People's Revolutionary Democratic Front Research Articles

From imperial power to regional policeman: Ethiopian peacekeeping and the developmental state

Abstract Why and how do African states become peacekeepers? Through a single-case study, this article accounts for a transformation in peace and security: how Ethiopia became the world's prime source of blue helmets in the early twenty-first century, having largely shunned peacekeeping in preceding decades. We propose that peacekeeping came to serve as an unexpectedly useful technology to pursue state-building agendas. Historically, regional proxy wars undermined state-building efforts in Ethiopia and mismanagement of ethno-linguistic diversity rendered it vulnerable to externally supported rebellions. In the 2000s, an evolving approach to peacekeeping dovetailed with the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's (EPRDF) vision for recalibrating political order domestically and in the Horn of Africa. EPRDF became convinced that changing Ethiopia required changing its surrounding region. Regional intervention as peacekeeping was supported by global powers and helped bind neighbouring states to Ethiopia in new ways. This entailed the crafting of deep political ties in Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan that mitigated historical fears of Ethiopian hegemony and shielded EPRDF state-building from outside destabilization. Moreover, as Ethiopia's increasingly prominent role in United Nations and African Union missions improved the external environment for the EPRDF developmental state, it also expanded Ethiopian National Defence Force's role in the political economy, buttressing the party-state's hegemony.

Ideology, grand strategy and the rise and decline of Ethiopia's regional status

Abstract Ethiopia transformed from a state on the verge of collapse at the end of the Cold War into one of the world's fastest-developing economies and a regional power in the Horn of Africa in less than two decades. Since 2018 its economic, military and diplomatic status have, however, become significantly compromised yet again. What explains these significant fluctuations in regional power status? Drawing on policy documents and in-depth interviews with diplomatic, military and political officials from the Horn of Africa this article conducts a comparative analysis of the nature and variation of Ethiopia's regional power status under the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 2000–2018 and the Prosperity Party (PP) in 2018–2022. The findings illustrate that the fluctuations in regional power were primarily caused by different grand strategies, which in turn reflected the priorities of the EPRDF's developmental state and the PP's restorative nationalist ideologies. These grand strategic concepts shaped Ethiopian government policies on key issues like defence doctrine, status-seeking, economic development, and rivalry and alliance management. These policies had a direct and significant impact on Ethiopia's state capacity, its ability to project military power and its diplomatic influence.

A critique of building a developmental state in the EPRDF's Ethiopia

ABSTRACT This article explores the main features of Ethiopia's ‘developmental state’ and takes a critical look at how the model is applied in practice, capturing parallels and contradictions through comparative evidence with that of the East Asia model. Accordingly, it notes that the East Asian model has a strong ideological influence on the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) regime, allowing it to formulate a strong vision of development, but this, although it contributed to economic growth, failed to ensure democracy and stability in the country. It argues that land grabbing and political instability are the biggest threats to Ethiopia's development prospects.

Adolescents’ capabilities and aspirations across gender and generations in Amhara, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Insights into the role of changing historical-political-cultural contexts and social norms in shaping adolescent girls’ and boys’ futures contributes to an understanding of human development at the intersection of gender and youth in low- and middle-income countries. This study investigates the capabilities and aspirations of adolescent girls and boys and their evolution in Amhara against the background of three successive political regimes that governed Ethiopia over the last 90 years, the Haile-Selassie imperial regime (1930–1974), the socialist military Derg regime (1974–1991), and the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (1991–2019), each with their own institutions, structures and infrastructure, and gender- and age-related relations and norms. The study adopts a capability approach with a gender and generationing development lens as a framework and relies on qualitative data collected through community- and mixed-generation group discussions. The study illustrates that, even if institutional and structural barriers became less stringent over time, cumulative gender- and age-related obstacles – some rooted in beliefs, norms, traditions and relations – hindered the expansion of adolescents’ capability success, consistently more so for girls than boys. (The threat of) gender-based violence pervasively constrains girls’ capabilities success and aspirations in spite of more formal protective institutions.

‘Just keep silent’. Teaching under the control of authoritarian governments: A qualitative study of government schools in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

In the light of globally resurging authoritarianism, this paper investigates how Ethiopia’s prior ruling party Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front governed teachers to produce conformity with the regime’s objectives. The study draws from qualitative data collected in late 2018 in Addis Ababa with 77 education actors. We demonstrate how ordinary educational governance mechanisms serve as apparatuses of surveillance and sanction that create a climate of fear. The rigid control significantly hinders teachers in their everyday work by isolating and paralysing them. Despite recent changes in Ethiopia’s political system, this study underlines the need to consider the challenges that teachers face due to authoritarian control in discussions about education’s potential to contribute to democracy and peace.

