Optimizing the Concept of Welfare State and Good Governance in

the Prevention of Social Conflict

Arie Kartika., SH., MH.

, Dessy Agustina Harahap., SH., MH.

Boy Iskandar

Lecturer in Faculty of Law, Medan Area University, Jalan Kolam No. 1, Medan, Indonesia

Lecturer in Faculty of Sociologi and Political Sciences, University of Sumatera Utara, Jl. Abdul Hakim No. 4, Medan,

Indonesia

Keywords: Concept of Welfare State, Good Govenance, Prevention of Social Conflict.

Abstract: Conflict is a consequence of altruism, solidarity and awareness, used to direct the community members to

take action that can support each other as a whole. An ultimate form of conflict is primarily concerned with

conflicts among small groups within society. In other words, any difference is a potential conflict, which if

not handled properly, can turn into an open conflict. This research is a normative research with empirical

approach that is used to obtain the complete data as the base of writing scientific papers. This research is

descriptive analytical research, consisting of one variable or more than one variable. To ensure the

fulfillment of basic needs of citizens and social welfare, governments at both the central and regional levels

through their policies are obliged to provide the fulfillment of the right to basic needs, the provision of

social welfare, and the protection of the people, in which the policies are issued in the form of regulation to

the concept of welfare state and good governance so that regulations and policies can prevent and minimize

the occurrence of social conflict in Indonesia.

1 INTRODUCTION

The state is a composite of various social groups that

share common language, cultural and historical

backgrounds. The purpose of the establishment of

the state of Indonesia is to protect the whole of

Indonesia's blood sphere, to educate the life of the

nation and to create common prosperity.

Another purpose of the state is to maintain and

guarantee basic human rights (Busroh, 2010):

1. Right to life (leven);

2. Right to body (lijf);

3. Right to property (vermogen);

4. Right to honor (eer);

5. Right to independence (vrij heid).

The state is a social institution held by man to

meet his vital needs. As a social institution, a state is

not intended to meet the special needs of a particular

group of people, but to meet the needs of all the

people of the country (Huda, 2011). According to

Plato in his book Republic, the state arises because

of the needs of mankind. There is no human being

who can meet all his own needs, whereas each

person has many needs. To meet the needs of many

not individually, a state is then formed (Huda, 2011).

Similarly, in the opinion of Aristotle, the state is

formed and maintained because the state aims to

organize a good life for all citizens (Huda, 2011).

Bureaucracy comes from the word bureau of

French which means tablecloth worn on a table to

serve people. Bureaucracy is the ideal type of

rational society in Weber's idea. Ideally, bureaucracy

is a form of organization that has a hierarchy, a

specialization of roles and a high level of

competence shown by trained officials to fill

bureaucratic roles so effectively and efficiently

(Sinambela, 2006). In practice, the ways that

bureaucracy runs are too procedural, so convoluted

that it is ineffective and efficient in completing a

job. In relation to power, the bureaucracy becomes

an instrument to regulate the apparatus as well as

regulate its society. As a system, the bureaucracy is

a stable and not dependent on the quality of the

individuals in it because bureaucracy is a form of

joint action and has a definite goal to be achieved

(Lauer, 2004).

Modern bureaucracy carries a fairer mission,

faster, better and cheaper. To that end, David Osborn

and Ted Gaebler in the "Reinventing Government"

Kartika, A., Harahap, D. and Iskandar, B.

Optimizing the Concept of Welfare State and Good Governance in the Prevention of Social Conﬂict.

DOI: 10.5220/0008884102910296

In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research (ICMR 2018) - , pages 291-296

ISBN: 978-989-758-437-4

291

or entrepreneural government suggest a change of

governance orientation, including Entrepreneural

Government as a public service management with

features such as (Osborn and Gaebler, 1997):

1. Promoting competition,

2. Being able to empower the community by

limiting the role of bureaucracy, and

outcome oriented,

3. Using mission rather than the rule as the

driving force,

4. Trying as much as possible to prevent and

solve any problem,

5. Using all the potential that exists to make

money rather than spend it,

6. Prioritizing decentralization and

encouraging participation,

7. Adopting market mechanisms in public

service management, as well as

8. Prioritizing the role of catalyst rather than a

public service manager.

