A model of adaptive capacity through collective action in regional disaster mitigation governance in Mamuju Regency, West Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Disaster mitigation governance increasingly requires attention to adaptive capacity as a process developed through interaction among actors rather than as a fixed set of resources or institutional attributes. In multihazard settings such as Mamuju Regency, West Sulawesi, this perspective helps explain how actors reorganise in response to disruption. This study examined how collective action contributed to adaptive capacity in local disaster mitigation governance in Mamuju Regency. This interpretive qualitative case study included 35 participants from disaster management agencies, local government institutions, volunteer organisations, and civil society. Data were generated through in-depth interviews, multistakeholder focus group discussions (FGDs), and institutional documents and analysed using thematic coding, interpretive reconstruction, and process tracing. Four interconnected mechanisms were identified: trust formation, adaptive coordination, social learning, and resource mobilisation. Their effects were visible in the reorganisation of communication and coordination during disruption. Adaptive capacity developed unevenly: absorptive capacity was most clearly observed, anticipatory capacity remained emerging, and transformative capacity was developing and conditional on the institutionalisation of learning and collaborative practices. Collective action did not automatically generate adaptive capacity; its contribution depended on whether interaction produced observable and sustained changes in preparedness, learning, coordination, and institutional adjustment. Contribution: The study provides a process-based explanation linking structural risk conditions, crisis-triggered interaction, collective-action mechanisms, adaptive outcomes, differentiated adaptive capacity, and governance adjustment.

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