Landowners or laborers: What choice will developing countries make?

During 2012, a key choice facing developing countries revealed itself ever more starkly. Would they choose a development path built on inclusiveness, respect for the rights of their citizens, and the rule of law? Or would they seek a short-cut to development and opt to hand over community land and natural resources to international investors and national elites? Would they turn their rural citizens from landowners into landless laborers? The inequalities and disempowerment resulting from these extractive political and economic systems are replicating the “resource curse,” in which nations become trapped in poverty and are riven by resentment and internal conflict, with growing risks of political turmoil.