In addition to the basic features above, public

services also have the following characteristics: first,

in public service activities by government

organizations there is no balanced relationship

between cost and revenue. As a result, there is often

a tendency that government organizations raise

service costs; secondly, there are several alternative

institutional management, namely by giving the

authority of public service to the private sector. The

granting of authority to the private sector can

explain to us that both government organizations and

private organizations can act as buyers and sellers /

producers in the provision of public services or act

as both (Pratikno, 2004). From the description

above, the role of government bureaucracy is very

large in realizing the general welfare and preventing

the occurrence of conflict of interest among

community groups, but if the government

bureaucracy fails in realizing that goal, then there

will be a conflict of interest in society that leads to

social conflict.

Conflict is a consequence of altruism, solidarity

and awareness, social as they are a means for groups

to be able to direct their members to take action that

can support each other and gain support from the

group as a whole (Scott, 2012). An ultimate form of

conflict is primarily concerned with conflicts among

small groups within society and most of the

competitions are between individuals and groups.

Ratzenhover sees conflict is driven by individual

interests and psychological urges. The interests of

health, prosperity, sociability, knowledge, beauty,

and morality are the foundation for the formation

and inclusion of groups into competition to master

the resources necessary to pursue those interests

(Scott, 2012). Conflicts are defined as situations and

conditions where there is conflict and violence in

resolving issues between fellow members of society,

between communities and governments and between

communities and business organizations in a region.

The situations and conditions of the conflict

include disagreements over differences in social,

economic, political and religious views. These

situations and conditions have the potential to create

conflict but have not occurred in the form of

physical and psychological-traumatic violence. The

situations and conditions in which violence exists as

a means of resolving the problem are a further stage

of the conflict of opinion. Furthermore, Chris

Mitchel proposes the formulation of the conflict,

namely the relationship between two or more parties

(individuals or groups) who have, or who feel

possess, objectives that are not in line. Violence

includes actions, sayings, attitudes of various

structures or systems that cause physical, mental,

social or environmental damage, and / or prevents a

person from reaching his full potential (Naskah

Akademik RUU Penanganan Konflik Sosial).

Another understanding of the conflict is put

forward by Robin. Robin argues that conflict as a

process that begins when a party feels that another

party has a negative influence on it or when a party

feels its interests negatively affecting the other. In

that sense, the nature of the conflict covers a very

wide range, ranging from vague disagreements to

acts of violence. In other words, any of these

differences are potential conflicts, which if not

handled properly, may turn into an open conflict

(Naskah Akademik RUU Penanganan Konflik

Sosial).

2 FORMULATION THE

PROBLEM

How to implement the concept of welfare state and

good governance in preventing social conflict?

3 RESEARCH METHODS

This research is a normative research with empirical

approach that is used to obtain the complete data as

the base of writing scientific papers. This research is

descriptive analytical research, namely research

consisting of one variable or more than one variable.

ICMR 2018 - International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research

292

However, the variables are mutually interrelated so-

called analytical descriptive research, and the data

analysis used is a qualitative approach to the primary

data and secondary data (Marzuki, 2009).

4 LITERATURE REVIEW

4.1 Welfare State

The concept of a welfare state or social service state

is a country whose government is fully responsible

for meeting the basic social and economic needs of

every citizen to achieve a minimum standard of

living (Atmosudirdjo, 1986). The concept of welfare

state is characteristic of a modern government or a

modern legal state where there is recognition and

acceptance of the role of state administration as an

active force in order to establish or create socio-

economic and environmental conditions.

Government State as the integrity of the power of

the masses must continue to adjust to the changes

and development of society or social system so as to

maintain a balance between the role and the

implementation of its functions with the goals to be

achieved. In the effort to achieve this, not only is

required alignment of the goals desired by the social

groups and economic groups contained in the state,

but also the creativity to create directed the various

social welfare conditions desired by the community.

