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Journal articles on the topic 'Ethiopian politics'
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1
Thompson, Daniel K. "Border crimes, extraterritorial jurisdiction, and the racialization of sovereignty in the Ethiopia–British Somaliland borderlands during the 1920s." Africa 90, no. 4 (August 2020): 746–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0001972020000303.
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AbstractThis article argues that the politics of extraterritorial jurisdiction in the 1920s reshaped relations between ethnicity and territorial sovereignty in Ethiopia's eastern borderlands. A 1925 criminal trial involving Gadabursi Somalis began as what Britons deemed a ‘tribal matter’ to be settled through customary means, but became a struggle for Ethiopia's regent, Ras Tafari, to assert Ethiopia's territorial authority and imperial sovereignty. British claims of extraterritorial jurisdiction over Somalis amidst 1920s global geopolitical shifts disrupted existing practices of governance in Ethiopia's eastern borderlands and created a dilemma for Ethiopian authorities. In order to uphold international obligations, Ethiopian officials effectively had to revoke their sovereignty over some Somalis indigenous to Ethiopia. Yet Britons’ practical application of extraterritoriality to Somalis was predicated on assumed racial differences between Somalis and highland Ethiopians (‘Abyssinians’). Thus, Ethiopia's recognition of British extraterritorial jurisdiction would lend legitimacy to claims exempting Somalis from Ethiopian sovereignty due to differences in identity. The case reveals how assertions about race, nationality and ‘tribal’ identity articulated to subordinate Ethiopian rule to British interests and, in the longer term, to delegitimize Ethiopian governance over Somalis.
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ASSEFA, ANDEBET HAILU, and BELAYNEH TAYE GEDIFEW. "SYMBOLIC VALUES AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE GRAND ETHIOPIAN RENAISSANCE DAM PROJECT IN ETHIOPIAN IDENTITY POLITICS." Skhid, no. 1(2) (July 1, 2021): 5–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.21847/1728-9343.2021.1(2).229192.
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This paper attempts to show how the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) ’s economic and political gains could help develop a shared outlook to regulate Ethiopia’s opposing political trajectories, i.e., the ethnocentric and pan-Ethiopian nationalist camps. Presently, different ethnic-based “in-group and out-group” contrasting political discourses have dominated Ethiopian polity. The paper reviews and exposes relevant philosophical concepts, including “mirror identity,” primordial and instrumental conception of ethnicity. Notably, following Anderson’s (2006) line of thought, nationalism as a “cultural artefact” and expression of an “imagined community,” the paper argues that GERD could serve as a shared symbolic and developmental language to reshape Ethiopian national consciousness and imagination by improving the political and economic domains of the country. Accordingly, the GERD covertly or overtly helps reform the polity’s self-recognition mechanisms and circuitously re-approaches outstanding political differences by inspiring trust-based relations among major political actors. Ethnocentric motivations raise political questions such as secession, the right to linguistic and cultural recognition, economic equality, and political security and representation by using their respective ethnic lines as means of political mobilization. In current Ethiopia, political identities have been practically blended with ethnic identity. In this sense, as diverse ethnic groups exist, political borders sustain among the multiple ethnic-based nationalists and between pan-Ethiopian and ethnocentric actors. Thus, a comprehensive dialogue and constructive political cross-fertilization are required between various political actors, horizontally and vertically, among ethnocentric nationalists and the pan-Ethiopian advocates. In Ethiopia, the realization of internal political consensus requires an instantaneous remedial mechanism. Accordingly, the politically drawn antithetical ethnic demarcations and occasionally fabricated historical narratives have undeniably pushed politics into unfavourable conditions. That is why, as the paper maintains that developmental projects such as the GERD would have pertinent economic and political mechanisms to developing a national sentiment, which in turn symbolically facilitate national consensus among the major political actors. Hence, borrowing Fukuyama’s (2018) notion of “creedal national identity”, one could resonate that developmental projects can help realize symbolic worth by constructively enabling citizens to recognize their countries’ foundational ideals and elevating common factors. The present paper does not examine the GERD project’s external geopolitical and legal concerns concerning scope, although these topics are worth examining for further investigations.
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Hafkin, Nancy J. "“Whatsupoch” on the Net: The Role of Information and Communication Technology in the Shaping of Transnational Ethiopian Identity." Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 15, no. 2-3 (March 2011): 221–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.15.2-3.221.
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The Ethiopian diaspora is using the Internet increasingly to reflect on its identity, to forge new communities, and to promote cultural innovation. This essay tracks the close association of information and communication technologies (ICTs) with the emergence of the Ethiopian diaspora since 1980, setting forth a series of brief case studies illustrating the role of ICTs among different Ethiopian ethnic communities. It documents the manner in which ICTs shape socialization and address questions of return to homeland; it also explores the way in which Ethiopians have exploited new media and their technical innovations. The essay concludes with an account of ways in which freedom of expression and access to technology enable diaspora Ethiopians to have public discussions and circulate critiques of Ethiopian politics and culture that could not have taken place in Ethiopia, which is not only at the bottom of the digital divide but has exercised censorship over a number of homeland Ethiopian Web sites and blogs. (16 January 2009)
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Lyons, Terrence. "Transnational Politics in Ethiopia: Diasporas and the 2005 Elections." Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 15, no. 2-3 (March 2011): 265–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.15.2-3.265.
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Beginning with a discussion of new political processes in transnational social networks, this essay presents Ethiopians in North America as a conflict-generated transnational diaspora closely involved in homeland politics. The essay surveys a range of key diaspora political organizations and media, detailing their involvement in the dramatic political events surrounding the Ethiopian election in 2005. The critical and creative roles that the Ethiopian diaspora played—in framing political events and as a gatekeeper for opposition strategies—provided essential support for the homeland’s opposition parties both during and after the election. (6 March 2009)
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Hagmann, Tobias. "Beyond clannishness and colonialism: understanding political disorder in Ethiopia's Somali Region, 1991–2004." Journal of Modern African Studies 43, no. 4 (October 24, 2005): 509–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022278x05001205.
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This article proposes an alternative interpretation of political disorder in Ethiopia's Somali Regional State since the rise to power of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1991. Some observers have perceived contemporary politics in the former Ogaden as an example of ‘internal colonisation’ by highland Ethiopians. Others attribute political instability to the ‘nomadic culture’ inherent in the Somali clan structure and the ineptness of its political leaders. This study argues that neither of these two politicised narratives grasps the contradictory interactions between the federal Ethiopian government and its Somali periphery, nor the recursive relations between state and society. With reference to the literature on neo-patrimonialism, I elucidate political disorder in the Somali Region by empirically describing hybrid political domination, institutional instability, and patronage relations, showing how neo-patrimonial rule translates into contested statehood in the region and political devices ranging from military coercion to subtle co-optation. Rather than unilateral domination, a complex web of power and manipulation between parts of the federal and regional authorities animates political disorder in Ethiopia's Somali Region.
