Institutional Pathologies of Bureaucratic Disagility: A Critical Case Study of Indonesia’s Digital Government Transformation (2020–2025)

Indonesia invested approximately IDR 47 trillion (USD 3.1 billion) in digital government transformation between 2020 and 2024, yet its E-Government Development Index ranking declined from 70th to 77th. This critical case study investigates why Indonesia’s bureaucratic transformation failed to achieve its proclaimed “world-class bureaucracy” target. Drawing on 20 in-depth interviews across four institutions and process tracing of policy decisions from 2020–2025, we identify three institutional pathologies producing bureaucratic disagility: structural (mandate overlap, missing enforcement, decentralization paradox), cultural (risk-aversion, job-hopping cycles, silo mentality), and technocratic (vendor lock-in, system proliferation, performative digitalization). The findings challenge agile governance theory’s applicability to patrimonial bureaucratic contexts. We conclude that digital transformation without institutional surgery produces only performative agility.