Governance by Accident: The Role of Civil Society in Shaping Urban Environmental Governance

AbstractThe revival of the civil society movement was triggered by the fall of communism in the east-bloc countries and the so-called third-wave democracy in many developing countries, and the notion of reinventing the government’s role in the west. Inspired by these phenomena, this written literature research examined the impact of these transitions occurring in the late nineties on environmental governance, especially regarding the role of civil society. The research focused on the role of civil society to provide a theoretical framework for the dynamic adaptations occurring in the Indonesian government in relation to the emerging civil society movements and the political turmoil (from authoritarian to more democratic governance) associated with them. This was done by emphasizing, first, the changing of acts regulating decentralization throughout the three-layered governmental structure. Secondly, I examined how governmental institutions dealt with environmental protection and how the civil society movements worked. This study demonstrated that civil society movements are not a single homogenous entity. Secondly, dissemination of power among governmental structures was not merely a technical matter aiming to provide a better service but also a notion of political power contestation. Thirdly, the dynamic relationships within civil society organizations, the multi-level governmental institutions, and the various stakeholders in the private sector have led to a mode of governance that cannot be designed to achieve a common goal. This formulated the main finding of my study, which proposes that “governance by accident” instead of “governance by designed” should be considered a new model of environmental governance.