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Kemal, Maiftah Mohammed. "Ethnic-Based Party Systems, Culture of Democracy, and Political Transition in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Political Transition in Ethiopia." Afrika Tanulmányok / Hungarian Journal of African Studies 13, no. 5. (January 20, 2021): 51–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.15170/at.2019.13.5.4.
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According to David Easton, “Politics involves change; and the political world is a world of flux, tensions, and transitions” (Miftah, 2019: 1). Ethiopia’s history of political transition fits the conceptualization of politics as changes and the political world as a world of flux. Political transition in Ethiopia has been dominantly tragic. Atse Tewodros II’s political career ended in the tragedy of Meqdela (1868), Atse Yohannes IV’s reign culminated in the ‘Good Friday in Metema’ (1889), while Menelik’s political career ended peacefully, and that of his successor, Iyasu, ended in tragedy before his actual coronation (1916). The emperor was overthrown in a coup in 1974, and Mengistu’s regime came to an end when he fled the country for Zimbabwe (1991). (Miftah, 2019) Thus far, revolutions, peasant upheavals, and military coup d’états have been political instruments of regime change in Ethiopia. What is missing in the Ethiopian experience of transition so far is the changing of governments through elections. This article discusses the challenges and opportunities for a political transition in Ethiopia using comparative data analysis and various presentation methods.
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Gardachew, Bewuketu Dires, Gebeyehu Mengesha Kefale, and Getahun Antigegn Kumie. "The Pitfalls of Ethnolinguistic-Based Federal Experiment in Ethiopia." RUDN Journal of Political Science 21, no. 4 (December 15, 2019): 661–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.22363/2313-1438-2019-21-4-661-672.
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In 1991, when Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) became a leading party within the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Ethiopia introduced a system of ethnic-based federalism, which had never been practiced in the political history of the state before. The recognition of Ethiopian ethnic diversity became one of the country’s fundamental principles, with the federal system largely consisting of ethnic-based territorial units. Since its inception, Ethiopia's ethnic federalism has been the subject of heated debate among various political organizations in the country, as well as among observers and scholars both in and outside the country. The key objective of this paper is to appraise the pitfalls of ethnic-based federalism in Ethiopia, which has been functioning in the country for more than two and half decades. The authors believe ethnic-based federalism to be a political arrangement that succeeds to maintain balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces. They see it as an appropriate and viable strategy for a sustainable nation-building effort in the context of Ethiopia’s ethnic diversity. At the same time, the authors observe that in the case with ethnicity-based political arrangements, unless they are implemented with maximum care, the risk outweighs the benefit. When a state like Ethiopia, which had been highly centralized for many years, is trying to experiment with a seemingly federal arrangement, the equilibrium of diversity and unity should be maintained. If the political environment focuses primarily on diversity and ignores shared values and common identity, it leaves room for the elites to manipulate the differences and pursue their own parochial political interests, which would eventually serve against the public benefit. The pioneers of Ethiopia’s ethnic federalism believe that the contemporary ethnolinguistic-based federal arrangement is a panacea for problems related to identity politics. However, the authors argue that, from a practical perspective, for the past two and half decades (probably in the future too, unless re-designed) ethnic federalism in Ethiopia has been highly politicized (manipulated by political dealers promoting their own selfish interests).
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Tronvoll, Kjetil. "Ambiguous elections: the influence of non-electoral politics in Ethiopian democratisation." Journal of Modern African Studies 47, no. 3 (July 28, 2009): 449–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022278x09004005.
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ABSTRACTThe ‘non-electoral context’ of elections is often overlooked in democratisation studies, in order not to obscure an otherwise clear model or theory of transition. A key challenge for research on democratisation processes is to balance electoral ‘formalities’ with contextual factors, qualitative perceptions and non-electoral issues, in order to reach a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of democratic transitions. This article advocates a multilayered approach to – or a ‘thick description’ of – elections, as this will capture the diversity of real life experiences and expose alternative power discourses competing with the electoralist one in influencing the path of democratisation. In so doing, it casts light on the crucial impact of the Eritrean–Ethiopian war on Ethiopia's 2005 election, in addition to other qualitative and contextual factors, which lead to the conclusion that the advancement of democracy through multiparty elections in Ethiopia under the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has failed.
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Vasudeo, Kshipra. "Ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia: Reflecting on Diversity and Ethnic Identity." East African Journal of Arts and Social Sciences 3, no. 1 (September 10, 2021): 147–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.37284/eajass.3.1.407.
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Ethiopia formed an ethnic federal system in 1991, which recognized ethnic autonomy entirely while ensuring the country’s unity. The new Constitution established a federal structure focused primarily on ethnic territorial units. The constitution ambitions to achieve ethnic freedom and equality by maintaining the state. Ethiopian politics has shifted to a federal liberal and plural system since the military dictatorship ended, as ethnic groups sought to exist under a federal structure that could preserve the country’s stability and diversity. The federal arrangement is noteworthy because its Constitution allows for the inheritance of every ethnic group. It supports an ethicised federal state with a secession mechanism and allows political parties to unite along ethnic lines. It is a worthwhile case study because it is an exception to the general trend in Africa. This paper examines how ethnic Federalism is a vital part of the Ethiopian Constitution and gives ethnic autonomy and identity in Ethiopian politics. Theoretical understanding of Federalism and ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia.
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Young, John. "Along Ethiopia's western frontier: Gambella and Benishangul in transition." Journal of Modern African Studies 37, no. 2 (June 1999): 321–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022278x9900302x.
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The lowland Ethiopian regions of Gambella and Benishangul, bordering Sudan, form a classic frontier zone. ‘Modern’ politics dates from the 1974 Ethiopian revolution, and has been shaped by developments on either side of the frontier, as well as by the complex relations among indigenous peoples, and between them and immigrants and officials from highland areas of Ethiopia. The implementation of the post-1991 Ethiopian government's programme of ethnic regionalism has intensified local rivalries, and regional governments remain weak, being highly dependent on professionals from highland Ethiopia. Education, transport links, and other indicators of development remain poor. None the less, local political power, in sharp contrast to earlier periods, has to an appreciable extent passed into the hands of indigenous leaders.
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Quinn, John James, and Seyma Akyol. "Ethiopian Foreign Policy: A Weak State or a Regional Hegemon?" Journal of Asian and African Studies 56, no. 5 (August 2021): 1094–118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00219096211007649.
