Digital Bureaucracy and the Paradox of Participation in Indonesia

Challenges for Public Policy Governance

Abstract

This study explores the relation between digital bureaucracy, public engagement, and challenges in Indonesian governance via an ILR consisting of 57 articles indexed in Scopus (2021-2024). Though Indonesia strongly advocates for digital transformation, the results of the study indicate a significant gap. Despite implementing Digital Bureaucracy, Indonesia has been unable to overcome its governance deficit. Indeed, what the study has found is the Paradox of Participation, whereby digital technology aimed at empowering individuals is being used by entrenched patrimonial groups. In other words, without proper institutions, digitalisation becomes a source of oppression in that it helps elites in their practices of digital despotism and surveillance rather than democracy. This indicates that technology merely amplifies the power dynamics already existing in the society. Thus, solving the problem of Challenges for Public Policy Governance will require addressing the underlying extractive nature of the institutions rather than technological problems.