Recentralization through Territorial Proliferation: Historical Institutionalism and Path Dependence in Papua's 2022 Regional Restructuring

Abstract

This article examines Papua's 2022 territorial proliferation as a case of institutional path dependence and recentralization within Indonesia's asymmetric decentralization framework. Previous studies have explained the reform mainly through agenda-setting dynamics, welfare implications, or administrative efficiency, but they have paid less attention to why territorial proliferation repeatedly reappears as a familiar state instrument in Papua. This study addresses that gap by asking how earlier institutional choices made the 2022 restructuring politically and legally reusable. Using qualitative document analysis and three semi-structured interviews with policy actors and experts from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Secretariat of the Vice President, and National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), the article traces the recurrence of two policy instruments: special autonomy (Otonomi Khusus/Otsus) and territorial proliferation (pemekaran daerah). The documentary materials include legislation, academic drafts (naskah akademik), parliamentary materials, government documents, policy reports, previous academic studies, and media sources related to the 1999 proliferation attempt, the 2001 Otsus settlement, the 2008 institutional adjustment, and the 2021-2022 revision and proliferation cycle. The findings show that the 2022 proliferation reproduced an institutional policy already embedded in Papua governance. Law No. 2 of 2021 altered authority by strengthening central control over fiscal allocation, implementing regulations, development planning, and the authorization of new autonomous regions (DOB). The article argues that Papua's 2022 proliferation decentralizes administrative form while recentralizing political and fiscal substance. It contributes to comparative debates on decentralization by showing how territorial reform can expand subnational units while narrowing local institutional discretion.