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When foreign policies of states are examined, pride of place often goes to what are called high politics: the politics of diplomacy and war. However, for most developing nations, especially those in the region of sub-Saharan Africa, economic foreign policy, or low politics, may be as, or even more, important. In fact, the foreign policies of African nations are often seen as an extension of strategies to consolidate domestic political power. African leaders routinely place themselves in charge of foreign policy as a means of controlling these resource flows as well as to create some autonomy from competing domestic political forces. This is not to say that external state forces do not impinge on the ability of leaders to stay in power; however, in sub-Saharan Africa, this has been less of a priority, perhaps with the significant exception of Ethiopia. This paper seeks to show that the general foreign policy perspectives of Ethiopia from 1991 to the present have been an extension of the leaders and ruling elites trying to obtain significant sources of financial resources by exploring the general trends of how Ethiopia has engaged in international flows of resources. Examining Ethiopian foreign policy on three levels—international, regional, and domestic—this paper explains how, despite being a potential regional hegemon, Ethiopia has significant problems stemming from domestic issues of poverty and legitimacy. Moreover, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will be highlighted as a case to explore how it affects, and is impacted by, all three levels.
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Thomas, Steven W. "The Context of Multi-Ethnic Politics for Ethiopian American Literature." MELUS 45, no. 1 (2020): 117–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/melus/mlz065.
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Abstract Considering the broad conversation among African novelists about the representation of Africans in America, this essay proposes a reevaluation of Ethiopian American literature that is attentive to the historical complexity of Ethiopia’s ethnic diversity. Situating novels and memoirs in their regional context of the Horn of Africa, it highlights how writers of the Ethiopian diaspora sometimes wrestle with and other times avoid the implications of the region’s ethnic politics. Focusing on the novel The Parking Lot Attendant (2018) by Nafkote Tamirat as a case study, it compares it to how other novelists and memoirists from the region, including Dinaw Mengestu, Nega Mezlekia, Maaza Mengiste, Meti Birabiro, Rebecca Haile, and Nurrudin Farrah, have managed the burden of multi-ethnic representation. Tamirat’s novel is somewhat unique for framing the immigrant experience within the story of a political dystopia and uncanny “loneless” social relations. By analyzing Ethiopian American literature in this way, the essay critiques scholarship that has been inattentive to the complex multi-ethnic history of the region because of its focus on the alienation of Ethiopian protagonists from cross-cultural and intracultural forms of political engagement.
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Gebissa, Ezekiel. "National Integration through Political Marginalization: Contradictions of Nation-Building in Ethiopia." Northeast African Studies 21, no. 2 (October 1, 2021): 151–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.14321/nortafristud.21.2.151v.
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Abstract In Ethiopia, the nationalities question has been the most contentious political force shaping politics, engendering conflicts and obstructing national integration. In this article, I provide a historical analysis of the emergence in the 1960s of two dominant positions, “ethionationalism” and ethnonationalism, which coalesced into competing political visions of the character of the Ethiopian state. I posit that advocates of the two positions wrested power and tried to shape the state, writing constitutions and introducing political systems for governing Ethiopia. I discuss the transformation of these political positions and realignments as those in power maneuvered to deny Oromo nationalists access to political power, rejecting the idea of self-determination as a solution to the nationalities question. I conclude that the competing nationalisms have failed, and that the only way to create a stable Ethiopian state remains the position that Oromo nationalism has enunciated for half a century.
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Alemu, Amsale. "Demystifying the Image." Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 42, no. 2 (August 1, 2022): 442–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/1089201x-9987931.
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Abstract While opposition to the Ethiopian monarchy was an immediate imperative of the Ethiopian revolutionary movement, self-professed “anti-feudalism” was but one part of the political-economic object of revolutionary critique. Originating from a country famous for its legacy of African independence, and against a monarch who was a global pan-African icon, Ethiopian revolutionary opposition to Haile Selassie would require not only a politics of dissent, but also an anti-colonial framing. This article centers anti-imperialism—specifically challenges to US neo-imperialism in Ethiopia—among Ethiopian student revolutionaries in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Examining organizational writing and direct action, as well as editorials in Muhammad Speaks and The Black Panther, this article argues that US-based Ethiopian students employed demystification as a signature revolutionary tactic. They attempted to reframe Ethiopian exceptionalist narratives as currency of US neo-imperialism, drawing on arguments strengthened by engaging Black Power concepts and thinkers. Demystification, while rooted in narrative modes and historical tropes specific to Ethiopian students' location in the United States, offers a concept to think through other oppositional movements as generative of global theoretical critique. Ethiopian students not only demanded the overthrow of the monarchy, but also joined anti-colonial appeals for the structural transformation of the world.
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Genet Chekol, Yayew. "Nile Hydro politics: Riparian States‟ position on Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project." Journal of Somali Studies 7, no. 2 (December 1, 2020): 49–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.31920/2056-5682/2020/7n2a3.
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The aim of the paper was at investigating the hydro political position of Nile riparian states particularly Sudan, and Egypt on Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam project. On the national level, the study points out that Ethiopia needs to consolidate its traditional and modern water rules, customs and laws to codify them to provide a regulatory foundation for the nation‟s water utilization and development. The development of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is causing political escalation of tension between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan based on Nile water agreement signed during Colonial period between Britain and Egypt, Egypt and Sudan. The study finds that the existing status quo in the eastern Nile basin still hangs in a delicate balance, unless a legal and institutional setup is established by all riparian states. A regional institutional setup to regulate a longer-term cooperation is a sine qua non for sustainable development.
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Yahovkin, Anton. "Ethiopia and the Egyptian-Ethiopian conflict in the context of American-Ethiopian relations (1955 – 1957)." American History & Politics: Scientific edition, no. 12 (2021): 51–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.17721/2521-1706.2021.12.5.
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In this article, the author aims to explore the place and role of Egyptian-Ethiopian relations during the Suez Crisis in US geopolitical strategies. The scientific novelty lies in a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the Suez Crisis on the East African region in the context of US foreign policy. Research methods. Historical-genetic method is used in the article, which gave an opportunity to explore the genesis of East African politics of the USA, to identify the main tendencies of this policy direction at every stage. A systematic approach was used for the comprehensive analysis of the USA East Africa policy in 1955–1957, which gave an opportunity to identify economic and geopolitical interests of the USA in East Africa, goals and objectives of major counties towards Egypt and Ethiopia, and to trace in this regard the attitude of the USA towards Ethiopia’s confrontation with Egypt. Conclusions. Despite the orientation of the Foreign policy of the emperor of Ethiopia to the USA and his attempts to satisfy the USA interests (including the allocation of a military base in Ethiopia), Haile Selassie I failed to fully attract not only American private fund but also to make Ethiopia one of the Foreign policy priorities of the USA government. Ethiopia was of no interest to the USA not only as a potential economic partner (it remained an agricultural country with obsolete modes of production), but also as a military ally. The USA supported some plans of the emperor of Ethiopia, for example the project of accession of Eritrea to the Ethiopian Empire, for the following reasons only:1. due to independent Eritrean country’s insolvency; 2. due to the necessity to maintain peace and order in the northeastern Africa, on the west coast of the Red Sea. «Right» was given to the Ethiopian Empire, which needed the access to the sea and which at that time had a relatively strong army capable to battle any inner reaction and to defend the borders of Eritrea, where American military bases were located.
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Mains, Daniel. "Drinking, Rumour, and Ethnicity in Jimma, Ethiopia." Africa 74, no. 3 (August 2004): 341–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/afr.2004.74.3.341.
