Integrating Traditional and State Institutions for Conflict Prevention: Institutional, Legal and Policy Frameworks in Ethiopia

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of traditional institutions and the growing official and academic need to ‘recognize,’ ‘empower’ and incorporate them in the state system, competition and harmony between the two persists. There are seventy-six officially listed ethnic groups in Ethiopia, and there exists a great plurality of livelihoods, social organizations, belief systems, and political and legal systems in the country. Notwithstanding the human right issues, traditional institutions operating outside the state are the dominant form of conflict prevention and resolution in Ethiopia. However, the relationship between traditional institutions and state institutions remains unclear. Previous researches either focus on the constitutional set-up and legal framework of states, or their scope is too specific relating to local case studies and their relationship with the state local institutions. This relationship does not, however, only involve legal issues or concerns at the bottom, but it is also an issue of governance and political structure. This article is based on content and document analysis and examines the harmony and competition between the state and traditional institutions in Ethiopia. I argue that despite their practical prevalence, the policy, legal and institutional frameworks in Ethiopia do not plainly address the relationship between the state and traditional institutions. Although de facto recognition seems to exist, the practice shows that the state that envisages the importance of traditional institutions undermines their role in case of conflict with state institutions.