Village Development Paradigms and Their Implementation in Post-Reformation Indonesia

Objective: The paradigm of village development in Indonesia, which has been put into practice since the reformation era in 1998, has generated three laws that underlie village governance systems: Law No. 22 in 1999, Law No. 32 in 2004, and Law No. 6 in 2014. Method: This descriptive-qualitative study explores the conceptual understanding of village development in Indonesia using secondary data from laws, regulations, and research. Kuhn's thinking is used to interpret the paradigm underlying the development system, spanning from the reformation era to the present. Results: This study reviews the paradigm from the perspective of Thomas Kuhn, who sees the truth from a scientific perspective in the context of Indonesian governance. The findings show that Law No. 22 of 1999 and Law No. 32 of 2004 are built upon political and governmental sciences, highlighting a paradigm shift from centralization to decentralization. Village management and regulatory systems then lie between central and regional governments, which influences its development. Furthermore, Law No. 6 of 2014 positions villages in an exclusive regulatory system with changing sociocultural and economic dimensions but retains pre-existing political and governmental dimensions. In other words, village regulatory systems are not based on radical paradigms. Conclusion: The existing paradigm cannot be abandoned, and new ideas about villages need to be developed. To truly demonstrate autonomy, laws must be released from the previous paradigm and establish a new scientific basis.