NEVIS REVIEW 9,
Section II
Ref# 9.2
Ref# 9.2
January 28, 2013
Ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia:
Background, Present Conditions and Future Prospects
By Alem Habtu (PhD)
(Extracts from the paper)
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In 1991 Ethiopia established an
ethnic federal system that gave full recognition to ethnic
autonomy, while maintaining the
unity of the state. Its new constitution created a federal system largely
consisting of ethnic-based territorial units. The constitution aspires to
achieve ethnic autonomy and equality while maintaining the state. The federal
system is significant in that its constitution provides for secession of any
ethnic unit. It encourages political parties to organize along ethnic lines,
and champions an ethnicized federal state with a secession option. As an
exception to the general pattern in Africa, it is a worthy case study. ………………………..
…The Ethiopian state historically
evolved, over millennia, as a non-colonial empire-state.
The country has a great ethnic
diversity. In the 20th century, imperial assimilationist policies and military
communist policies failed to overcome ethnic alienation and revolt. The
leadership since 1991 institutionalized ethnic federalism as a matter of
ideological orientation and political necessity and as a way of resolving
conflict between ethnonationalism and the state. The fact that most ethnic
groups appear willing to live within the framework of the federal system is, in
part, an achievement of ethnic federalism. Thus far, ethnic federalism has
undercut the drive for secession by largely removing manifest aspects of ethnic
oppression (e.g., language use) that would have served as a rallying cause for
ethnonationalist organizations. Through its cultural
pluralist and political autonomy
policies, ethnic federalism has contributed to state maintenance.
The Ethiopian federal system is
unique in its constitutional marrying of political pluralism and the right of
secession. But there is a mismatch between the liberal-democratic
political-pluralist elements of
the constitution and the political praxis of the dominant party; it is wedded
to the modus operandi of democratic centralism, inhibiting effective
decentralization and democratization.
In the short run, the viability
and stability of the infant political system is dependent on its flexibility
and adaptability. In the long run, the success of ethnic federalism will be
contingent, in good measure, on a more balanced share of power between the
three major ethnic groups, the Oromo, the Amhara and the Tigray. At the moment,
it appears to be in favor of the numerically small Tigray ethnic group. All
three ethnic groups not only need to work out a mutual accommodation, they also
need, in turn, to support pluralist policies and practices vis-à-vis all ethnic
groups in the country. At the interstate level, Ethiopia needs to establish
normal relations with all its neighboring states as there are co- ethnics
residing in all of them.
(Eds Note- Associate Professor
and Chair in the Department of Sociology at Queens College, City University of
New York. His recent publications on federalism include an edited book on
Ethiopian Federalism: Principle, Process and Practice)