Crises and Crossroads in Ethiopia

Crises and Crossroads in Ethiopia

State-Building and Development in Ethiopia: From “Developmental State” to “Prosperity” Model

Abstract State-building and development are mutually reinforcing phenomena. The sustainability of development depends on the stability of state's political-structural foundation and the prospect of peace, which is influenced by the origin and evolution of the state. Every regime in Ethiopia has portrayed its advent as a new dawn for the country's development. In recent history, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) introduced a “developmental state” model and registered notable economic growth on aggregate but failed on accounts of equitable distribution. The EPRDF regime used the “developmental state” model to enhance the centralization of state power and circumvent regional autonomy. In 2018, the Prosperity Party (PP) introduced a “prosperity” model. From the EPRDF to the PP, there are signals of a radical shift of approach in state-building and development. This article analyzes the premises and promises of the multinational federation and “developmental state” model under the EPRDF regime, and the unitarist orientation and “prosperity” paradigm under the PP. I argue that the radical shift of direction from the multinational federalism towards a unitary state is unrealistic and fundamentally shatters the prospect of development.

Nationalism and self‐determination in contemporary Ethiopia

AbstractThe 1995 Ethiopian Constitution envisions a multinational state with the right to self‐determination, including secession, given to the nations, nationalities, and peoples of the country. This remarkable document is a product of a unique combination of Ethiopia's history, Marxist‐Leninist debates of the 1974 revolution, and political circumstances of the time the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) took power in 1991. The subsequent 20 years witnessed a concerted attempt to implement measures for federal decentralization alongside continued political centralization in the ruling party, with several intended and unintended consequences. Since 2016, a combination of the manipulation of constitutional provisions for personal and factional advantage, and polarized perspectives over the identity and future of the country, have unveiled a chapter of political crisis. The 1995 Constitution is hardly a cause of this crisis, yet the fate of the Constitution has become central to the dynamics of the crisis.

The Pitfalls of Ethnolinguistic-Based Federal Experiment in Ethiopia

In 1991, when Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) became a leading party within the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Ethiopia introduced a system of ethnic-based federalism, which had never been practiced in the political history of the state before. The recognition of Ethiopian ethnic diversity became one of the country’s fundamental principles, with the federal system largely consisting of ethnic-based territorial units. Since its inception, Ethiopia's ethnic federalism has been the subject of heated debate among various political organizations in the country, as well as among observers and scholars both in and outside the country. The key objective of this paper is to appraise the pitfalls of ethnic-based federalism in Ethiopia, which has been functioning in the country for more than two and half decades. The authors believe ethnic-based federalism to be a political arrangement that succeeds to maintain balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces. They see it as an appropriate and viable strategy for a sustainable nation-building effort in the context of Ethiopia’s ethnic diversity. At the same time, the authors observe that in the case with ethnicity-based political arrangements, unless they are implemented with maximum care, the risk outweighs the benefit. When a state like Ethiopia, which had been highly centralized for many years, is trying to experiment with a seemingly federal arrangement, the equilibrium of diversity and unity should be maintained. If the political environment focuses primarily on diversity and ignores shared values and common identity, it leaves room for the elites to manipulate the differences and pursue their own parochial political interests, which would eventually serve against the public benefit. The pioneers of Ethiopia’s ethnic federalism believe that the contemporary ethnolinguistic-based federal arrangement is a panacea for problems related to identity politics. However, the authors argue that, from a practical perspective, for the past two and half decades (probably in the future too, unless re-designed) ethnic federalism in Ethiopia has been highly politicized (manipulated by political dealers promoting their own selfish interests).

The aspiring developmental state and business associations in Ethiopia – (dis-)embedded autonomy?

AbstractThis article investigates how the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's (EPRDF) attempt to build a developmental state influenced and shaped its relationships with the Ethiopian private sector. Through a case study of the chambers of commerce system in Ethiopia, the research reveals that the EPRDF's relationship to the private sector was characterised by the twin objectives of (1) curbing the private sector's power to prevent challenges to the EPRDF rule and (2) mobilising the private sector as part of the ruling coalition's developmental state programme. However, these twin objectives, were, in several cases, perceived as mutually exclusive by the EPRDF which, at times, led to a focus on control at the expense of developmental objectives. The ensuing lack of embeddedness posed problems for the operationalisation of the developmental state policies, reducing the EPRDF's ability to institutionalise collaborative relationships with the private sector.