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AbstractThis paper is an investigation of the relationship between identity, politics, and rumours in Jimma, Ethiopia. The introduction of ethnic federalism in Ethiopia after the fall of the Marxist Derg regime in 1991 has been the topic of a significant amount of academic discussion, but little attention has been given to the day-to-day experience of this change. Consequently, post-1991 Ethiopian politics have been viewed primarily in terms of ethnic power struggles. An analysis of rumours that are circulated through casual conversation enables a better understanding of popular reactions to ethnic federalism. In particular, rumours regarding the drinking habits of Oromo Muslims and the political behaviour of Protestants reveal that ethnicity is closely intertwined with religion and nationalism. This analysis also demonstrates how a particularly Ethiopian form of discourse functions as a means both of resisting and coping with loss of political power and economic decline. Finally, it explores how international news media coverage of Christian–Muslim conflict and anxieties about globalisation are interrelated with local power struggles. In this paper, rumours are treated as a discourse that provides a window into the worldview of the speaker in order to explore how individuals negotiate political change and construct difference at the everyday level.
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Gebresenbet, Fana. "Land Acquisitions, the Politics of Dispossession, and State-Remaking in Gambella, Western Ethiopia." Africa Spectrum 51, no. 1 (April 2016): 5–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/000203971605100102.
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This paper argues that development through large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) in Gambella, western Ethiopia, belies a state-remaking project under a dispossessive political economy. This argument is based on fieldwork in Gambella, Addis Ababa, and Minneapolis and is situated within the broader development agenda pursued by Ethiopia's ruling party. The political economy of LSLAs tells us that the deals are not occurring in a predominantly economic manner; rather, extra-economic state intervention clears the way for, facilitates, and ensures sustained accumulation. This political intervention is “unlocking” and making the lowland resources accessible and extractable by the state, while a concomitant villagisation project is guaranteeing continued accumulation by disempowering the local population by making the community legible, governable, and controllable. By combining these processes, the Ethiopian state is mastering, and building itself in, Gambella's lowlands.
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Verhoeven, Harry. "The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Africa's Water Tower, Environmental Justice & Infrastructural Power." Daedalus 150, no. 4 (2021): 159–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_01878.
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Abstract Global environmental imaginaries such as “the climate crisis” and “water wars” dominate the discussion on African states and their predicament in the face of global warming and unmet demands for sustainable livelihoods. I argue that the intersecting challenges of water, energy, and food insecurity are providing impetus for the articulation of ambitious state-building projects, in the Nile Basin as elsewhere, that rework regional political geographies and expand “infrastructural power”–the ways in which the state can penetrate society, control its territory, and implement consequential policies. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam should be understood as intending to alter how the state operates, domestically and internationally; how it is seen by its citizens; and how they relate to each other and to their regional neighbors. To legitimize such material and ideational transformations and reposition itself in international politics, the Ethiopian party-state has embedded the dam in a discourse of “environmental justice”: a rectification of historical and geographical ills to which Ethiopia and its impoverished masses were subjected. However, critics have adopted their own environmental justice narratives to denounce the failure of Ethiopia's developmental model and its benefiting of specific ethnolinguistic constituencies at the expense of the broader population.
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Eresso, Muluneh Kassa. "Challenges in Ethiopia’s Post-1991 Ethnic Federalism Entwined with Ethnic-based Political Parties." Mizan Law Review 15, no. 2 (December 31, 2021): 313–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/mlr.v15i2.1.
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For about two and a half decades (1991-2018) it was propagated that Ethiopia’s ethno-linguistic federalism was primarily meant to unify the state and build the nation. However, competing perspectives on whether ethnic-based federalism would preserve unity in diversity in the country as a whole and in regional states in particular have proliferated. This article examines the outcome of post-1995 Ethiopian federalism in ethnic conflict management. It focuses on why Ethiopia has remained deeply divided and prone to ethno-cultural conflicts despite the ethno-linguistic federal political system, which was adopted as a mechanism for building unity in diversity in the context of peaceful coexistence among various ethno-linguistic groups. Although ethnic-federalism alone may not exacerbate ethnic conflicts, ethnic-federalism entwined with the existence of ethnic-based political parties and the rapid proliferation of narrow ethno-nationalist politics constitute major impediments to peaceful co-existence among the country's ethnic groups. Furthermore, the land ownership questions raised by various ethno-linguistic political elites are among the causes of violent ethnic conflicts in contemporary Ethiopia. Mistreatment of ethnic minorities in all regional states is also a source of ethnic conflict. I argue that the current government at the federal and regional levels should work hard to ensure that identity-based politics will incrementally dissolve like salt in water.
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Sonessa, Wondimu Legesse. "Rethinking Public Theology in Ethiopia: Politics, Religion, and Ethnicity in a Declining National Harmony." International Journal of Public Theology 14, no. 2 (July 7, 2020): 149–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15697320-12341609.
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Abstract Ethiopia is a country of multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. Almost all of its citizens claim affiliation with either Christianity, Islam, or African traditional religions. Adherents of these religions have been coexisting in respect and peace. However, there is a growing tension between the citizens since the downfall of the dictatorial military government of Ethiopia, which was displaced by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), in 1991. Politics, religion, and ethnicity are the major causes of the declining national harmony under the current government. My claim is that addressing the declining national harmony caused by the religious, political, and ethnic tensions in Ethiopia requires of the EECMY to rethink its public theology in a way that promotes a national harmony that values peace, equality, justice, democracy, and human flourishing.
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Hanna Rubinkowska-Anioł. "Ethiopian Renaissance or How to Turn Dysfunctional into Functional." Politeja 15, no. 56 (June 18, 2019): 109–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.12797/politeja.15.2018.56.07.
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African Renaissance is a term which is used to describe new era in African history and strongly serves propaganda reasons. The aim of the article is to analyse the role of this notion in terms of Ethiopia, i.e. how the term is being employed in Ethiopian politics and propaganda. It is stressed that even though the term itself is a new introduction, the idea of building a strong state on the basis of grand tradition has been used in Ethiopian history on several occasions. Nowadays, the best examples of references to Renaissance by the state’s propaganda are to be found in symbolical meaning of the widely discussed and controversial project of construction the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Blue Nile. Other aspects of how the term is being employed can be seen in a propaganda film material produced by the Foreign Ministry of Ethiopia in 2015 with the view to advertise the achievements of the government.
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Clapham, Christopher. "Ethiopian development: The politics of emulation." Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 44, no. 1 (March 2006): 137–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14662040600624536.
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Østebø, Terje. "Salafism, State-Politics, and the Question of “Extremism” in Ethiopia." Comparative Islamic Studies 8, no. 1-2 (July 8, 2014): 165–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/cis.v8i1-2.165.
