Your Next “Landlord” Will Not Be Ethiopian: How Globalization Undermines the Poor

Abstract

This chapter challenges the notion of the developmental state and survival of the fittest model of the current government of Ethiopia, which gives foreigners a golden deal to scramble for the fertile farmlands of Ethiopia. The deal, in the name of foreign investment in land for development, has forced indigenous peasants out of their land and livelihood, into a life of destitution and social chaos, while helping elites and politicians get richer. It argues that the lack of land ownership, good governance, democracy, freedom, and transparency, and existence of rampant corruption and ethnic-elite-based growth would increase poverty, socioeconomic malaise, and hamper the nation’s development.