Rethinking World Bank Influence Governance Reforms and the Ritual Aid Dance in Indonesia

Why is it so hard for international development organizations—even ones as well-resourced and influential as the World Bank—to generate and sustain change in the way things are done in those countries where they work? Despite what, in many cases, is decades of investment and effort, why do partner governments continue to engage in those traditional patterns and styles of public service management that international development organizations have sought to supplant with methods that are supposedly more accountable, efficient, and effective? This book provides an answer to these questions. However, rather than pathologizing partner governments as the source of the problem—that is, rather than maintaining the distinction between doctor (international development organizations) and patient (partner governments), wherein the patient is seen as unwilling to take their medicine (enacting "good governance" practices)—this book instead reframes the relationship. The central argument is, first, that the programs and projects of international organizations are introduced into and are constrained by multiple layers of ritual governance, that is, performative acts and cultural logics that intersect with and reinforce the political, economic, and social structures in and through which they operate. As is shown, the contextual factors that guide governance practices are largely beyond the reach of the international development organizations; the relevant logics have their roots in state ideology but also extend back to the colonial logics that continue to operate at the heart of the state apparatus. The second the central argument is that international aid organizations and the governments with which they work are engaged in a "ritual aid dance" where each actor plays a part but does not (and cannot) acknowledge the ways that it depends on the other for its own gain. This relationship can be considered a dance because each participant responds to and needs the other, and because both sides do so in ways that are carefully choreographed, with the overall trajectory or contours of the dance being more or less known to the participants. These arguments are based on research on the World Bank’s efforts over the course of several decades to encourage, through its financing, projects, and technical assistance, the implementation of social sector reform in Indonesia related to decentralization, community participation, and school-based management.

PART 1: APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD BANK Chapter 1. The World Bank and Social Sector Reform: An Introduction to Ritual Governance and the Ritual Aid Dance D. Brent Edwards Jr. Introduction The Contributions of this Book Common Approaches to Conceptualizing and Researching the World Bank Decentralization, Governance, and International Development Governance Reforms and World Bank Influence in Indonesia Methods Structure of the Book Chapter 2. Explaining Global-Local Policy Change and Implementation: The Political Economy of Reform in Realist, Systems, and Anthropological Perspective D. Brent Edwards Jr. Introduction Political Economy Approaches A Realist Perspective A Systems Perspective An Anthropological Perspective Summary of Considerations Conclusion Chapter 3. Participation in Development and Education Governance: World Bank Thinking, Frameworks, and Results D. Brent Edwards Jr. Introduction Methodology The World Bank’s Approach to Development and the Trajectory of Participation The Framework for Service Provision Participation and Education Governance: The Origins and Feature of Community-Based Management Shifts in Participation in Education Governance Results of World Bank-Supported Participation Reforms in Education Conclusion PART 2: THE EVOLUTION OF GOVERNANCE REFORMS Chapter 4. Context and Origins of Community-Driven Development in Indonesia D. Brent Edwards Jr. & Inga Storen The Context of Indonesia: Key Features in the Post-WWII Period The Origins of Indonesia’s Governance Reforms Rural Community-Driven Development: The IDT, VIP and KDP Programs Conclusion Chapter 5. The Asian Financial Crisis: Entrenching and Scaling-up Community-Driven Development Reforms D. Brent Edwards Jr. & Inga Storen Introduction Social Safety Nets in Education International Donor Influence and the Asian Financial Crisis The Changing role of the World Bank Relationship amidst the Push for Decentralization and Increasing Government Budgets Post-Asian Financial Crisis Decentralization Legal Reforms Post-Crisis Community-Driven Development PNPM Funding Conclusion Chapter 6. The World Bank and Education Governance in Indonesia: Influence around and beyond School-Based Management D. Brent Edwards Jr. & Inga Storen Introduction Junior Secondary Education Projects (1996-2004) Basic Education Projects (1998-2006) Scholarships and Grant Program (1998-2003) The Government’s SBM Approach: BOS Program (2005-Present) Basic Education Capacity Project-Recipient Executed (2007-2012) BOS Knowledge Improvement for Transparency and Accountability (2008-2012) Concluding Remarks: Recapping the Trajectory of Education Governance Reforms PART 3: EDUCATION GOVERNANCE REFORMS IN PRACTICE Chapter 7. Educational Decentralization: Dominant Rationales, Key Characteristics, and Early Examples D. Brent Edwards Jr., Marilyn Hillarious, Mark McCormick, & Dewi Setiani Introduction Educational Decentralization in Indonesia: Motivations and Logics Key Characteristics of the "Big Bang" Decentralization Reforms The Local Curriculum Content Initiative The Social Safety Net Program Chapter 8. School-Based Management through Block Grants: Policy and Practice D. Brent Edwards Jr., Dewi Setiani, Mark McCormick, & Marilyn Hillarious Introduction The Combination of School-based Management and School Operational Block Grants: Key Characteristics The Experience of SBM via BOS in Practice Outcomes of SBM under BOS Explaining the Challenges to SBM and BOS in Practice Conclusion Chapter 9. Educational Decentralization from the Central to the Village Level D. Brent Edwards Jr. & Marilyn Hillarious Introduction Administrative Levels in Indonesia: A Recap Decentralization Plans from the Central to the Provincial (Regency) and District levels The Politics of Letting Go—Or Not Provincial and District Dynamics in Practice Decentralization and System Financing Conclusion PART 4: (RE)CONSIDERATIONS: RITUAL GOVERNANCE & THE RITUAL AID DANCE Chapter 10. Reconsidering Decentralization: A Systems Perspective D. Brent Edwards Jr., Marilyn Hillarious, & Inga Storen Introduction Institutional Framework and Political Motivations: Initial Considerations Management and Coordination of Institutional Resources across Levels of Government The Cultural Politics of Service Standards District- and Village-level Institutional Capacity and Institutional Frameworks The Political Dimension of Institutional Capacity and Institutional Resources at the Provincial and District Levels Factors Affecting Community Participation and Local-level Accountability Cultures of Corruption and Elite Control Chapter 11. Reconsidering Social Sector Reform: Ritual Governance D. Brent Edwards Jr Introduction Political Reflections Institutional Reflections The Salience and Question of Cultural Norms State Ideology Ritual Governance The Ethos of Privatization Colonial Legacies Ritual Governance, Mechanisms, and the (Im)Possibilities of Technical Solutions Chapter 12. Reconsidering World Bank Influence: The Ritual Aid Dance D. Brent Edwards Jr World Bank Influence in Broad and Long-Term Perspective Sector and Subtle Influence Reconsidering Influence: Constraining Factors and Co-dependence Theorizing the Ritual Aid Dance Examples of the Ritual Aid Dance The Ritual Aid Dance with Indonesia The Mechanism of the Ritual Aid Dance The World Bank, the Ritual Aid Dance, and Global Capitalism Contributions and Conclusions Appendix 1: World-Bank Approved Education Projects during 1990-2014 for Indonesia

