Editor’s Introduction: Beyond the Aporia of Development Projects

In this issue, the editor frames general development issues as a project with the capacity to create new spaces for the face of humanity. It is a space for contestation that simultaneously presupposes capital investment and requires human mobility. Edwards Said, a theorist who played a critical role in creating space for the voices of marginalized social groups through post-colonial studies, recognizes the structures of dominance that underpin processes social development. 1 Bureaucratic administration is an inherent component of development. While time pressures seem to be tied to budget reporting models as a means of justification, development projects are run by financial standards; the origin of the funds obtained is a separate issue. Modernist theorists who believe that investment is the main driver of development projects establish recommendations for how the State can absorb and distribute money. 2 Unfortunately, to become a monetary institution responsive enough to manage development funds, the State needs to prepare to become an institution that can offer its resources to parties interested in investing. In addition to having resources that are in demand by the market, creating ‘investment security’ is an important prerequisite. In this sense, citizens who are considered the subject of development projects are transformed into political entities that are subject to government programs. Even if there were an opportunity to negotiate with the State, citizens (subjects) would be faced with complex formal legal regulations or other binding normative rules. At the local level, this could clash with individual’s belief in free will, determination, and the ability to create meaning in their social practices. Herbert Marcuse, one of the leading theorists of the Frankfurt School, sees the fundamental issue between freedom and the need to enter society as the point where the subject is transformed into a bureaucratic social being. 3 Max Weber’s analysis of the development of the capitalist system by creating bureaucratic networks is a central issue that accompanies development projects. 4 In other words, development becomes an important lens through which to see how liberal ideology appears as an economic system. Therefore, it is important to place Karl Marx's reading of the scenario of capitalism using rationality as an instrument for interpreting the subject as part


Beyond the Aporia of Development Projects
In this issue, the editor frames general development issues as a project with the capacity to create new spaces for the face of humanity. It is a space for contestation that simultaneously presupposes capital investment and requires human mobility. Edwards Said, a theorist who played a critical role in creating space for the voices of marginalized social groups through post-colonial studies, recognizes the structures of dominance that underpin processes social development. 1 Bureaucratic administration is an inherent component of development. While time pressures seem to be tied to budget reporting models as a means of justification, development projects are run by financial standards; the origin of the funds obtained is a separate issue. Modernist theorists who believe that investment is the main driver of development projects establish recommendations for how the State can absorb and distribute money. 2 Unfortunately, to become a monetary institution responsive enough to manage development funds, the State needs to prepare to become an institution that can offer its resources to parties interested in investing.
In addition to having resources that are in demand by the market, creating 'investment security' is an important prerequisite. In this sense, citizens who are considered the subject of development projects are transformed into political entities that are subject to government programs. Even if there were an opportunity to negotiate with the State, citizens (subjects) would be faced with complex formal legal regulations or other binding normative rules.
At the local level, this could clash with individual's belief in free will, determination, and the ability to create meaning in their social practices. Herbert Marcuse, one of the leading theorists of the Frankfurt School, sees the fundamental issue between freedom and the need to enter society as the point where the subject is transformed into a bureaucratic social being. 3 Max Weber's analysis of the development of the capitalist system by creating bureaucratic networks is a central issue that accompanies development projects. 4 In other words, development becomes an important lens through which to see how liberal ideology appears as an economic system. Therefore, it is important to place Karl Marx's reading of the scenario of capitalism using rationality as an instrument for interpreting the subject as part ii | Editor's Inroduction: Beyond the Aporia of Development Projects of the production chain and accumulating capital. 5 Both Marx and Weber saw the tendency of capitalist economic systems to progressively change the world.
Commodity trade becomes a means to generate profits as well as an explanation for a social change. The need to rationalize the means of production while creating a shift in capitalist ideology is a way to create dependence on the global political system. It was created to connect and accelerate the flow of capital accumulation. Despite being presented to encourage the balancing of economic access, in practice, the benefits and surplus value accumulate in the hands of a small number of people and is concentrated in certain production areas.
Alif Ulfa sees the release of the cultural roots of citizens when they meet formal structures and outside themselves. At the same time, detachment from cultural formation is accompanied by efforts to achieve a new identity that is intertwined with the social space in which they live. It becomes interesting when the image of the city is transformed into a dominant space of identity affirmation where claims of ownership and eligibility consistently reinforce the superiority of the dominant group. Dominance, in this case, not only refers to the issue of numbers, but to cultural formations that place certain groups above others.
Behind domination, there is a long narrative of subject's and citizen's search for economic access within the framework of regional development. The Hindus of Sidoarjo are the subject's way of blending into a city with industrial characteristics and migrant workers who enliven the city's atmosphere. Sidoarjo was formed to expand the industrial area. While, of course, this does not necessarily present opportunities for a great variety of workers, it makes it possible to absorb the presence of workers with varied backgrounds. In this respect, Sidoarjo's Hindus developed a narrative that places them as part of civil society. This aligns with Prasetyo's argument that the dynamics that accompany the emergence of religious adherents must be a public concern so that civil society knowledge is filled with emancipatory spirit. 6 It is important to note that the need for recognition is not limited to the State and its formal rules relating to the acceptance of religious diversity. Moreover, the cultural space between the marginal and the dominant needs to be discussed constructively to enable cultural articulation and protect multiculturalism.
The formality of the regulations adopted and implemented by the State, as well as their inherent and binding legal consequences, are issues that need serious reflection. 7 According to Harison Citrawan, the issue is seen as part of legal practice which often loses its conscience in pursuing formal logic. The positivist legal approach is a commonly accepted as the method through which to translate state sovereignty through legal certainty. Behind the provisions and standardization of interpreting legal texts, the author sees variations in the trial process as well as in the way court decisions are made. The imagined law lives and develops in a society that reflects the complexity of a country's development structure and can present intimacy.

