Neither Reform nor Revolution: Social Change and Security in Post-1991 Ethiopia

Abstract

The post-1991 political dynamics in Ethiopia has been defined by political polarization amidst multidimensional changes. The political discourse on the federal system and the ethno-national political configuration is stretched between two opposing stances namely the apocalyptic narrative of the opposition and the renaissance narrative of the ruling party. This paper contends that even though the two sides at face value appear different, however, a closer look at both sides reveals that both narratives are harping on the same narrative of invoking fear of disintegration and ethnic mayhem. The difference is one divulges on capitalizing the federal system as recipe for inevitable disaster while the other to have already averted it by instilling a federal system based on Ethno-territorial organization of self-rule. Consequently, the possibility of assessing the multidimensional dyna mics is made to fall between the cracks. Because, the discourse has been truncated to the size of binary interpretation of the overall post-1991 political dynamics, social change and security. Therefore, the imperative for engaging contemporary Ethiopia dynamics by transcending the binary divide.