The Impact of Rent-Seeking on Barriers to Community Development: An Integrated Literature Review

Abstract

Markets, as a cornerstone of the national economy, are often distorted by rent-seeking practices, where actors pursue personal gains through manipulation of policies and state resources rather than efficiency, thereby hindering competition and fostering injustice. This study analyzes the influence of rent-seeking on the dynamics of economic power and how this relationship shapes policies that impede community development in terms of resource distribution, public participation, and social justice, utilizing a qualitative approach with library research and interpretive content analysis. lack of in-depth study on how rent-seeking practices specifically weaken the capacity of communities to develop justly and sustainably, as well as their concrete impact on citizen participation in the development process. The research reveals that the phenomenon of rent-seeking in Indonesia follows a complex and systematic pattern, involving corruption, policy lobbying, and resource monopolization by political actors, bureaucracy, and business entities. This concentrates wealth and power, distorts market mechanisms, exacerbates inequality, and erodes public trust. In conclusion, rent-seeking is a systemic phenomenon in Indonesia's political economy that damages the economic order, undermines democratic foundations, and obstructs equitable and sustainable development, leading to weakened market competitiveness, hindered innovation, increased inequality, and reduced public participation.