As a consequence of the inherent function of

public services, the state administration is required

to accept positive responsibilities in terms of

creating and distributing income and wealth levels

and providing people's welfare programs. If such

positive responsibilities can be made, then the

existence of the government will grow into a large

and powerful government, be it within the scope of

function and the number of personnel required to

carry out its duties and responsibilities

(Atmosudirdjo, 1986).

The development of the role and function of state

administration brings the impact of the occurrence of

at least two important issues (Ridwan, 2002). Firstly,

with the rapid increase in the number of personal

service providers, it is assumed that there will be an

increasing number of victims as a result of

government regime suppression. The relation of

such assumptions may be reflected in the tendency

of increasing misuse and acts that harm the people in

achieving or realizing the welfare of the people.

Second, the more crucial problem is the possibility

of a concentration of power in state administration.

The possibility is more open with the granting of a

"freedom" to act on its own initiative (freies

ermessen, pauvoir discretionare) to solve the

problems at hand and needs to be resolved soon.

To avoid the negative impact of the development

of the role and function of the state administration,

the concept of a modern legal state becomes a

necessity as stated by FJ. Stahl in his conception of

the rule of law (Marbun, 2000): The state must be a

state of law, that is the motto and it is actually the

driving force of development in this new age. The

State shall determine carefully the streets and

boundaries of its activities as the environment

(atmosphere) of the citizen's freedom under the law

and shall ensure that the atmosphere of freedom is

impenetrable. The state must embody or enforce the

notion of morality in terms of the state, also directly

no further than it should be according to the legal

atmosphere.

This concept seems very relevant to the concept

of welfare state where the notion of a modern legal

state, not only to maintain security solely but

actively participate in community affairs for the

welfare of the people. The State of Indonesia is

clearly a country that applies this welfare concept, as

stated in the preamble of the 1945 Constitution in

the fourth paragraph which serves as the foundation

of national development which is implemented in

order to realize the national goals, namely:

"....................Later on, to form a government of the

State of Indonesia that protects the whole Indonesian

nation and all the blood of Indonesia and to promote

the common prosperity, educate the nation and

participate in the implementation of world order

based on freedom, eternal peace and social justice.

The concept of the welfare state as set out in the

preamble to the 1945 Constitution of the fourth

paragraph above is reinforced by the statement in

Article 1 Paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution of

the 4th Amendment result of 2002 that the State of

Indonesia is a State of Law. Logical consequences

that must be faced as a state law and welfare state

according to Sjachran Basah, in finding the choice of

which law should be used in the life of society,

especially in Indonesia, the conditio sine qua non

law must have five functions (Basah, 1986):

1. Directive, namely as a steering in

development to form a society to be

achieved in accordance with the purpose of

life of the state.

2. Integrative, that is to build the unity of the

nation.

3. Stable, that is as a keeper (including into the

results of development) and guard of

Optimizing the Concept of Welfare State and Good Governance in the Prevention of Social Conﬂict

293

harmony, harmony, balance in the life of the

state and society.

4. Perfective, namely as a perfecting of the

actions of state administration and attitude

of citizens in the life of the state and society.

5. Corrective, that is against citizens and state

administration in obtaining justice.

The consequences of State obligations are in all

sectors of life and livelihood, and the responsibility

to realize the welfare of the people. Muchsan uses

the term Modern State of Law, stating that the

functions of the State of Indonesia are as follows

(Muchsan, 2000):

1. The function of security, defense, and order,

(defense, security, and protection function).

Included in this function is the function of

protection of life, property rights and other

rights in accordance with those stipulated in

legislation.

2. The function of welfare covering the social

service and social welfare. Clearly all the

activities are aimed at the realization of

social welfare and social justice for all the

people of Indonesia.

3. Educational Function covering the task of

general lighting, nation and character

building, cultural improvement and so on.

4. The function of realizing the order and the

welfare of the world (world peace and

human welfare) in a broad sense.

