Transmigration in Indonesia: A Systematic Review of Policy Direction, Socio-Ecological Impacts, and Implications for Village Administration (1959-2025)

Indonesia's transmigration program, as a long-term policy instrument, has left a complex and often contradictory socio-ecological legacy. This article presents the results of a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of 43 studies to analyze policy evolution, identify patterns of impact, and extract implications for village governance from 1959 to 2025. This synthesis reveals three key findings. First, transmigration policy underwent a paradigm shift from a state-oriented and socially engineered system (1959–1999) to a complex and often uncoordinated multilevel governance system (2015–2025). Second, socio-ecological impacts demonstrate a consistent pattern of massive transformation of ecological landscapes and various threats to local communities, albeit offset by social capital-based adaptation practices. Third, the success of post-transmigration rural governance relies heavily on local adaptive capacities such as inclusive leadership and knowledge networks. The three-era periodization used reflects the centralistic New Order regime, the post-reform transition and decentralization, and the contemporary phase with its complex and multi-level governance complexities. It is methodologically constructed based on thematic clusters and discourse shifts documented in the literature. By integrating policy analysis, political ecology, and local governance within a single synthetic framework, this study fills a gap in previous, fragmented research, while offering a more holistic and critical perspective for assessing the past and future of transmigration in Indonesia