Understanding Institutional Capacity of Local Government Agencies in Indonesia

This thesis is about the capacity of local government agencies in Makassar (Indonesia) to provide services to the public. Besides aiming to understand the institutional capacity of local government agencies, the research also examines the role internal and external factors play in determining the service delivery capacity of public organisations. Internal factors refer to the organisational structure, managerial practices and the management of human resources in public organisations. External factors refer to the degree of bureaucratic and political accountability as well as the level of competition experienced by government agencies. ¶ ...¶ This study shows that, in the case of Indonesia, attempts to improve the capacity of government agencies to deliver quality public services by improving the capacity of parliament to politically oversee the executive, as recommended by a number of international agencies and commentators, may not be the best and most effective alternative. Rather than focusing the resources to improve the degree of political accountability, the study suggests that a more effective strategy to develop the capacity of government agencies is to enhance the organisational structure, managerial practices and the management of human resources in the public organizations, and to introduce competition into the delivery of public services