iii | JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUES
The intimacy of legal products is not possible without citizens who emotionally change along with law enforcement officials who listen and live with other citizens. The existence of an apparatus that is perceived to be separated by walls of identity or social status needs to be put in place as a strategy to present a humanist society while at the same time promoting the values of a multicultural society. An offer that is impossible to be naive just because the law needs certainty and stipulation. However, it must also be seen that the law lives in a society that continues to change according to the spirit of the times.
The development of economic structures and presentation of the government as a repressive entity is a way to control citizens. Consequently, law enforcement has distanced itself from the community. In this case, the political, economic, and legal structures seem to work in unison to create certainty for the development program. Meanwhile, what happened to civil society was quite the opposite. Creativity and the will to survive are the forces that create alternatives.
Mohammad Afifuddin saw how established social structures practiced by the state in a bureaucratic network could not slow the pace of change. These changes, which have become the setting of his research, cannot be separated from how the government is solidified by corruption, collusion, and nepotism. It was encouraging the failure of the State in facing the dynamics of the global economy. The findings offered by the researchers mark the establishment of social networks of trust and awareness through which profits can be shared in the economy of gold craftsmanship. In this context, development is nothing but a way for citizens to find space to emphasize economic activities through a series of cultural practices.
Alif Ulfa, Harison Citrawan, and M. Afifuddin all discuss how development always leaves room for interpretation in the Indonesia context. However, the changes that occur through development can create contradictions in local spaces. While some groups benefit from these policies, many others are 'left behind,' experiencing negative impacts due to the exacerbation of social inequality.
Tope Shola Akinyetun has extensively researched development in the African region, especially in Nigeria. In particular, the author highlights the narratives raised by youth when development fails to provide a cultural space that can guarantee economic and social freedom and security. This draws attention to the intimate relationship between poverty and development projects. But what I want to underline here are the problems experienced by young people. With the ability to gain access to technology and where education and skills do not necessarily secure economic space, many will turn to criminal acts.
It is important to note that the discontinuity of the economic structure and legal formalities are issues that need to be carefully looked at to support young people. Thus, development that does not acknowledge and present opportunities for youth carries the possibility of alienating them in the space of economic competition. In Tope Shola Akinyetun's research, youth and development settings are discussed comprehensively by continuing to disseminate the needs of citizens, bringing them together with the framework of law enforcement.
Interesting stories come from Nepal, as voiced by Anil and friends. The authors emphasize the case of development that systematically fails to address gender inequality. While this is also the case in many countries, with the ability to analyze statistical data, the iv | Editor's Inroduction: Beyond the Aporia of Development Projects researchers have succeeded in framing Nepal's patriarchal structure as an ideological force that actually thrives on and dominates the cultural area in the modern era. Furthermore, the research in the South Asian region discusses emancipatory and humanist development practices.
The sociological analysis presented by the five authors in this edition reflects development as a humanitarian project that may never end. Citizens' flexibility and government reflection are the keys to restrain the pace of market and global economic liberalization. Although the temptation to accept and surrender to the dynamics of the financial structure is often recommended, it is important to direct the course of development programs while reducing inequality and poverty.
This edition could not have been published without the hard work of the journal team, especially colleagues who are willing to review articles registered with CSI. Then to students who dedicate themselves to enter the academic world. As an editor I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Cindy, Ivanna, Wawan, Dido, and Wildan. Their assistance enabled these articles to appear in development discourse as a strategic issue. Thanks to the Centre of Human Rights, Multiculturalism, and Migration (CHRM2) and to Advanced Studies on Socio Economics Development (ASEED) for supporting and providing a platform for studying the complexities and issues of social structure. Finally, the editor would like to convey that development is not just a matter of rising against crimes and humanity where ignorance and neglect are serious problems. More than that, development is a way to recognize the essence of life where humans are mutually bound by promises given to nature and the future.
Happy reading and fighting for humanity.
Dien Vidia Rosa Editors in Chief