Federalism And The Accommodation Of Diversity In Ethiopia

This book argues that the development of federalism in Ethiopia fits in with a global trend towards increased attention to ethnic minority rights and to federalism as a mechanism for ethnic conflict prevention and management. The Ethiopian federation is designed as a framework within which the Ethiopian ethnic groups can protect their rights and within which they are stimulated to develop a cooperative relationship. To put it differently, the constitutional objective of the federal structure is the creation of 'unity in diversity.' The book evaluates the capacity of Ethiopian federalism to achieve this objective by investigating the relevant historical, political, and legal aspects. (Series: Recht und Politik in Afrika/Law and Politics in Africa - Vol. 10)

Since 1991, Ethiopia has gone further than any other country in using ethnicity as the fundamental organizing principle of a federal system of government. And yet this pioneering experiment in 'ethnic federalism' has been largely ignored in the growing literature on democratization and ethnicity in Africa and on the accommodation of ethnic diversity in democratic states. Apart from giving close examination to aspects of the Ethiopian case, the book asks why the use of territorial decentralization to accommodate ethnic differences has been generally unpopular in Africa, while it is growing in popularity in the West. The book includes case studies of Nigerian and Indian federalism and suggests how Ethiopia might learn from both the failures and successes of these older federations. In the light of these broader issues and cases, it identifies the main challenges facing Ethiopia over the next few years, as it struggles to bring political practice into line with constitutional theory, and thereby achieve a genuinely federal division of powers. North America: Ohio U Press; Ethiopia: Addis Ababa U Press

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.

Academic Paper from the year 2016 in the subject Sociology - Individual, Groups, Society, Ethiopian Civil Service University (federalism and legal studies), course: Federalism and Human Rights, language: English, abstract: The existing ethnic federal arrangement of the Federal democratic republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) is devised with the aim to accommodate the interests of distinct ethnic groups in Ethiopia. This paper attempted to conceptualize federalism as a tool for ethnic diversity accommodation through reviewing the existing literature on federalism, FDRE and south regional state constitution, city proclamations, and primary data from interview made and with researchers’ interpretive arguments. The finding reveals that federalism at city government status contributes to accommodate rights, interests, needs and claims of competing ethnic groups, especially of ethnic minorities better at kebele institutional structures than at city institutional structures. At city institutional structures the indigenous groups are better protected rather than the non indigenous groups. Hence, the success of this process highly depends on the mechanisms adopted for sharing powers and responsibilities; the nature, subject and degree of decentralized power; and the willingness of authorities to allow the groups to exercise those powers, with other factors. Finally, This Paper tries to recommend complementary legal instrument for farther enhancement of ethnic diversity accommodation at city government status.

This book examines the impact of the federal restructuring of Ethiopia on ethnic conflicts. The adoption of ethnic federalism in Ethiopia was closely related with the problem of creating a state structure that could be used as instrument of managing the complex ethno-linguistic diversity of the country. Ethiopia is a multinational country with about 85 ethno-linguistic groups and since the 1960s, it suffered from ethno-regional conflicts. The book considers multiple governance and state factors that could explain the difficulties Ethiopian federalism faces to realise its objectives. These include lack of political pluralism and the use of ethnicity as the sole instrument of state organisation. Federalism and Ethnic Conflict in Ethiopia will be of interest to students and scholars of federal studies, ethnic conflict and regionalism.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2015 in the subject Politics - Basics and General, , language: English, abstract: Long struggle of nation, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia against the military junta of Derg regime brought the coming power of Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front. The 1991 was a historic period in the history of the country that transferred from unitary system of government to the Federal system of government. The introduction of defacto-federalism in the transitional charter provides the right to self-determination up to and including secession as well as led the foundation for vertical, horizontal and normative relationships besides cooperation. The promulgation of 1995 constitution gives a ground base of dejure federalism by providing powers to nations, nationalities and peoples as ultimate power holders.in this constitution 9 regional states are identified with their own sovereignty and administrative arrangements and they shall establish their own smallest administrative units as enshrined in Article 50 of FDRE constitution. The other issue that we discussed in this constitution is that the absence of formal intergovernmental relations/cooperation among federal government and regional states vertically, between regional states and within local governments horizontally. The absence of formal vertical and horizontal relationships does not mean that no relation at all. Relations through sectorial base, party channels and through institutions are held informally. Intergovernmental relations are one of the pillars for most federal states and unitary governments to facilitate their socio-economic and political as well as cultural developments

This thesis focuses on federalism and ethnic diversity. Using two case studies, South Africa and Ethiopia, it sets to examine whether institutional designs in a form of federalism can serve as an effective instrument to respond to ethnic claims while at the same time maintaining national unity in the context of multi-ethnic societies. The issues this study investigates are not only topical to multi-ethnic states around the world but constitute the core problems to which communities, ranging from the troubled Sudan to Nigeria and from the Western Sahara to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are struggling to find solutions. In this regard, the thesis may assist those multi-ethnic states that are struggling to find institutional solution to the ethnic conflicts that characterise their society.