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This study assesses the impact of a large, state-sponsored sugar plantation scheme on agro-pastoralists’ livelihoods and local land use change in southern Ethiopia, specifically in the lower Omo Valley. The study compares the local perceptions on the ongoing Omo-Kuraz sugar project — sugar cane plantations and a cane-crushing factory — and describes how it has affected local communities’ environmental and livelihood strategies vis-à-vis the alleged ‘new development opportunities’. Focus group discussion, key informant interviews, and field observations were applied to get in-depth information about the socio-economic and environmental impacts of large scale land acquisitions. The results show that the implementation of large scale land acquisitions in the lower Omo Valley has put enormous pressure on local land use and land management systems. The Omo-Kuraz I and II projects, started in 2011, neither met the stated economic purposes of the then Ethiopian federal government nor satisfied the pastoral communities’ needs. The LSAI project is still highly contentious among the local community, the project office, and the local government. Our study recommends that shifting the perspective towards the local agro-pastoralists’ activities, understanding their views and ways of ‘using’ the environment, and creating a broader consultation platform with them may create opportunities for cooperation and synergy to optimize benefits and sustainably adapt the development project to the local context.

Eighteen years after the change of power and the ushering in of the second Ethiopian republic in 1991, the political process in Ethiopia has, according to most observers, rigidified and largely closed the space for representative democracy. This paper will look at the main organizing political ideas or ideology of the current Ethiopian republic and to the nature of its governance techniques in the face of domestic and international challenges with reference to the debate on “failing” or “fragile” states. The new “social contract” defined after 1991 and codified in the 1994 Constitution is precarious. Dissent and ethno-regional resistance to federal policies are dealt with mainly by coercion and discursive isolation. Oppositional forces voice the need for a rethinking of the organizing ideas and institutions of the second republic in order to enhance political consensus and a shared political arena, but get little response. The paper will sketch an interpretation of governance in Ethiopia, focusing on the dilemma of reconciling local and modernist political practices, and will discuss the status of “republican” ideas, in name important in Ethiopia but mostly absent in practice. Explicit debate of these ideas is usually sidelined – also in academic commentaries – in favour of a focus on the ethno-federal ideology of the Ethiopian state.

This debate piece contains an assessment of the debate on the 'Pretoria Agreement' (or Cessation of Hostilities Agreement) concluded on 2 November 2022 regarding the armed conflict in Ethiopia. On the basis of a critical discussion of a paper by F. Gebresenbet and Y. Tariku (2023) published in the Spring issue of the Review of African Political Economy (ROAPE), the author here contests the short-term analysis of the authors, who miss essential points of the wider context of political conflict in Ethiopia and also scholastically misrepresent some other authors in the debate.

Les identités nationales postcoloniales en Afrique sont en cours de (re)construction, confrontées à des problèmes persistants de disparité et d’inégalité sociale et « ethnique ». L’Éthiopie, malgré un héritage d’identité étatique et d’« unité dans la diversité », est vulnérable à la fragmentation et à la politique identitaire, notamment depuis le modèle politique « ethno-fédéraliste » introduit par le régime de l’EPRDF (1991-2018). La remise en question de l’identité historique commune qui en résulte se reflète également dans l’enseignement et les programmes universitaires en histoire. En se basant sur le dernier produit issu du processus de reconsidération de l’enseignement de l’histoire éthiopienne (le « Module d’histoire » de 2020), et dans le contexte du mouvement académique récent vers la « décolonisation » des sciences historiques et sociales, j’aborde les principales positions dans le débat actuel. Je soulève la question de savoir si une histoire commune et partagée a minima de l’Éthiopie — en tant que nation et entité politique — est devenue illusoire ou est encore un objectif, et si oui, comment elle pourrait être enseignée. African postcolonial national identities are under (re)construction, facing persistent problems of disparity and social and “ethnic” inequality. Ethiopia, despite a heritage of State identity and “unity in diversity,” is vulnerable to fragmentation and identity politics, notably since the “ethno-federalist” political model introduced by the EPRDF regime (1991-2018). The resultant questioning of shared historical identity is also reflected in history education and curricula. Based on the last product of the process of rethinking Ethiopian history teaching (the “History Module” of 2020) and against the background of the recent academic movement towards “decolonizing” the historical and social sciences, I discuss the main positions in the current debate. I raise the question of whether a common, minimally shared history of Ethiopia—as a nation and a political entity—is now illusory or still an aim and if so, how it could be taught.

