Challenges and Prospects of Democratization Process in Ethiopia (original) (raw)
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International and Public Affairs. , 2021
Achieving economic growth and sustainable development remain the prior policy all nation states across the world. To achieve their sustainable development and economic growth goals, international communities has been fermenting and diagnosing various development models and paradigms. However, there is no one size and fit all development paradigms which obliged to be followed by nation states around the globe. This paper examines developmental state growth model and its nexus with democratization with reference to Ethiopian democratic developmental state growth model. The paper employed qualitative research approach as a research methodology. This paper is based on desk review. This paper argued that, even though EPRDF government claim the country as democratic developmental state which is unique to Asian authoritarian developmental state, the country portrayed as one of poor human right records and leading journalist jailer in the Africa despite the country has been witnessing the fastest economic growth for the last ten consecutive years. This paper also argued that Ethiopian developmental state and democratization process is contradictory since Ethiopian governments have been garnering the political legitimacy through development achievement not directly from public elections and the government has been using the economic achievement as an excuse for its democratic back sliding and democratic deconsolidation in Ethiopia.
ADDRESSING THE TRIPLE QUEST OF CONTEMPORARY ETHIOPIA: PEACE, DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT
ETHIOPIAN JOURNAL OF GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT (EJGD) 1(1), 2022
It has been over two decades since Ethiopia adopted the current federal system of government. The FDRE Constitution was meant to enable the various nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia to live together in spite of their differences on the basis of equality and mutual respect. Nevertheless, it has not been easy to properly utilize the existing federal structure and Constitution in the manner it was designed for thereby ensuring the overall prosperity of the nation and one economic community. The country has suffered from ethnic and tribal conflicts, internal displacement of peoples, killing of innocents and lack of good governance. Consequently, there are emerging groups that attribute the aforementioned challenges to the current ethnic federalism claiming that the country would be better if built upon another basis. Against this backdrop, this study aims at investigating whether the existing federalism is a problem in itself or whether the country would be better off by introducing other systems. In so doing, it employs the qualitative doctrinal research methodology by making a content analysis of primary data from the FDRE Constitution and other legislations of the country and relevant international legal and political instruments. It also uses pertinent literatures to locate the prevailing state of knowledge on the subject matter as secondary sources of data. The study finds that the federal structure, in and of itself, has not been the primary source of problems in the country but it has been the failure to properly implement the existing system and the Constitution which resulted in the anomalies. It adds that the proper implementation and a modest constitutional reform would enable the country to ensure the triple quest of the country-peace, democracy and development.
Ethiopia: From Revolutionary Democracy to Prosperity Habtamu Girma Demiessie
2021
This piece is a summary description of a forthcoming book titled 'Ethiopia: From Revolutionary Democracy to Prosperity. The book documents on the essential constructs of Ethiopian society in the period between 1991-2020. The focal point of narratives is to understand the dynamics in political, macroeconomic, socioeconomic, diplomatic, demographic elements in Ethiopia from local and global perspectives. The book would be an important document to those who are interested to have a comprehensive account on Ethiopia in the last three decades in particular
The Developmental State Building and Challenges of Authoritarianism in Post-1991 Ethiopia
The post-1991 Ethiopian ruling elites attempted to implement dual projects of economic transformation and democratization under the political arrangement of ethno-linguistic federalism. As Bach (2011) observes, the ruling TPLF/EPRDF party also implemented a leftist ideology infamously known as a 'revolutionary democracy' whose primary purpose is ensuring the absolute dominance of the ruling elite by dominating the public sphere and creating systems and structures of control. Since 2000s, the government has officially declared that it is pursuing the ideology of a developmental state along the East Asian models. Despite its claim to build democratic developmental state, consensus is not reached about whether this model is relevant for contemporary Ethiopian realities, and its underlying motives. Moreover, critics accuse that the regime's resort to developmental state ideology away from liberal political economy partly drives from its desire to maintain political hegemony and signals its relapse in to authoritarianism. Recently, the country has witnessed widespread violent protest resulting in the weakening of the ruling coalition and its near demise. In this regard, this paper attempted to explicate the Ethiopian developmental state and how it functioned in an increasingly authoritarian political climate in a comparative manner and the underlying cause of recent violent protest. The paper found out that the irresponsive policy implementation bolstered growing authoritarianism, which in turn, along with other pitfalls caused violence which risked the political hegemony of the party and stability of one-party state of Ethiopia.
Ethiopia at Cross Road? A Brief Look into the Revolutionary Democratic Rule (1991-Present
Understanding the concept of revolutionary democracy amounts to understanding the political economy of Ethiopia in the past quarter of a century since 1991. The ideological line pursued by Ethiopian People‟s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a political party that has been ruling Ethiopia since 1991, is a mix of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist communist ideology with the liberal ideas of free market & institutions, election and multi-party democracy. As revolutionary democracy is a new concept in the ontology of Ethiopian politics, it is largely bereft of clarity even to the high ranking officials of EPRDF (Habtamu, 2012; Nolawi, 2013). The ideals of revolutionary democracy embodied some unique elements not just as a party political program, but also for academic purposes too. For one, the concept has interesting political and economic philosophies that can contribute a lot to the academia. It also enables to depict the overall picture of the practice of political and bureaucratic governance, particularly, in the past 25 years. Having such importance, however, the concept has been largely misconstrued in the theoretical and/or empirical literature. Scanty academic responses on revolutionary democracy also amounts denial of its prospect to evolve as an economic and/or political thought. This paper is an attempt to depict the political economy of Ethiopia since the onset of revolutionary democratic rule in the year 1991.
REVOLUTIONARY DEMOCRACY IN ETHIOPIA Origin, Evolution and Development
SAGE Advanced, 2019
ABOUT THE PAPER This paper is an extract from my book entitled: The Cruces of Post 1991 Ethiopian Politics: Revolutionary Democracy, Democratic Developmentlaism and the Late Meles Zenawi. The book is first pulished in December 2017, and republished in Septmeber 2018. The book gives a comprehensive account on the rules of the game in the system of governance of politics, economy, bureaucracy and Securityin Ethiopia since 1991. This article \is organized into two parts. In the first part, the underlying factors triggering for the genesis and development of revolutionary democratic concept is discussed. The first section further addresses competing views on the lines of revolutionary democracy Moreover, the status of revolutionary democracy is subjected to question, as a single party program or as a full fledge concept that comprehensively addresses on all aspects of governance. The second part discusses on the evolution, development and/or consolidation of ideals of revolutionary thought in Ethiopia. In this regard, the theory and practices of revolutionary democracy is framed. The late Meles Zenawi having been ideologue of Ethiopian Revolutionary Democratic Party (EPRDF), a party that has been ruling Ethiopia since 1991, the political and leadership personalities of the leader is analyzed.