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The Muslim demonstrations in Addis Ababa 2012–2013 have intensified claims that Islam in Ethiopia is becoming increasingly radicalized, and it is particularly the Salafis who are labeled as the “extremists”. My argument is that the word “extremism” is not very fruitful for understanding these developments or Salafism as a phenomenon. The intention of this article is to analyze Ethiopian Salafism as a product of both trans-local ideological impetuses and local particularities, and to demonstrate how these factors have proved pivotal the Salafis detachment from public and political life.
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GIDRETA, Abdulaziz Dino, Mutlu BİNARK, Gökçe ÖZSU, and Ali ZAIN. "Trusts and Doubts in Africa Over Belt and Road Initiative: A Thematic Content Analysis of Opinions in Ethiopian Twittersphere." Etkileşim 5, no. 9 (April 2022): 12–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.32739/etkilesim.2022.5.9.153.
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China`s Belt and Road Initiative is a massive infrastructural project that Ethiopia is encompassed. Yet, in Ethiopia, public opinion over the subject has never been homogenous as there are both apparent faiths that the initiative would positively contribute to Ethiopia’s economy, and suspicions that it is merely China`s veiled ambition to accelerate its expansion in global economy and politics, intensifying the concerns that China will not be any different from former colonial powers for African nations. Besides mainstream media coverage, much of the debate over this initiative has increasingly happened on social networking sites as attributable to their relative accessibility and autonomy. By employing a thematic content analysis of Twitter contents generated by opinion technicians during the 2019 Belt and Road Initiative Forum in Beijing, this article examines how opinion technicians over the Ethiopian Twittersphere discuss the initiative.
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Carruth, Lauren, and Lahra Smith. "Building one's own house: power and escape for Ethiopian women through international migration." Journal of Modern African Studies 60, no. 1 (March 2022): 85–109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022278x21000434.
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AbstractThis study uses ethnography along Ethiopian women's irregular migration routes through Djibouti to analyse the complex reasons women leave home to seek labour opportunities in the Gulf States. Theories and policies that either narrowly depict women's motivations as economic in nature or focus only on women's needs for security and protection, fail to account both for the politics of seeking employment abroad, and the ways migration provides women a potential refuge from various forms of violence at home. Using a feminist analysis, we argue that women do not migrate only for financial opportunities, but also to escape combinations of domestic, political and structural violence. As such, irregular migration both evinces a failure of asylum systems and humanitarian organisations to protect Ethiopians, and a failure of the state to provide Ethiopian women meaningful citizenship. Lacking both protection and meaningful citizenship, international migration represents women's journeys for opportunity and emancipation.
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Mains, Daniel, and Eshetayehu Kinfu. "Making the city of nations and nationalities: the politics of ethnicity and roads in Hawassa, Ethiopia." Journal of Modern African Studies 54, no. 4 (November 4, 2016): 645–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022278x16000562.
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AbstractThis article examines the relationship between the politics of ethnicity and road construction in Hawassa, Ethiopia. The Ethiopian state has recently invested unprecedented amounts of money in the construction of urban roads. These roads both undermine and reinforce longstanding ethnic hierarchies within Ethiopian cities. Contrary to the image promoted by the state of harmony among residents of different ethnic backgrounds, our research revealed a great deal of tension, particularly concerning the distribution of benefits from state-led infrastructural development. The experiences of residents in rapidly changing neighbourhoods, demonstrate that the benefits of recent road construction are not necessarily distributed according to the policies of the current regime. Instead, historical inequalities interact with contemporary urban development in ways that may actually disrupt the state's vision of unity through diversity. Stratification is built into the city and attempts to reshape the city necessarily interact with recent and long-standing inequalities.
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Nesterova, T. P. "France, Italy and Diplomatic End of Italo-Ethiopian War in League of Nations (May—July 1936)." Nauchnyi dialog, no. 8 (August 24, 2021): 400–413. http://dx.doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2021-8-400-413.
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The article is devoted to the policy of France towards Italy and Ethiopia at the final stage of the Italo-Ethiopian war of 1935—1936 and the question of the elimination of anti-Italian sanctions in the League of Nations. It was revealed that the great powers were mainly interested in restoring normal relations with Italy, while the defense of Ethiopia’s independence was only a “moral duty” for them, and in the clash of moral factors and real politics, the real interests of states won undoubtedly. It is argued that, taking ad-vantage of France’s interest in restoring stable Franco-Italian relations, Italy actually destroyed the political agreements of early 1935 and moved on to political rapprochement with Germany, which significantly changed the entire international situation in Europe and actually opened the way for the outbreak of World War II. In addition, for France, a significant political loss was the drop in the authority of the League of Nations, due to the helplessness of this organization in the face of aggression against one of the members of the League. The study is based on publications of Soviet, French, Italian and German diplomatic documents, documents of the League of Nations, memoirs of political figures of that era, as well as un-published documents from the Archives of the German Information Bureau (Germany).
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Barata, Data Dea. "Minority Rights, Culture, and Ethiopia's “Third Way” to Governance." African Studies Review 55, no. 3 (December 2012): 61–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0002020600007204.
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Abstract:Following a successful armed resistance against a dictatorial state regime, a new government of former rebels took control of the national state in Ethiopia in 1991. Prompted partly by unfolding sea changes in global politics in the early 1990s, the new Ethiopian government pledged to undertake radical governance reform. More than twenty years after the new government took office, contested assessments of its record vis-à-vis its human and minority rights pledge, among other issues, have generated waves of debate, criticism, controversy, and global protests. Based on observations from southern Ethiopia, this article takes an ethnographic look at both the process and the outcome of Ethiopia's experiment with ethnic self-government, with a special focus on understanding the value of minority rights as an ideological construct. Conceptually, the paper attempts to explain a disjuncture between the globally prescribed ideal of human/minority group rights and the realities of governance on the ground.
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Hailu, Ashebir Dingeto. "Ethiopia hydropower development and Nile basin hydro politics." AIMS Energy 10, no. 1 (2022): 87–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.3934/energy.2022006.
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<abstract> <p>Ethiopia, one of the countries in the Horn of Africa, has an abundance of hydroelectric resource potential that can meet the country's energy demand. However, this energy resource has been underutilized, and the country has one of the lowest per capita consumption rates of electricity. Recognizing that energy access and security are critical factors in economic growth, the country has launched a number of hydroelectric projects to meet rising energy demand, as well as a plan to export electricity to neighboring countries. As a result, this paper provides an in-depth review of the country's hydropower potential and current development status. The article then discusses hydro-politics in the context of the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Finally, it discusses the role of hydropower in meeting energy needs.</p> </abstract>
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Haustein, Jörg, and Emma Tomalin. "Religion, Populism, and the Politics of the Sustainable Development Goals." Social Policy and Society 20, no. 2 (January 27, 2021): 296–309. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s147474642000072x.
