Local Governance in Timor-Leste - Secretaria de Estado da Arte e ...

played out since decolonisation. This policy cycle plays out in different formsbetween two opposing ontological positions, where some (Kaufmann et. al. 2008;Scott and Wilde 2006) argue that the development agenda can be pursued to shapesocietal outcomes through institutional interventions, whereas others (Jenkins andPlowden 2006; Randel et al 2004) dismiss this approach as ineffective andideologically flawed. I argue that this policy cycle can be traced back to theunderlying binary of tradition and modernity that fails to recognise and engage withthe everyday politics of mutual recognition.I trace this policy cycle to the ontological divide between structure and agency withinfunctional approaches to institutionalism. I argue that if we take a critical approach toinstitutionalism that recognises the importance of local politics and incorporates thepolitics of mutual recognition we can account for coexisting modern and traditionalinstitutional structures, while simultaneously incorporating these in the realities oflocal politics. This gives us a conceptual framework through which we can recognisethe various forms of political hybridity that result from coexisting institutionalstructures, and also serves to explicate the 'shadow side' of these politics, whereexisting power inequalities are reproduced through different institutional forms.In chapter four, I provide an overview of the governance history of Timor-Leste,tracing the development of coexisting traditional and overarching institutionalstructures through pre-colonial, Portuguese, Indonesian, UNTAET and present daygovernance. Throughout these various stages of history, traditional institutionalstructures have guided the lives of those within the suku. While the rule of the liurai 9is now over, the liurai house is still important in many communities and primaryloyalty continues to be owed to the small kin-based groups bound together throughuma lulik 10 . Over the centuries a close symbiosis between traditional institutionalstructures and these small kin-based groups has developed and become entrenched,which has endowed traditional institutions with political and economic significance.Within this context, local understandings of community that are shaped throughtraditional institutions have provided the basic political environment into which9 Liurai: king.10 Uma Lulik: sacred house.22