The Political and Historical Representation of Statues in Three Ethiopian Consecutive Regimes (1889 - Present)

Statues are symbols which represent dynamic societal values. They serve as a rallying point for shared common memory and identity and, hence, are used as a collective remembrance. They also have a power to immortalize an intended ideology. Statue is an object that represents the religion, history, culture, art, socio- economic and political practices of one nation. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the political representation of iconic statues erected in three, Imperial monarchy, Derg Military Junta and Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) regimes in Ethiopia. To achieve this purpose, several documents from Culture and Tourism Bureaus and library archives are analyzed qualitatively. The study lastly summarizes the erected statues in the three Ethiopia regimes are highly tied with the political manifesto each regime. In the process of political shift, when the former regime replaced by the new one, simultaneously, the former statues are dismantled and dislocated and the new statues that represents the current political ideology are constructed and replaced. Accordingly, it concluded that, statues represent the political context of these three consecutive regimes in Ethiopian polity.

DECENTRALIZATION AND THE LOCAL DEVELOPMENTAL STATE: PEASANT MOBILIZATION IN OROMIYA, ETHIOPIA

ABSTRACTThis article explores the politics of decentralization and state–peasant encounters in rural Oromiya, Ethiopia. Breaking with a centralized past, the incumbent government of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) committed itself to a decentralization policy in the early 1990s and has since then created a number of new sites for state–citizen interactions. In the context of electoral authoritarianism, however, decentralization has been interpreted as a means for the expansion of the party-state at the grass-roots level. Against this backdrop, this article attempts a more nuanced understanding of the complex entanglements between the closure of political space and faith in progress in local arenas. Hence, it follows sub-kebeleinstitutions at the community level in a rural district and analyses their significance for state-led development and peasant mobilization between the 2005 and 2010 elections. Based on ethnographic field research, the empirical case presented discloses that decentralization and state-led development serve the expansion of state power into rural areas, but that state authority is simultaneously constituted and undermined in the course of this process. On that basis, this article aims to contribute to an inherently political understanding of decentralization, development and their entanglement in local and national politics in rural African societies.

Decentralized Governance under Centralized Party Rule in Ethiopia: The Tigray Experience

In the mid-1990s Ethiopia adopted a federal constitution promising regional autonomy and the creation and strengthening of local government units below the regional level. Some observers attribute the various shortcomings of Ethiopian federalism that have emerged since then to the original institutional/constitutional design. This paper, however, argues that what is not in the constitution has come to influence the workings of decentralization more than what is codified in it. The dominant national party in power, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), either directly or through affiliates, controls political office at all levels of government, thereby limiting the room for local initiative and autonomy. The presence of a national dominant party limits the responsiveness and downward accountability of Wereda (district) authorities; it also undermines political competition, and by extension, good governance at the grassroots level. The paper is based on field research carried out in the Tigray regional state of Ethiopia. The conclusion is that when one party dominates the politics of the region and its institutions, extra-constitutional intra-party politics determine how things work, thereby subjugating localities’ autonomy and impeding their ability to deliver on promises of decentralization.

Digital cleansing? A look into state-sponsored policing of Ethiopian networked communities

ABSTRACTIn June 2015, the National Election Board of Ethiopia announced that the incumbent Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and its affiliates had won 100 per cent of the House of People's Representatives seats. The results have extended Ethiopia's anocratic one-party rule since the EPRDF ousted the former military dictatorship through armed struggle in 1991. Despite earlier promises of democratic reform, the EPRDF has increasingly become a self-proclaimed vanguard party at the expense of political inclusivity, continuing its attempts to validate its longevity through a ‘developmentalism’ rhetoric, which frames alternative speech as heresy, and at times a crime. One notable consequence of this hegemonic thinking is an alarming invisibility of plurality in the traditional Ethiopian media landscape. Drawing from hegemonic notions of development statism, this article looks at the extent to which digital platforms have become viable alternatives to traditional electronic and print media in Ethiopia. I argue that, despite its potential to promote freedom of speech, the Ethiopian online sphere is systematically policed through state-sanctioned legal frameworks. Through analysis of an online survey, I also demonstrate how perceptions of users about online experiences show skepticism toward the role of the Ethiopian state in Internet monitoring.

This land is my land: the Ethio-Sudan boundary and the need to rectify arbitrary colonial boundaries

ABSTRACTEthiopia and Sudan share a common boundary of over 1600 km which was drawn through a series of treaties between Ethiopia and the colonial powers of Britain and Italy. To date, this boundary has not been clearly demarcated. In 2007, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, the current ruling government, entered into a secret agreement with the Sudan to make adjustments on the border. This paper identifies the major factors that have frustrated efforts to address the Ethio-Sudan boundary problem and also proposes solutions on how Ethiopia and Sudan could resolve their differences. The analysis reveals that political, social and cultural factors; the decision to adopt the western concept of the boundary; and the failure to recognise the historic and cultural constructs have contributed to the frustration of negotiations on the border. The paper proposes that Ethiopia and Sudan embrace the African Union Border Program, which encourages mutual cooperation, regional integration and the building of communities with strong economic and cultural ties.