This article looks at some cases of legal contestation in three African countries (Mali, Senegal, and Nigeria) where Muslim religious authorities/institutions brought challenges to constitutional-legislative proposals in the national arena, seen by religious leaders as unacceptable due to lack of resonance with religious values. These are cases where laws/directives aiming to regulate social/religious life vs. the state are contested on grounds of religious conviction: with objections put forward in the name of an entire faith community despite internal differences within it, and despite the fact that in all countries the religious pluriformity necessitates bridging laws. The article makes the argument that there are limits on the religious contestation of secular state laws, to a point that the effort tends to become counter-productive in securing religious freedom or influencing politics in a positive sense, and instead might endanger a pragmatic modus vivendi of the religious and the political spheres in nominally secularist orders. Some conclusions are drawn on the resulting phenomenon of growing tensions between particularist narratives and state narratives in Africa.

This article looks at some cases of legal contestation in three African countries (Mali, Senegal, and Nigeria) where Muslim religious authorities/institutions brought challenges to constitutional-legislative proposals in the national arena, seen by religious leaders as unacceptable due to lack of resonance with religious values. These are cases where laws/directives aiming to regulate social/religious life vs. the state are contested on grounds of religious conviction: with objections put forward in the name of an entire faith community despite internal differences within it, and despite the fact that in all countries the religious pluriformity necessitates bridging laws. The article makes the argument that there are limits on the religious contestation of secular state laws, to a point that the effort tends to become counter-productive in securing religious freedom or influencing politics in a positive sense, and instead might endanger a pragmatic modus vivendi of the religious and the political spheres in nominally secularist orders. Some conclusions are drawn on the resulting phenomenon of growing tensions between particularist narratives and state narratives in Africa.

African postcolonial national identities are under (re)construction, facing persistent problems of disparity and social and \"ethnic\" inequality. Ethiopia, despite a heritage of State identity and \"unity in diversity,\" is vulnerable to fragmentation and identity politics, notably since the \"ethno-federalist\" political model introduced by the EPRDF regime (1991-2018). The resultant questioning of shared historical identity is also reflected in history education and curricula. Based on the last product of the process of rethinking Ethiopian history teaching (the \"History Module\" of 2020) and against the background of the recent academic movement towards \"decolonizing\" the historical and social sciences, I discuss the main positions in the current debate. I raise the question of whether a common, minimally shared history of Ethiopia—as a nation and a political entity—is now illusory or still an aim and if so, how it could be taught. Les identités nationales postcoloniales en Afrique sont en cours de (re)construction, confrontées à des problèmes persistants de disparité et d'inégalité sociale et « ethnique ». L'Éthiopie, malgré un héritage d'identité étatique et d'« unité dans la diversité », est vulnérable à la fragmentation et à la politique identitaire, notamment depuis le modèle politique « ethno-fédéraliste » introduit par le régime de l'EPRDF (1991-2018). La remise en question de l'identité historique commune qui en résulte se reflète également dans l'enseignement et les programmes universitaires en histoire. En se basant sur le dernier produit issu du processus de reconsidération de l'enseignement de l'histoire éthiopienne (le « Module d'histoire » de 2020), et dans le contexte du mouvement académique récent vers la « décolonisation » des sciences historiques et sociales, j'aborde les principales positions dans le débat actuel. Je soulève la question de savoir si une histoire commune et partagée a minima de l'Éthiopie — en tant que nation et entité politique — est devenue illusoire ou est encore un objectif, et si oui, comment elle pourrait être enseignée.

The media often makes sense of violence in terms of 'randomness' and 'evil'. But the reality, as the contributors to The Meanings of Violence demonstrate, is far more complex. Drawing on the diverse subject matter of the ESRC's Violence Research Programme - from interviews with killers to discussions with children in residential facilities - this volume locates the meaning of violence within social contexts, identities and social divisions. It aims to break open our way of speaking about violence and demonstrate the value in exploring the multiple, contradictory and complex meanings of violence in society. The wide range of topics include:*Prostitute and client violence *Violence amongst young people at school and on the streets *Violence in bars and nightclubs *Violence in prison *Racist and homophobic violenceThis book will be fascinating reading for students of criminology and academics working in the field of violent crime.

In Ethiopia, as in other parts of Africa, relations between Christians and Muslims show a new dynamic under the impact of both state policies and global connections. Religious identities are becoming more dominant as people's primary public identity, and more ideological. This development has ramifications for the ' public sphere', where identities of a religious nature are currently presented and contested in a self-consciously polemical fashion. This shared space of national political and civic identity may become more ' fragmented' and thus lend itself to conflict and ideological battle. This article examines recent developments in the polemics of religion in Ethiopia, and the possible role of the state as custodian (or not) of an overarching civic order beyond religion, as well as the emerging rivalries between communities of faith. A crucial question is what social effects these polemics will have on communal relations and patterns of religious coexistence. Polemics between believers have a long history in Ethiopia, but a new and potentially problematic dynamic has emerged which may challenge mainstream believers, their intergroup social relations, and Ethiopian state policy. Polemics in Ethiopia express hegemonic strategies and claims to power, and are rapidly evolving as an ideological phenomenon expanding in public space. The secular state may need to reassert itself more emphatically so as to contain its own erosion in the face of assertive religious challenges.