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This article examines the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework as a political project in tension with its universal and multilateral aspirations to serve as a counterbalance to narrow populist visions increasingly dominating global politics. Building upon Laclau and Mouffe’s theory of populism and their notion of ‘radical democracy’, we conceptualise the SDGs as a struggle for hegemony and in competition with other styles of politics, over what counts as ‘development’. This hegemonial struggle plays out in the attempts to form political constituencies behind developmental slogans, and it is here that religious actors come to the fore, given their already established role in organising communities, expressing values and aspirations, and articulating visions of the future. Examining how the SDG process has engaged with faith actors in India and Ethiopia, as well as how the Indian and Ethiopian states have engaged with religion in defining development, we argue that a ‘radical democracy’ of sustainable development requires a more intentional effort at integrating religious actors in the implementation of the SDGs.
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McCann, James C. "Literacy, Orality, and Property: Church Documents in Ethiopia." Journal of Interdisciplinary History 32, no. 1 (July 2001): 81–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/00221950152103919.
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Manuscript documents produced by the Ethiopian church are valuable historical sources about the relations of property and politics. Historians, however, should consider them as part of a political culture in which orality and literacy operated jointly to convey meaning and political validity.
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Negasa Gelana Debisa. "The Utilization of Nile Water among the Riparian States: Tensions and Controversies on the Filling and Annual Operation of the GERD." PanAfrican Journal of Governance and Development (PJGD) 2, no. 1 (February 28, 2021): 31–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.46404/panjogov.v2i1.2909.
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Despite the fear entertained by the downstream countries of the Nile basin, little attention was paid to the right of Ethiopia to utilize the Blue Nile waters. The purpose of this study is to explain the tension between upper riparian Ethiopia and downstream Sudan and Egypt on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) filling and controversies on its annual operation. A descriptive qualitative research method was employed to describe the tension concerning the filling and controversies on the annual operation of the GERD. The investigation relied on secondary sources of data obtained from YouTube videos of international broadcast media such as CGTN, Aljazeera, and TRT World. In addition, national broadcast media of Ethiopia (Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation and Ahadu Television), Sudan (Sudan Tribune), and Egypt (Daily News Egypt) accessed to make data balance. Moreover, letters from these countries sent to the UNSC have been reviewed. Besides, published and unpublished secondary sources on the Nile basin hydro-politics and the GERD were reviewed. The finding of the study reveals that the filling of the dam does not constitute significant harm as it can be seen from the first phase filling given the hydrological condition in the Eastern Nile Basin. The controversy regarding the annual operation of the GERD arises from the fear that their historical and current water use will be threatened. They wanted to conclude the binding agreement in their favor at the expense of Ethiopia’s future utilization of Blue Nile water. Their fear is Ethiopia would not remain faithful to its promises that the dam and its filling do not affect their water security. Rather than basing their claim on invalid colonial treaties, Egypt and Sudan should acknowledge Ethiopia’s right to utilize the Blue Nile water resource and fill the dam without causing significant harm. It is suggested to clear distrust and discuss issues of common concern by tolerating short-term risk for the long-term collective prosperity.
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Moreda, Tefera Assefa. "The Imperial Regimes as a Root of Current Ethnic Based Conflicts in Ethiopia." Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies 9, no. 1 (January 12, 2022): 95. http://dx.doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/919.
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Current ethnic conflict in Ethiopia is not a simple byproduct of Multinational federalism and politicization of ethnicity since 1991. Regardless of the contradictions and debates over the core causes of ethnic conflict in Ethiopia, it is impossible to fully comprehend it without a thorough and honest examination of the pre-1991 country's history in terms of ethnicity and ethnic conflict. The article analyzed the historical root causes of ethnic conflict in Ethiopia by taking Minilik’s II and HaileSelassie’s I regimes into account. Hence, a Dialectical approach and historical method were employed to conduct a critical investigation of the core causes of ethnic conflict. The article found that the country's current ethnic politics and ethnic warfare sowed during the imperial regime. Minilik II and his successor conquered, confiscated, subjugated, enslaved, and dehumanized the southern nations, nationalities, and people in the consecration of Ethiopia's current territory. During imperial administrations, Ethiopia was seen as a prison-house of people. Ethnic identity has been taboo during the imperial regimes of Ethiopia. The article found that the imperial regimes of Ethiopia were the precursor to both immediate and potential ethnic-based detestation, animosity, and violence that resulted in the country's lengthy and deadly civil wars. Based on a dialectical method, this article discovered that the process of Ethiopian state creation resulted in sustainable and predictable cyclical rotation of contradiction and contestation between thesis and antithesis, without creating strong syntheses. Moreover, the misappropriation of concepts of nationalism and nation-building has been common in the country's political history
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Feyissa, Dereje. "The transnational politics of the Ethiopian Muslim diaspora." Ethnic and Racial Studies 35, no. 11 (November 2012): 1893–913. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.604130.
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Taddia, Irma. "Land Politics in the Ethiopian-Eritrean Border Area between Emperor Yoḥannǝs IV and Mǝnilǝk II." Aethiopica 12 (April 7, 2012): 58–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.15460/aethiopica.12.1.94.
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The complex issue of the land tenure system in 19th and 20th century Ethiopia–Eritrea has a tridimensional aspect that constitutes the basis of my reflection here: the native conception of land, the imperial Ethiopian policy and the colonial intervention. A correct evaluation of this interrelation can be properly understood by focusing on a corpus of integrated sources related to local written documentation, oral records and colonial reports. The control of the northern border by Emperors Yoḥannǝs and Mǝnilǝk created various historical problems and a debate focusing on independence and the maintenance of a political autonomy of the Märäb Mǝllaš. Land tenure system is the key factor for understanding the dynamic of power relations in the area at the eve of colonial rule.
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Fessha, Yonatan T. "Intergovernmental cooperation, divided societies and capital cities: The case of the Ethiopian capital." Verfassung in Recht und Übersee 53, no. 1 (2020): 12–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-2020-1-12.
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Some call it Addis Ababa. Others call it Finfinnee. That is the capital city of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. “What’s in a name?” In fact, the name is at the centre of the row over the federal capital. Those who opt to refer the capital as Finfinnee claim that the capital belongs to the Oromo. Those that stick to the official name, Addis Ababa, reject the language of ownership. But this is not merely a fight over history. It is a constitutional politics that has gripped the federation. The debate over the Ethiopian capital brings to fore the question about the place of capital cities in multi-ethnic federations. Using the Ethiopian capital as a case study, this article investigates how capital cities can manage the tension between the accommodation of diverse communities and the indigeneity argument that is often used as a basis to claim ownership. The article argues that the mediation of tensions can be best addressed through the framework of intergovernmental cooperation.
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Ivanov, Vladimir G., and V. Mikael Kassae Nigusie. "The Problem of Internally Displaced Persons in Ethiopia in the Context of 2020 Parliamentary Elections." RUDN Journal of Political Science 21, no. 4 (December 15, 2019): 633–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.22363/2313-1438-2019-21-4-633-641.