Media, Participation and Constitution-Making in Ethiopia

AbstractThe role of communications in facilitating public participation in constitution-making is often neglected and misunderstood, particularly in post-war state-building when mass media may be weak. In the early 1990s, Ethiopia's ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), drafted one of Africa's most ambitious constitutions, allowing for ethnic federalism, decentralization and democratic reforms. The constitution has been highly controversial and many of its aspirations remain unrealized. This article explores how the EPRDF sought to use the media to explain and encourage acceptance of the constitution. It offers a framework for analysis that is relevant for countries beyond Ethiopia by examining: the role of media policies in providing domestic and international legitimacy for constitutions; the ways in which media can provide a space for non-violent political conflict or negotiation, where elites can navigate political struggles and debate ideology; and the use of media to implement the constitution's most ambitious goals.

THUGS, SPIES AND VIGILANTES: COMMUNITY POLICING AND STREET POLITICS IN INNER CITY ADDIS ABABA

ABSTRACTThe implementation of community policing schemes and development programmes targeting street youth in inner city Addis Ababa, intended to prevent crime and unrest, has resulted in an expansion of structures of political mobilization and surveillance of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the party that has ruled the country since 1991. Yet the fact that the government managed to implement its programmes does not imply that the ruling party was entirely successful in tackling ordinary crime as well as political dissent. As neighbourhoods continued to be insecure, especially at night, the efficacy of the ruling party's politicized narratives on community policing and crime prevention was questioned. An appreciation of the shortcomings of government action on the streets of the inner city raises questions about the extent of the reach of the EPRDF's state into the grass roots of urban society as well as about the ways in which dissent is voiced in a context where forms of political surveillance and control are expanding. This paper investigates these issues in order to contribute to the study of the Ethiopian state and to the broader debate on community policing and crime prevention on the African continent.

Muslims Renegotiating Marginality in Contemporary Ethiopia

AbstractEthiopian Muslims have only had access to public space and opportunity for religious self‐definition and collective influence since 1991. During little more than two decades, how have they advanced subjective agency within the political constraints of the current government, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front or EPRDF? This article addresses that question by backgrounding the history of Islamic expansion into Ethiopia, tracing Muslim engagement with Christian political elites over several hundred years, till the latter part of the 21st century. After the deposition of Haile Selasse in 1974, the DERG assumed power and in the name of a socialist agenda, suppressed all religions from 1975–1991. DERG socialism has been replaced by EPRDF pluralism, yet the structural constraints of the latter have weakened the efforts of Ethiopian Muslims to find their rightful place in the public square. Abetted and assisted by overseas immigrant communities, in both Western Europe and North America, Ethiopian Muslims continue to contest securitization and marginalization by the state, even as they struggle with regional, national and transnational issues that impact all Muslim identity politics in the second decade of the 21st century.

'Do not cross the red line': The 2010 general elections, dissent, and political mobilization in urban Ethiopia

Only five years after it lost a national election in Addis Ababa, the overwhelming victory of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in the 2010 general elections marked the defeat of the opposition parties and the return to a dominant-party state. The capacity of the EPRDF to mobilize people in towns and the capital city triggered debates on the nature of consent in urban Ethiopia. This article contributes to this debate in two ways. First, it maps the specific institutions and strategies the ruling party has used to close political space in the capital since 2005, explaining how it has tied political mobilization to the delivery of services to those at the bottom of urban society. Second, it examines interactions between the ruling party and young people involved in government development programmes and youth organizations, demonstrating the subtle ways dissent is expressed even as EPRDF power is reproduced. In this regard, the victory of the ruling party in 2010 does not bear witness to the neutralization of dissent. Rather, it reveals a reshaping of the way the government has governed and controlled the city since the late 1990s. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

Compromising with Ethiopianness After 1991: The Ethiopian Festival of the Millennium (September 2007–September 2008)

Abstract This article argues that imperial marks and symbols were central to the nation-building strategy of the leaders of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) before the outbreak of the 1998–2000 war against Eritrea and even before 1991. It thus presents the Ethio-Eritrean war, often perceived as a radical turning point concerning EPRDF's nation-building policy, in a different light. The study also highlights how two often opposed conceptions of the Ethiopian nation—i.e., Pan-Ethiopian and “multinational”—have actually been presented as compatible by EPRDF leaders in the last decades. It argues that these two conceptions do not appear exclusive of each other, and their equilibrium is more clearly manifested since the National Festival of the Millennium, celebrated from September 2007 to September 2008 to mark Ethiopia's entry into the third Millennium. The official narrations of Ethiopian statehood and nationhood expressed at this occasion confirmed the consistency of the new leaders' interpretation of what Ethiopia “was” and “shall be,” but simultaneously show how current and concrete contingencies—here the post-1998–2000 war context and the turmoil of the 2005 general elections—force these same state/nation-builders to adjust their discourses.