Let it sink or let it float Law and practices of coastal zone management in Jakarta Bay, Indonesia

This dissertation investigates the persistent failure of legal and institutional reforms to achieve sustainable coastal governance in Jakarta Bay, Indonesia. Despite the adoption of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and other legal frameworks, environmental degradation and social marginalization—particularly of small-scale fisher communities—continue unabated. Through ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and participant observation, the research explores how laws are conceptualized, contested, and operationalized by various actors, including government officials, developers, activists, and fisherfolk. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social fields, the study reframes law not as a neutral system but as a dynamic arena shaped by habitus, capital, and power relations. It reveals that legal outcomes are often determined by political interests, economic networks, and symbolic capital rather than statutory hierarchies or normative ideals. The research critiques the ICZM model’s assumptions of stakeholder consensus, highlighting structural inequalities that render genuine collaboration unattainable. Ultimately, the dissertation argues that legal reforms alone cannot address the socio-ecological crises of Jakarta Bay. Instead, it calls for a reconceptualization of law as embedded in broader social, political, and economic fields—where the struggle for justice, sustainability, and community survival continues to unfold.