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State Versus Citizens (A Study of the Dispute over Marine Space in Lifuleo Village, West Kupang District)
PCD Journal,
Vol 14 No 1 (2026): PCD Journal Vol. 14 No. 1 2026
Abstract
This study aims to demonstrate that citizens are structurally forced to confront the state, despite state authority being founded on citizen sovereignty, by analysing the dynamics of the struggle over marine space in Lifuleo Village, West Kupang District. This conflict arises from the overlapping use of marine space between seaweed-farming coastal communities and the Timor-1 Coal-Fired Power Plant, a National Strategic Project (PSN). This study integrates three theoretical frameworks into a layered analytical approach, namely the production of space (Lefebvre), territorialisation (Vandergeest and Peluso), and access (Ribot and Peluso). The production of space explains how power plant's presence socially reproduces marine space. This process of reproduction subsequently enables state territorialisation by redefining spatial utilisation boundaries, reducing the community's access to marine space. This qualitative case study draws on interviews, observation, and documentation. Findings show that the struggle over marine space in Lifuleo unfolds through spatial reproduction by state infrastructure, which paves the way for territorialisation and erodes community access. These findings suggest that when state authority and corporate interest merge, as in State Electricity Company (PLN)'s dual legitimacy regime, citizen access becomes especially difficult to contest, pointing to the need for frameworks that separate state and corporate accountability in Indonesia's marine resource governance.
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