Exploring Indonesia's Capital City Relocation As a Model for Multidimensional Conflict Resolution
This dissertation examined Indonesia's relocation of the national capital to Nusantara (IKN) as a multidimensional conflict-resolution intervention rather than merely as a megaproject. It investigated the institutional conditions under which capital relocation could reduce social, economic, political, and environmental tensions while supporting more balanced territorial development beyond Java. Using a mixed-methods design, the study integrated a systematic literature review, regulatory mapping, interviews, focus group discussions, field observation, document analysis, survey data, land-use/land-cover change assessment, and Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). SSM tools, including rich picture analysis, CATWOE, Root Definition, a Conceptual Activity Model, and 3E indicators, were employed to compare normative governance assumptions with empirical conditions in East Kalimantan. The findings showed that overlapping land claims, tenure uncertainty, and concession legacies intensified agrarian conflict risk unless land acquisition, compensation, and livelihood restoration were implemented transparently and equitably, with Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. The study also found that rapid in-migration increased pressures on housing, public services, affordability, and social cohesion, while infrastructure expansion generated significant trade-offs with forest integrity. Accountable decentralization, enforceable ESG obligations, open contracting, and accessible grievance mechanisms were also identified as critical safeguards for implementation. It contributes an SSM-based evaluative framework for conflict-sensitive, inclusive, and ecologically accountable capital relocation.
Capital Relocation, Conflict Resolution, East Kalimantan, Jakarta, Nusantara, Soft System Methodology
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