Political Stability and Infrastructure Governance for Sustainable Development: An Institutional Analysis of Local Government Support for Indonesia’s Nusantara Capital City

Andi Nur Fiqhi Utami (Department of Political Science, Universitas Sulawesi Barat)
Herman Lawelai (Department of Government Studies, Universitas Muhammadiyah Buton)
Aco Nata Saputra (Department of Political Science, Universitas Sulawesi Barat)
Achmad Fauzi Kusmin (Department of Political Science, Universitas Sulawesi Barat)
Citra N Fariaty (Department of Political Science, Universitas Sulawesi Barat)
Endriady Edy Abidin (Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Limerick)

Journal of Contemporary Governance and Public Policy
Vol. 7 No. 1 (2026): (April 2026)

This study examines how political stability, infrastructure governance, and sustainable development shape West Sulawesi’s role as a supporting region for Indonesia’s Nusantara Capital City, and its alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). Using a sequential mixed-methods design, it triangulates policy documents, interviews, and 100 news articles coded in NVivo 12 Plus. Findings indicate that infrastructure development, especially roads, ports, and energy systems, is the strongest policy driver, reinforced by local government coordination and public–private partnerships. Institutional reliability functions as governance capital, sustaining policy continuity and strengthening accountability. Nevertheless, sustainability integration remains partial, constraining progress towards SDG 9 Targets 9.1 and 9.4 and SDG 11 Targets 11.3, 11.6, and 11.b. Reliance on discourse-based evidence and a cross-sectional timeframe limits causal inference and long-term sustainability assessment. Future research should adopt longitudinal designs, comparative buffer-region analyses, and quantitative sustainability indicators.