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Navigating Compliance and Politics in Indonesian Law-Making: An Internal Legal Culture Analysis of Legislative Lawyers. A Case Study of Indonesia’s Coordinating Ministry

Fitriadi, Mireza LU (2025) SOLM02 20251
Department of Sociology of Law
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to enrich our understanding of micro-level internal
legal culture by examining how Indonesian legislative lawyers navigate tensions
between legal principles and political pressures. The focus is on civil servants
within the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs
who are tasked with law-making processes, such as drafting, negotiating, and
enacting. The Coordinating Ministry is responsible for policies of Indonesia’s
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), so it serves as a strategic case study for
analyzing micro-level cultural patterns. Legislative lawyers serve as both
draftspersons and intermediaries between legal ideals and governmental agendas.
Their decisions,... (More)
The purpose of this thesis is to enrich our understanding of micro-level internal
legal culture by examining how Indonesian legislative lawyers navigate tensions
between legal principles and political pressures. The focus is on civil servants
within the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs
who are tasked with law-making processes, such as drafting, negotiating, and
enacting. The Coordinating Ministry is responsible for policies of Indonesia’s
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), so it serves as a strategic case study for
analyzing micro-level cultural patterns. Legislative lawyers serve as both
draftspersons and intermediaries between legal ideals and governmental agendas.
Their decisions, whether to prioritize legal principles, political loyalty, or
negotiated compromise, reveal systemic patterns that may define Indonesia’s
internal legal culture.
By applying Friedman-Tyler-McAdam’s framework of compliance and
Mastenbroek’s typology of lawyers, the research explores compliance drivers
(instrumental, normative, expressive) and navigational strategies (guardian,
integrator, translator) of those legislative lawyers within Indonesia’s bureaucratic hierarchy. The findings reveal that compliance and typology are not fixed nor monolithic. Compliance is hybrid dynamics and the role is fluid among legislative lawyers. Junior lawyers for example, while they are prioritizing normative compliance in the beginning, eventually they submit to instrumental compliance (career security) under hierarchical pressure. On the other hand, senior lawyers leverage expressive-normative reasoning rooted in legal professionalism. These practices underscore persistent patronage legacies in civil service as posited by many scholars, where positional rank dictates autonomy: seniors resist
politicization, while juniors prioritize survival through compliance.
This research enriches Mastenbroek’s typology and the Friedman-Tyler-McAdams compliance framework by contextualizing them within Indonesia’s socio-legal landscape, offering an adaptive insight of legal culture. Ultimately, this
thesis invites future studies to explore how these micro-level analysis aggregate into macro-cultural patterns. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Fitriadi, Mireza LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOLM02 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
legal culture, compliance, strategies, legislative lawyers, civil service
language
English
id
9194028
date added to LUP
2025-06-23 09:27:54
date last changed
2025-06-23 09:27:54
@misc{9194028,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this thesis is to enrich our understanding of micro-level internal 
legal culture by examining how Indonesian legislative lawyers navigate tensions 
between legal principles and political pressures. The focus is on civil servants 
within the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs 
who are tasked with law-making processes, such as drafting, negotiating, and 
enacting. The Coordinating Ministry is responsible for policies of Indonesia’s 
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), so it serves as a strategic case study for 
analyzing micro-level cultural patterns. Legislative lawyers serve as both 
draftspersons and intermediaries between legal ideals and governmental agendas. 
Their decisions, whether to prioritize legal principles, political loyalty, or 
negotiated compromise, reveal systemic patterns that may define Indonesia’s 
internal legal culture.
By applying Friedman-Tyler-McAdam’s framework of compliance and 
Mastenbroek’s typology of lawyers, the research explores compliance drivers 
(instrumental, normative, expressive) and navigational strategies (guardian, 
integrator, translator) of those legislative lawyers within Indonesia’s bureaucratic hierarchy. The findings reveal that compliance and typology are not fixed nor monolithic. Compliance is hybrid dynamics and the role is fluid among legislative lawyers. Junior lawyers for example, while they are prioritizing normative compliance in the beginning, eventually they submit to instrumental compliance (career security) under hierarchical pressure. On the other hand, senior lawyers leverage expressive-normative reasoning rooted in legal professionalism. These practices underscore persistent patronage legacies in civil service as posited by many scholars, where positional rank dictates autonomy: seniors resist 
politicization, while juniors prioritize survival through compliance.
This research enriches Mastenbroek’s typology and the Friedman-Tyler-McAdams compliance framework by contextualizing them within Indonesia’s socio-legal landscape, offering an adaptive insight of legal culture. Ultimately, this 
thesis invites future studies to explore how these micro-level analysis aggregate into macro-cultural patterns.}},
  author       = {{Fitriadi, Mireza}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Navigating Compliance and Politics in Indonesian Law-Making: An Internal Legal Culture Analysis of Legislative Lawyers. A Case Study of Indonesia’s Coordinating Ministry}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}