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Ethiopia's unique system of ethnic-based federalism claims to minimise conflict by organising political power along ethnic lines. This empirical study shows that the system eases conflict at some levels but also sharpens inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic divides on the ground.

How federalism can be used to provide recognition and accommodate ethnic groups is an important topic, not only in Africa, but in multi-ethnic communities around the world. Examining how institutions of multi-ethnic states have been designed to accommodate ethnic diversity while at the same time maintaining national unity, this book locates institutional responses to the challenges of ethnic diversity within the context of a federal arrangement. It examines how a federal arrangement has been used to reconcile the conflicting pressures of the demand for the recognition of distinctive identities, on the one hand, and the promotion of political and territorial integrity, on the other. Comparative case studies of South Africa and Ethiopia as the two federal systems provide a contrasting approach to issues of ethnic diversity. Suggesting new ways in which federalism might work, the author identifies key institutions lessons which will help to build an all-inclusive society.

The book deals with historical, social, economic, political, and international causes, contexts, and consequences of inequalities and conflicts in Africa. In particular, the book is to puts conflicts and turbulences in Ethiopia in a broader, African comparative perspective. It also identifies and analyzes multiple causes of conflicts which cannot be studied only as a result of one variable. Inequalities and conflicts have a whole set of causes stemming from historically inherited, as well as global, international, socio-economic, political and other contexts which cannot be analyzed separately. This book is vital for anyone who is interested in the study of African history, comparative politics, and conflict in Africa.

Ethnic federalism in Ethiopia proved non-viable in practice because it came to be widely seen as a political tool used by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)-dominated Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), whose ideological foundation was inspired by Soviet system of ‘democratic centralism’: a benign façade that veneered an authoritarian vanguard party operating under a token parliament. This article examines the dynamics of statehood and nationhood: antithetical forces of integration and differentiation, which play out around the commonly shared albeit highly contested polity of the nation-state. The need to dialectically resolve these antagonistic though mutualistic stakes lies at the epicentre of political debate in contemporary Ethiopia, ultimately pointing to the constitutional reform dilemmas it now faces. By drawing on literature on political theory, the article argues that the federal constitution proved antagonistic to the inherited politico-cultural orientations that posited the nation-state as the principal supranational identity. By redefining narrow forms of collective identity that were anchored precisely on ethnic sentiments that grew largely in reaction to perceived injustices, the federal constitution appeared neither to embrace, as a system of legitimation, the characteristic and authoritative dimensions of ‘Ethiopian’ identity as a supra-national universal habitus of loyalty and identification. Nor did it provide integrative cohesion to an otherwise essentially differentiated primordial ethnic and linguistic identity features that now came to be diffused and indeed accentuated at sub-national regions as rigid and hermetic sites of conflict and strife, rather than discursive, reflexive, and interactive domains of cultural and social life.

Smith argues that citizenship creation and expansion is a pivotal part of political contestation in Africa today. Citizenship is a powerful analytical tool to approach political life in contemporary Africa because the institutional and structural reforms of the past two decades have been inextricably linked with the battle over the 'right to have rights'. Professor Lahra Smith's work advances the notion of meaningful citizenship, referring to the ways in which rights are exercised, or the effective practice of citizenship. Using data from Ethiopia and developing a historically informed study of language policy, ethnicity and gender identities, Smith analyzes the contestation over citizenship that engages the state, social movements and individuals in substantive ways. By combining original data on language policy in contemporary Ethiopia with detailed historical study and a focus on ethnicity, citizenship and gender, this work brings a fresh approach to Ethiopian political development and contemporary citizenship concerns across Africa.

The concept of autonomous local government enjoying powers that directly emanate from a constitution is unknown to many federations; however, recent developments suggest an increasing constitutional recognition of local government. A constitutional recognition entrenches the status and autonomy of local government. It represents a formal guarantee against any arbitrary elimination of local government by the national or subnational government. This article seeks to determine whether the Constitution of Ethiopia envisages the establishment of an autonomous local government or a deconcentrated local administration that serves as implementing agent of the national or regional states. The text argues that local government in Ethiopia enjoys some level of constitutional recognition; however, the lack of clearly specified powers, together with overwhelming financial dependence on regional governments, has rendered the promise of autonomous local government a pious wish.

