The Diffusion of Contemporary Public Administration Paradigms into The Bureaucratic Reform Policy in Indonesia

Abstract

Bureaucratic reform has become a popular agenda in various countries during the last few decades. In Indonesia, bureaucratic reform has gained its popularity and becomes one of the main national agendas after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. This aimed at examining the diffusion of five contemporary public administration paradigms - Old Public Administration, New Public Management, New Public Services, New Public Governance and Digital-Era Governance - into the bureaucratic reform policy in Indonesia. A document analysis approach was utilized, and the data collection was done on written documents, including government documents, books, and journal articles, as well as on other content on the internet. It is revealed in this study that the five paradigms have diffused into the policy through coercive, mimetic, and normative mechanism, involving various actors, and utilizing certain channels. The finding is expected to inform related practitioners in accelerating the implementation of bureaucratic reforms in Indonesia, as well as scholars of public administration in expanding future policy diffusion studies.