Of Power and Learning: DistrictHeads, Bureaucracy, and EducationPolicies in Indonesia’s Decentralised Political System

In the second part of the hypotheses, we highlight the important role of political leaders’ commitment to learning in shaping local education policies, especially when the district has low constraints on the discretionary power of the district heads on employment decisions in the state bureaucracy. [...] Even though the final decision about bureaucratic employment remains in the hand of the district head, they cannot disregard the role of the Advisory Board for Bureaucratic Position and Rank (Baperjakat) in assessing the competence of the candidates for any bureaucratic appointment. [...] The network of family relations in the district as well as in the province as the basis of the ruling regime’s power allowed the regime to extend its political control to cover not only the executive body but also the legislative branch of the government (Buehler and Tan, 2007). [...] The constraint on the discretionary power of the district heads over employment decisions in the state bureaucracy paved the way for the development of local bureaucratic capacity. [...] The Bappeda, for instance, has the authority to ensure that the education policies of the LEA met the quality standard set by the Agency in the RPJMD.