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In 2019, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiyah Ahmed won the Nobel peace prize. His government is praised for releasing political prisoners, partially opening Ethiopia's political space to the opposition, and making peace with neighboring Eritrea. At the same time, in recent years nearly 3 million people have fled their homes in Ethiopia, mainly because of ethnic violence. Human rights organizations accuse the country's authorities of forcing people to return to their homes, where many still do not feel safe. In 2018 and 2019 alone, more than a million Ethiopians were forced from their homes by ethnic violence. Ethiopia currently ranks first in the world in the number of internally displaced persons. The authors analyze the controversial socio-political situation in Ethiopia in the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2020.
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Crummey, Donald. "Society, State and Nationality in the Recent Historiography of Ethiopia." Journal of African History 31, no. 1 (March 1990): 103–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021853700024804.
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Events since 1974 have challenged fundamental assumptions about Ethiopian history, calling in question the country's borders and internal coherence, the nature of its social order, the centrality of its monarchy and Zionist ideology to the maintenance of the polity, and the viability of the peasant way of life. In so doing they challenge a young, but vigorous, historiography, one founded in the 1960s with the creation of a History Department at what is now Addis Ababa University and of an international coterie of scholars. Its early stages were marked by archivally-based studies of Ethiopia‘s international emergence in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and of trade and politics. Its later stages were marked by a steady growth in the number of contributors and in the emergence of major new themes many of which depend on the use of indigenous sources, both oral and written. Class and class relations; economy, state, and society; the Kushitic- and Omotic-speaking peoples; the use of social anthropology—such are the concerns of contemporary historians of Ethiopia. These concerns inform new work on agrarian issues and on the roots of famine, on urbanization, on the nature of the twentieth-century state, on the revolution itself and on the roots of resistance and social unrest, and on ethnicity. Meanwhile, more traditional work continues to glean insights from the manuscript tradition and to bring to light major new texts both Ethiopian and foreign. The article surveys this material and concludes by noting the persistence of certain limitations—the lack of work on women or on pastoralism, the scarcity of it on Islam, the heavy emphasis on that part of the country lying west of the Rift Valley, and the absence of an integrating synthesis—and the prospective integration of work on Ethiopia into the mainstream of African historiography.
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Taye, Bekau Atnafu. "The medium of instruction in Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions: Kotebe Metropolitan University Case study." African Journal of Teacher Education 8 (April 1, 2019): 1–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.21083/ajote.v8i0.4367.
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The aim of this article is to examine the medium of instruction in Ethiopian higher education institutions and the perceived consequences of the failure to learn a lingua franca. The study was qualitative and it used interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs). Five teachers and five students took part in the interviews and six teachers and six students participated in the FGDs. The findings of the study showed that the role of Amharic as a working language has not been given recognition despite the fact that Amharic was constitutionally granted to be a working language. Due to language barriers, students who are speakers of Oromipha and other languages from the Eastern and Western parts of Ethiopia suffer passivity in the classroom because they do not speak Amharic although Amharic has been taught as a subject in all regional states of the country. Increased identity politics seems to have generated a negative attitude towards Amharic, Ethiopia's former official lingua franca. Non-Amharic native speakers appeared to lose interest in learning Amharic while they were in primary and secondary schools. The absence of an official, common language which could be used for wider communication in higher education has resulted in having challenges among the student population.
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Smith, Lahra. "Voting for an ethnic identity: procedural and institutional responses to ethnic conflict in Ethiopia." Journal of Modern African Studies 45, no. 4 (November 12, 2007): 565–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022278x07002881.
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ABSTRACTThe literature on democratisation in diverse and divided societies suggests that procedural and institutional innovations can help create the conditions for democracy by adjudicating among groups with competing claims for recognition and inclusion. Some of the most critical assumptions about the relationship between ethnic identity and formal political institutions have been tested in Ethiopia since the early 1990s. Ethnic federalism is a unique and controversial attempt to account for the contested nature of ethnic identities in contemporary Ethiopian politics through a variety of mechanisms, including the use of a referendum to determine ethnic identity. In 2001 the Siltie people voted to separate from the Gurage ethnic group. With this political manoeuvre, the Siltie accessed greater levels of political power and greater resources, but also recognition under the constitutional arrangement as a distinct ethnic group. The Siltie case suggests that formal political institutions have a limited, though important, role in resolving contested citizenship claims. At the same time, it raises vital questions about the challenges of procedural solutions in the context of contested citizenship and democratic transition in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Emmenegger, Rony. "DECENTRALIZATION AND THE LOCAL DEVELOPMENTAL STATE: PEASANT MOBILIZATION IN OROMIYA, ETHIOPIA." Africa 86, no. 2 (April 6, 2016): 263–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0001972016000048.
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ABSTRACTThis article explores the politics of decentralization and state–peasant encounters in rural Oromiya, Ethiopia. Breaking with a centralized past, the incumbent government of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) committed itself to a decentralization policy in the early 1990s and has since then created a number of new sites for state–citizen interactions. In the context of electoral authoritarianism, however, decentralization has been interpreted as a means for the expansion of the party-state at the grass-roots level. Against this backdrop, this article attempts a more nuanced understanding of the complex entanglements between the closure of political space and faith in progress in local arenas. Hence, it follows sub-kebele institutions at the community level in a rural district and analyses their significance for state-led development and peasant mobilization between the 2005 and 2010 elections. Based on ethnographic field research, the empirical case presented discloses that decentralization and state-led development serve the expansion of state power into rural areas, but that state authority is simultaneously constituted and undermined in the course of this process. On that basis, this article aims to contribute to an inherently political understanding of decentralization, development and their entanglement in local and national politics in rural African societies.
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Aremu, Johnson Olaosebikan, and Lateef Oluwafemi Buhari. "African boundary politics: a case of Ethiopian-Eritrean boundary discord." African Research Review 12, no. 1 (March 20, 2018): 120. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/afrrev.v12i1.13.
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Getasew Endalew Admasu. "Reexamining the Politics of “Developmental State” in Ethiopia: Was/Is Ethiopia a Developmental State in EPRDF Regime? A Study From 1991-2018." PanAfrican Journal of Governance and Development (PJGD) 3, no. 1 (February 28, 2022): 163–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.46404/panjogov.v3i1.3580.
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The core theme of the article is focused on reexamining the "developmental state" politics in Ethiopia. Conceptually, a developmental state is a state which follows the development approach of a state-led economy. It is characterized by the existence of development oriented-political leadership, autonomous bureaucracy, production-oriented private sector, and performance-oriented governance. Based on this notion, the study aims to prove whether Ethiopia (from 1991-2018) is a developmental state or not in the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) regime by employing a qualitative research approach with secondary sources of data. Hence, EPRDF's economic-political realities are examined using theoretical frameworks and features of the developmental state. Accordingly, the study has found, first, that the rhetoric of creating efficient development-oriented political leadership in Ethiopia is aborted due to the prevalence of the economic-political culture of corruption, organized theft, and rent-seeking. Secondly, the EPRDF regime has failed to build autonomous and efficient bureaucracy. Thirdly, the private sector had forced so as not to be productive, competitive, and strong. Fourthly, through achieving high economic growth and reducing the level of poverty, the regime has relatively succeeded in performance-oriented governance even though debt crisis, high level of unemployment, and huge income disparity, the concentration of national resources prevailed amidst the poor level of industrialization. Thus, empirically, EPRDF's Ethiopia in the study's time frame has exceedingly remained as a predatory state and marginally continued as a developmental state. Accordingly, the study recommends succeeding regimes that strive to achieve sustainable economic development to take lessons from the failure of EPRDF in functioning development-oriented political leadership, production-oriented private sector, and meritocratic bureaucracy, plus realizing performance-oriented governance.
