Ecological Institutional Failure in Local Governments: Rethinking Environmental Governance in Decentralized Indonesia

ABSTRACT Despite decentralization, Indonesian local governments persistently fail to deliver environmental outcomes. This article asks: why do institutional architectures systematically disable ecological responsiveness despite formal mandates? Introducing ecological institutional failure (EIF), the study develops a diagnostic framework moving beyond capacity‐centric explanations. Based on document analysis of planning documents, budgets, and performance evaluations across five regencies, Sleman, Banjarmasin, Kutai Kartanegara, Sumbawa, and Wakatobi, the research identifies three mechanisms reproducing failure: symbolic compliance (performative commitment without substantive change), structural disjunction (fragmented mandates misaligned with ecological imperatives), and inertial governance (ritualized activity simulating motion without transformation). Rather than lacking resources, local governments exhibit overproduction of forms that obscure systemic inaction. Drawing on institutional theory and ecological governance literature, the article reframes governance failure as strategic maintenance of bureaucratic comfort zones, contributing to debates on environmental governance in the Global South.