Aid negotiation: the uneasy “partnership” between EPRDF and the donors

Abstract

Ethiopia has become a major recipient of international development aid since the coming to power of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). This is despite ideological differences between EPRDF and its donors. EPRDF champions the developmental state model that assigns to the state a key role in the development process within a dominant party political framework. Donors broadly fall within the liberalism continuum with the private sector as the driving force and the assumption of a democratic-pluralist politics. The paper examines the making of a robust aid relationship across this ideological boundary and the underlying tensions. It also analyses the “significant others” that have influenced the tone of the conversation between EPRDF and donors. The paper refers to the literature that considers aid relationship as a negotiation rather than the normative and politically loaded term “partnership”.