In line with those functions of law, the law must

be able to answer the problems arising from the

occurrence of fundamental changes in society,

especially in the era of globalization or the era of

free trade at this time through the process of

industrialization and transformation in the field of

information technology. Economic development that

will bring changes and progress in civilization and

people's welfare needs to be followed in law

development as determinant factor.

4.2 Good Governance

The concept of governance is equally as old as

human civilization. One discussion of Good

Governance can be traced from J.S. Endralin.

Governance is a term used to replace the term

government, which demonstrates the use of political,

economic, and administrative authority in managing

issues of finesse. This terminology specifically

describes the changing role of the government from

the provider to the enabler or facilitator, and the

change of ownership from the state property to the

people. The main focus of governance is

performance improvement or quality improvement

(Muchsan, 2000).

Governance means the process of decision-

making and the process by which the decision is

implemented or not implemented. Governance can

be used in several contexts such as corporate

governance, international governance, national

governance, and local governance. Governance as

the decision-making process and the process by

which the decision is implemented or not

implemented, the governance analysis focuses on the

formal and informal factors involved in decision-

making and its implementation as well as the formal

and informal structures that are structured to bring

about and implement the decisions.

The implementation of Good Governance at

various levels, both at the central level and

especially in the regions, is strongly influenced by

the understanding of the government apparatus itself

about the Good Governance insight. One of the rides

to provide Good Governance understanding to

government apparatus is through various training

which basically designed to improve the competence

of government apparatus.

Good Governance in Indonesia really started,

pioneered and applied since the eruption of

Reformation era where in that era there has been an

overhaul of the government system demanding a

clean democratic process so Good Governance is

one of the tools of Reformation that is absolutely

applied in the new government. However, when

viewed from the progress of the Reformation that

has been running for 18 years, the implementation of

Good Governance in Indonesia cannot be said to

succeed fully in accordance with the ideals of the

previous Reformation. There is still a lot of cheating

and leakage found in the management of budget and

accounting are the two main products of Good

Governance.

However, it does not mean that it fails to be

implemented. Many efforts are made by the

government in creating a good climate of Good

Governance, among others are the start of public

information transparency regarding the state budget

so as to facilitate the community to participate in

creating policies and in the process of supervising

the management of the state budget and BUMN.

Therefore, it can continue to be a reference to the

managerial accountability of the public sector so that

future is better and credible in the future. Laws,

regulations and institutions supporting the

implementation of Good governance are formed.

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This is very different when compared to the public

sector in the Old Order era with many politicized

management and also in the New Order era where

the public sector is placed as an agent of

development rather than as a business entity so it is

still thick with a regime that greatly inhibits the birth

of Good Governance-based governance.

Government domains play more of a role as

policy maker, control and oversight. Private domains

are more engaged and become drivers of economic

activity. While the domain community is the object

as well as the subject of the domain government or

private domain, because in the community there is

interaction in the field of politics, economy, and

socio-culture.

When viewed from the above three domains,

government domains become the domains that play

the most important role in realizing good governance

because of the regulatory functions that facilitate the

domains of the private and public business sector, as

well as the administrative functions of governance

embedded in this domain. The role of government

through its public policies is crucial in facilitating

the occurrence of the correct market mechanisms so

that the deviations that occur can be avoided.

Therefore, the main challenge of realizing good

governance is about how to realize these three

domains in daily government practice, dividing the

proportional role between government and civil

society and market mechanisms and developing

synergies from all three.

5 RESULT AND DICUSSION

Implementation of the concept of welfare state and

good governance especially in the form of public

policy is not only concerned with the mechanism of

elaboration of political decisions into routine

procedures through bureaucratic channels, but also

concerns the issue of conflict, decision, and who

gets what from a Policy. Therefore, Wahab mentions

that policy implementation is an important aspect of

the overall policy process (Anggara, 2012).

In general, implementation connects the policy

objectives to the results of government activities.

Ineffectiveness of the implementation of a policy is

caused by limited human resources, inadequate

organizational structure, and coordination with

stakeholders (Anggara, 2012). Understanding policy

implementation is simply formulated by Wahab as a

process of implementing policy decisions, usually in

the form of laws, government regulations, judicial

decisions, executive orders, or presidential decrees

(Anggara, 2012). Furthermore Wahab also puts

forward some views of Pressman and Wildavsky

stating that the verb to implement is properly related

directly to the noun policy (Anggara, 2012).

