader institutional diffusion of circular practices. It is concluded that promoting the CE requires an integrated and multilevel approach that articulates planning, regulation, and stakeholder engagement, as well as the strengthening of institutional capacities and collaborative networks to expand urban transformation. The study contributes by showing that the role of local governments in circular transition depends not only on the existence of governmental initiatives, but on how strategic roles, governance arrangements, and institutional pressures are combined to induce change toward circularity.
Marcone Ambrósio Trindade, Alair Ferreira de Freitas, W. Alves et al.· Circular Economy and Sustain...· 0 citations
This paper provides anecdotes and examples on a wide range of topics related to sustainability, circular economy, local governance, and community development in Nepal, and illustrates the disconnect between global concepts like the circular economy and the ground realities of rural Nepal. It discusses the origins of the circular economy concept, its benefits, and the challenges likely to be faced while transitioning from a linear model of production and consumption to one that is cyclical. The role of local governments in adopting new practices like waste management and the potential pitfalls of introducing modern solutions without considering traditional practices and local contexts have been analyzed within the complexities surrounding the circular economy, especially in relation to practicality in implementation in rural areas. Being based on secondary literatures, and the author’s own observation-based reflection, the article also discusses how imported ideas and practices, if not aligned with local traditions and resources, can lead to unintended consequences and challenges. The critique of initiatives that prioritize superficial modernization over addressing core issues like sustainable waste management or preserving traditional farming practices has also been discussed.
U. Pyakurel· Aadim Journal of Multidiscip...· 0 citations
This study examines the role of private investment in promoting sustainable socio-economic development in Vietnam’s ethnic minority and mountainous areas, where investment distribution remains structurally uneven compared to lowland and metropolitan regions in Southeast Asia. The study employs a qualitative secondary research design that combines thematic synthesis and comparative policy analysis using reports from international development organizations, national policy documents and peer-reviewed literature published between 2015 and 2024. The analysis is guided by three complementary theoretical frameworks: Institutional Void Theory, Stakeholder Theory and Social Embeddedness Theory. The analysis suggests that although Vietnam has established a relatively comprehensive policy framework to encourage private investment in disadvantaged regions, policy implementation remains uneven across localities. Key barriers include inadequate infrastructure, weak administrative consistency, limited access to land and finance, environmental sustainability risks and insufficient mechanisms for community engagement and benefit sharing. The study further shows that governance coordination, infrastructure connectivity, transparent procedures and socially embedded investment approaches are more decisive for long-term investment sustainability than fiscal incentives alone. In addition, locally embedded enterprises often demonstrate stronger social legitimacy, while external investors possess greater financial and technological capacity but face higher perceived risks in remote mountainous regions. By integrating institutional, social and governance perspectives, this paper contributes to the literature on long-term development in Southeast Asian Mountain regions and proposes a coordinated governance framework for promoting inclusive and sustainable private investment in Vietnam’s ethnic minority and mountainous areas.
Tran Van Khoi, Dau Nhan Kiet, Dau The Tung et al.· International Research Journ...· 0 citations
Engagement of local communities and policy coherence across different sectors are essential to ensure that no one is left behind in the green transition. Coastal communities face many challenges that are difficult to adapt to, including those associated with blue growth. In this article, outcomes from two Horizon Europe projects were used to explore barriers to applying the Leave No One Behind (LNOB) principle. A policy coherence framework was applied to assess the level of coherence between policies identified to create conflicts and disempowerment in an Eastern Limassol case study. The coastal community is industrialised yet still supports a diversity of habitats and endangered species. The region is subject to multiple, overlapping EU policy streams, creating policy incoherence and local tensions. The article highlights the blue economy as a paradigm that inevitably will lead to conflicts between ecological, social, and economic priorities, and how the LNOB principle can be essential in bringing these together in a holistic approach. However, there are several limitations to the principle’s applicability in the current policy landscape. The main mechanism for equitable transition in the blue economy, the Just Transition, is not applicable under many circumstances, leaving no strict legal framework for implementation of equity and equality in the transition of coastal areas. The mainstream understanding of the blue economy is still dominated by the hope of win-win-win scenarios with limited transparency about the trade-offs and conflicts at stake, and few mechanisms that offer legal consequences.
Jonas Kyrönviita, Maria Hadjimichael, Paulina Ramírez‐Monsalve· Ocean and Society· 1 citation
