Administrative Discretion Under Political Pressure: A Phenomenological Study of Public Officials in Indonesia

Abstract

Administrative discretion plays a central role in constitutional and administrative law, balancing legal authority and ethical responsibility in governance. Within this field, the subjective experiences of public officials exercising discretion under political pressure remain poorly understood despite their profound implications for justice and accountability. However, existing scholarship has not clearly articulated how these experiences form a research gap, particularly the absence of empirical and phenomenological accounts capturing the moral and existential struggles within discretionary decision-making. While previous studies have focused on legal frameworks and institutional procedures, little is known about how officials experience and interpret discretion as a moral and existential phenomenon. This study addresses that gap by applying an interpretive phenomenological approach (Heideggerian tradition) to explore the lived meaning of administrative discretion among Indonesian public officials. Using semi-structured, in-depth interviews with twelve participants, the research analyzed their narratives through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to uncover essential themes of moral tension, political influence, and reflective integrity. The results reveal that discretion is experienced as a continuous negotiation between legal compliance, ethical conviction, and political constraint, transforming administrative decision-making into a deeply human act of moral reasoning. These findings challenge the procedural conception of administrative discretion and emphasize its existential and ethical dimensions. The study contributes to a richer understanding of constitutional governance and highlights the need for cultivating reflective accountability in public administration. Future research should expand this phenomenological inquiry across different cultural and institutional contexts to strengthen comparative insights into the lived realities of governance.