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Skjerdal, Terje, and Sintayehu Gebru. "Not quite an echo chamber: ethnic debate on Ethiopian Facebook pages during times of unrest." Media, Culture & Society 42, no. 3 (April 2020): 365–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0163443719895197.
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Social media commonly function as alternative channels for debate in controlled media societies, often supported by the digital diaspora. This study takes a closer look at Ethiopia, where communication traditionally has been controlled by the government. The situation was particularly tense between 2016 and 2017, when a state of emergency act was declared following anti-government protests. The study scrutinizes three of the most popular online channels during the unrest (Ethiopian DJ, Mereja.com and Zehabesha), all of which used Facebook as their primary means of communication. The findings show that the stories posted by the sites were overwhelmingly political, with a particular focus on ethnic issues. Reader reactions show a slightly different pattern, concentrating less on politics and more on society and culture. This could be an expression of felt anxiety among the public due to the tense political situation. Interestingly, when users did comment on ethnic issues, they were not in agreement, but debated the issues intensely and fiercely. A diversity of views was represented. The study concludes that an echo chamber effect was not detected. For lack of appropriate channels for public discussion in the mainstream media, Facebook accommodated a space for political exchange during the state of emergency.
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Kuzmin, Dmitrii. "The goals and objectives of Italy in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War: position in the League of Nations and propaganda." Исторический журнал: научные исследования, no. 3 (March 2021): 172–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.7256/2454-0609.2021.3.35147.
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This article gives an assessment one of the most notable episodes of the interwar period in the history of international relations – the development of Italian foreign policy in the context of the Italo-Ethiopian war. In the early 1935, Italy was ruled by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. One of the cornerstones of his foreign policy paradigm was the creation of the “New Roman Empire”. One of the initial targets of his expansion were Ethiopia and the Mediterranean. Italy replenishes its military and economic resources; however, it was deficient to achieve the set foreign policy goals. Therefore, the war in Ethiopia became one of the key vector of Rome’s official diplomacy. The warfare also unfolded in the ideological context – propaganda, politics within the League of Nations, and interlocutory instructions to the diplomats. The scientific novelty is defined by the absence of comprehensive research on the topic. The relevance of lies the fact that the Russian historiography did not give due attention dedicated to the secret plans of Italy during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. However, namely the plans of Cesare De Vecchi and Emilio De Bono that shed light on the crucial nuance of the Italian diplomacy of this period, and allow to properly stress topic and priorities with regards to foreign policy. This the article analyzes the ration between the objectives in Ethiopia and the Mediterranean basin –the cornerstone task within the framework of building a New Roman Empire.
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Muluye, Ketemaw Tiruneh. "Multicultural Citizenship and the Status of ‘Others’ in the Post 1991 Ethiopia: A Study on Membership and Self-Governing Status of Amhara People in Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State." RUDN Journal of Public Administration 6, no. 4 (December 15, 2019): 332–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.22363/2312-8313-2019-6-4-332-345.
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Following the regime change in 1991, the Ethiopian government sought to institutionalize inclusive multicultural citizenship in the country. Membership status and selfgoverning rights are crucial entitlements in the multiculturalists’ notion of citizenship. Though citizenship is considered to be part of domestic affairs of a state, it is also influenced by the policies of sub-state political units. Hence, this paper examines the membership and self-governing status of Amhara and analyzes how the citizenship status is affected at sub-state units, with a focus on Benishangul Gumuz Regional State. Concurrent embedded mixed approach was employed and data were collected through interviews and document analysis. Interview data were obtained from 29 respondents, chosen by means of an intensity sampling method. Quantitative data were also acquired from Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency. The data were analyzed qualitatively with some quantitative backup. Though Amhara People of BGRS have the legal status of Ethiopian citizenship, BGRS has failed to fully integrate these people to the mainstream political community. Particularly, the exclusionary politics of recognition (as only selected nationalities receive the so-called ownership of the region ) and the prohibition of Amhara from exercising selfgovernment rights (this right is exclusively given to the ‘owner’ nationalities by the regional constitution) demonstrate the hierarchy of citizenship, where Amhara people are treated as secondclass citizens in BGRS, which is contradictory to the notion of multicultural citizenship.
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Bekele Bayu, Takele. "Ethnic conflict in Ethiopia: Federalism as a cause and solution." Religación. Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades 6, no. 30 (November 30, 2021): e210832. http://dx.doi.org/10.46652/rgn.v6i30.832.
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Adopted in 1991, ethnic federalism indeed paved the way for the recognition, accommodation, and institutionalization of ethnocultural diversity for the first time in the country’s history since its modern existence. What is equally important is, the practice of ethnic federalism complicated state-society and inter-group relationships creating a favorable environment for ethnic confrontation and conflict to take place in the country threatening national unity, eroded century-old values of coexistence, a hard ethnic boundary where administrative boundaries are served as political and ethnic differentiators like the Oromo and Somali conflict over contested boundaries. Territorial recognition, and institutionalization of ethnicity gave room for the emergence of ‘ethnic like and ethnic others’ thinking, made minorities in different regions victims of politics and failed to provide sound accommodation mechanisms from them, severely restricted people’s constitutional rights including the right to mobility and right to work, created room for the re-emergence of secessionist tendency. Hence, ethnic federalism while solving old problems of ethnic inequality and injustice; has created new problems of ethnic tensions and conflict across Ethiopia. It is the purpose of this study to investigate how and why federalism is being considered as the source of ethnic conflicts in the Ethiopian context. The study adopted a qualitative comparative approach while FGDs and key informant interviews were used to gather data. The finding of the study shows that though multinational federation plays an irreplaceable role to accommodate and institutionalize ethnocultural diversity, the notion and implementation of federalism instigate ethnic conflict in the Ethiopian context.
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Killion, Tom C. "Railroad Workers and the Ethiopian Imperial State: The Politics of Workers' Organization on the Franco-Ethiopian Railroad, 1919-1959." International Journal of African Historical Studies 25, no. 3 (1992): 583. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/219026.
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Midega, Milkessa. "Ethiopian Federalism and the Ethnic Politics of Divided Cities: Consociationalism without Competitive Multiparty Politics in Dire Dawa." Ethnopolitics 16, no. 3 (December 12, 2016): 279–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2016.1254412.
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