By identifying the critical central contradictions that are built into the politics of the Horn of Africa, this book demonstrates that the crises of the Horn states stem from their political behaviour and structural forces, such as internal social forces, and global forces that have become involved on the sides of these states without requiring accountability, the rule of law, or the implementation of, at least, 'limited democracy'.The contributors provide a deep understanding of structural and conjunctural forces that have interacted in the processes of state power; the role of intervention of global powers; and the consequent failure to build state as a public domain. The book also enriches our social scientific knowledge that is essential to develop pragmatic policy measures to address these problems.

In 1991, Ethiopia's new leaders established a multiethnic federation that provides for the right to secession. The secession clause was incorporated for reasons of ideology and necessity. The federation consists of largely ethnic-based territorial units and encourages political parties to organize along ethnic lines. The Ethiopian case is a radical departure from most other federal systems. This analysis focuses on (1) Ethiopia's secession clause, (2) the House of Federation, and (3) state-federal relations. The future of federalism in Ethiopia is unclear. The provisions of a liberal democratic constitution conflict with the reality of authoritarian centralist practice and therefore jeopardize the future of federalism. Although the secession clause has symbolic value, it is unlikely that any Ethiopian government would allow secession to take place.

This article explores the experience of one village in Ethiopia since the overthrow of the Marxist‐Leninist Derg regime in 1991. The new government introduced policies that have much in common with those dominating the international geopolitical scene in the 1990s and 2000s. These include an emphasis on democracy, grassroots participation and, to some extent, market liberalization. I report here on the manifestations of these policy shifts in Gamole village, in the district of Konso, once remote from the political centre in Addis Ababa but now expressing its identity through new federal political structures. Traditional power relations between traders and farmers in Gamole have been transformed since 1991 as the traders have exploited opportunities to extend trade links, obtain land and build regional alliances through participation in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. They have appropriated the discourse of democracy to challenge their traditional position of subordination to the farmers – and this, in turn, has led to conflict. While these changes reflect the postsocialist transition, they can also be seen as part of a continuing process of change brought about by policies of reform in land tenure, the church and the state, introduced during the Derg period. These observations at a local level in Ethiopia provide insights into the experiences of other states in postsocialist transition. Cet article examine l'expérience d'un village en Ethiopie depuis le renversement du régime marxiste‐léniniste Derg en 1991. Le nouveau gouvernement a introduit des politiques qui ont beaucoup en commun avec celles qui ont dominé la sce‘ne géographique internationale dans les années 1990 et 2000. Parmi elles figurent l'importance accordée à la démocratie, à la participation populaire et, dans une certaine mesure, à la libéralisation du marché. L'article traite des manifestations de ces changements de politique dans le village de Gamole, dans le district de Konso, autrefois éloigné du centre politique d'Addis Ababa mais exprimant aujourd'hui son identité à travers de nouvelles structures politiques fédérales. Les relations traditionnelles de pouvoir entre commerc¸ants et paysans à Gamole ont évolué depuis 1991, les commerc¸ants ayant exploité des opportunités pour étendre leur réseau de relations commerciales, obtenir des terres et former des alliances régionales à travers leur participation dans l'É glise orthodoxe éthiopienne. Ils se sont appropriés le discours de la démocratie pour remettre en cause leur position traditionnelle de subordination aux paysans, ce qui a, à son tour, entraîné un conflit. Même si ces changements refle‘tent la transition postsocialiste, on peut aussi les considérer comme faisant partie d'un processus de changement continu amené par les politiques de réforme agraire, de l'Église et de l'État, introduites durant la période du Derg. Ces observations au niveau local en Éthiopie permettent de mieux comprendre les expériences d'autres États en transition postsocialiste.

The arrival of over 55,000 Ethiopian immigrants in Israel has produced a situation whose social implications extend beyond the borders of a single state. The arrival of a black African group in a predominantly white country with virtually no previous experience with such a population is unusual, if not unique, in the second half of the twentieth century. This article seeks to examine the Ethiopian encounter with Israeli society through the exploration of racial concepts. It is argued that Ethiopian Jews have been characterized as ‘black’ to a (for them) unprecedented degree and have also been depicted as ‘not black’ in a number of subtle and significant ways. The exploration of the racial discourse about this specific population is used to demonstrate the way in which global and local racial categories exist side by side. Since Israel, like other countries including South Africa and Brazil, has been shaped by, but is not at the centre of Euro-American culture, this example also offers interesting insight into the cultural determinants of racial discourse.