D. Brent Edwards Jr. is Graduate Chair of the Department of Educational Foundations and Associate Professor of Theory and Methodology in the Study of Education at the University of Hawai'i. His work focuses on (a) the global governance of education, (b) education policy, politics and political economy, with a focus on low-income countries, and (c) democratic and socially just alternatives to dominant education models. He is on the advisory board for the Comparative Education Review. Recent books include The Trajectory of Global Education Policy: Community-based Management in El Salvador and the Global Reform Agenda as well as Global Education Policy, Impact Evaluations, and Alternatives: The Political Economy of Knowledge Production, both with Palgrave Macmillan. Forthcoming in 2023 with Routledge is Globalization, Privatization, and the State: Contemporary Education Reform in Post-colonial Contexts. He is currently the Principal Investigator for a three-year USD 913,000 project funded by the Dubai Cares Foundation entitled "Crisis Management for Disaster Risk Reduction in Education Systems: Learning from the Elaboration and Integration of Technology-Focused Strategies in El Salvador, Honduras, and Colombia." This project was one of only two selected by Dubai Cares from among a pool of 173 that were submitted for its “E-Cubed” Research Envelope through which it supports evidence for education in emergencies. Previously, he was awarded Fulbright Funding for his work in El Salvador, in addition to holding visiting, affiliate, or research positions at George Washington University (USA), the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain), the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), University of Central America (El Salvador), the University of the North (Colombia), The University of Tokyo (Japan), Waseda University (Japan), and the University of Auckland (New Zealand). Apart from being a consultant for the World Bank, he has worked on research funded by USAID, UNESCO, Education International, Global Campaign for Education, Open Society Foundations, and the Spencer Foundation. His work has been published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. He received his PhD in International Education Policy from the University of Maryland.