Good governance is a doctrine that requires a

governance to be properly managed, true and full of

integrity, which has some of the following key

elements (Fuady, 2009):

1. Elements of Transparency;

2. Elements of Justice;

3. Public Accountability Elements;

4. Elements of Responsibility;

5. Clean Government Elements;

6. Elements of Responsiveness;

7. Effectiveness and Efficiency Elements;

8. Predictability Elements;

9. Public Participation Elements;

10. Consensus Approach Elements;

11. Law Enforcement Elements;

12. Equal Protection Elements;

13. Elements of Respect for Ethical

Appreciation and Public Morality;

14. Strategic Vision Elements;

15. Elements of Participation;

16. Competency Elements of a Competency;

17. Elements of the Social Welfare Approach.

Implementation of the concept of welfare state

and good governance into the regulation can lead the

government to avoid reprehensible actions, such as

preventing various forms of overstated activities or

state finances, dishonesty in conducting state

activities, and the realization of social welfare.

Social welfare is a manifestation of the effort to

achieve the nation's goals set forth in the Fifth

Principle of Pancasila, namely Social Justice for All

Indonesian People, as well as the mandate of the

Preamble of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic

of Indonesia to protect the entire Indonesian nation

and the entire Indonesian blood sphere, promote the

common prosperity , educate the life of the nation,

and participate in implementing the world order

based on independence, eternal peace, and social

justice. The problem of social welfare that is

developing today shows that there are citizens who

have not fulfilled the right to their basic needs

properly because they have not received social

services from the state. As a result, there are still

citizens who experience barriers to the

implementation of social functions that can not lead

a decent and dignified life. This if left unchecked

will trigger social conflict in society

Article 34 Paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution

of the Republic of Indonesia gives the state

Optimizing the Concept of Welfare State and Good Governance in the Prevention of Social Conﬂict

295

obligation to care for the poor and neglected

children. One form of implementation of the state's

obligations, the central government and local

government through its bureaucracy policy

provideing social rehabilitation, social security,

social empowerment, and social protection in

ensuring the fulfillment of the basic needs of poor

and needy citizens.

Generally, social conflicts occur because of

inequality in society so that social jealousy leasd to

social conflict, and to prevent it, the government

must realize social welfare in Indonesia to achieve

social welfare, the role of community, family,

religious organizations, social organizations, non-

governmental organizations, professional

organizations, business entities and social welfare

institutions in order to achieve good social welfare.

To ensure the fulfillment of basic needs of citizens

and social welfare, governments at both the central

and regional levels through their policies are obliged

to provide the fulfillment of the right to basic needs,

the provision of social welfare, and the protection of

the people, in which the policies are issued in the

form of regulation to the concept of welfare state

and good governance so that regulations and policies

can prevent and minimize the occurrence of social

conflict in Indonesia.

6 CONCLUSION

Implementation of the concept of welfare state and

good governance into the regulation can lead the

government to avoid reprehensible actions, such as

preventing various forms of overstated activities or

state finances, dishonesty in conducting state

activities, and the realization of social welfare.

Social welfare is a manifestation of the effort to

achieve the nation's goals set forth in the Fifth

Principle of Pancasila, namely Social Justice for All

Indonesian People, as well as the mandate of the

Preamble of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic

of Indonesia to protect the entire Indonesian nation

and the entire Indonesian blood sphere, promote the

common prosperity , educate the life of the nation,

and participate in implementing the world order

based on independence, eternal peace, and social

justice. To ensure the fulfillment of basic needs of

citizens and social welfare, governments at both the

central and regional levels through their policies are

obliged to provide the fulfillment of the right to

basic needs, the provision of social welfare, and the

protection of the people, in which the policies are

issued in the form of regulation to the concept of

welfare state and good governance so that

regulations and policies can prevent and minimize

the occurrence of social conflict in Indonesia.

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