Abstract
When federalism was introduced in Ethiopia in the early 1990s, it did not receive a warm reception. Although the militarily victorious, ethnic-based liberation movements presented federalism as the only viable path to democratization and stability, many others saw it as a ploy to disintegrate the country. The relevance of federalism as the appropriate response to the challenges that the country is facing continues to dominate constitutional and political debates, but the nature of the debate has notably evolved through the years. Today, it is hard to find a political formation that, at least, openly challenges or campaigns against the relevance of federalism. The nature of the debate has shifted from the relevance of federalism per se to the nature and character of the federal arrangement and more specifically to the ethnic-based nature of the current arrangement that is blamed for the exacerbated ethnic divisions, conflictual intergovernmental relations and the rendering of some as second-class citizens in a territory they consider home.
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Notes
- 1.
Equality at the time meant the end of cultural subordination and the freedom to exercise one’s culture but not territorial autonomy and self-government of the nationalities.
- 2.
The Institute for the Study of Ethiopian Nationalities was a political research bureau that did research under the military regime. Most of the results from the Institute’s work have been directly included into the post-1991 restructuring of the country via ethnicity.
- 3.
For a discussion of the administrative divisions, their powers and boundaries at the time, see Fiseha (2007).
- 4.
Amhara and, to an extent, the Afar regions while reserving the lion’s share of ownership of their regional territory to the respective dominant Amhara and Afar identities, very jealously share portions of their territories to select recognized native minorities. Somali, Sidama and Oromia have jealously guarded the ownership of their regional territory, thereby extending the privileges only to the dominant ethnic identities of Somali, Sidama and Oromo, respectively. The Tigray region, even though it follows a similar approach, has de facto permitted some sort of territorial sharing to the recognized indigenous minorities of Irob and Kunama—although this is done outside the regional constitutional architecture. The city-state of Harar, founded for the Harari identity, probably because its entire territory is located within the region of Oromia, has somehow tried to share its regional territory with ethnic Oromo, but not with others, even to those like the Amhara, with sizeable numerical presence.
- 5.
Because these constitutional dispensations focus on empowering natives in their defined territories, its adverse impact upon the rights of non-members has been immense. For instance, since ethnic groups are bestowed with the right to own land, an individual inevitably has to trace membership to an ethnic group to access and use land. In an ethnic federation, this could result in the understanding that access to land is not extended to all as a matter of citizenship rights but only to individuals who can trace their belonging to the respective nations, nationalities, and peoples (Behailu, 2015).
- 6.
This, among others, has led to the proliferation of identity-based claims and ethnic autonomy conflicts.
- 7.
See also the preamble of the FDRE constitution in this regard.
- 8.
This was disturbingly witnessed, among others, in the Guraferda district of the SNNP region, Kamashi , Assosa and Metekel zones of Benishangul Gumuz region, and in various parts of Oromia region.
- 9.
For instance, see Smith and Hiden (2012) on the use of the “personality principle” to address the often competing demands between territorial federalization and internal migration.
- 10.
It must, however, be noted that, even under those circumstances, the ruling party chose to empower native identities, perpetuating the exclusion of the so-called settlers from the political process. However, the empowerment extended to the natives, as alluded above, was nominal as real decision-making power remained with the center (Fiseha, 2007).
- 11.
This has raised a constitutional dilemma as to whether additional working languages for the federal government can be recognized without a constitutional amendment or not.
- 12.
The two political forces that stand back to back to each other currently are those that advocate for federalism on ethnic attributes and those that advocate for federalism on civic grounds.
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Fessha, Y.T., Dessalegn, B. (2022). Federalism in Ethiopia: Emergence, Progress and Challenges. In: Keil, S., Kropp, S. (eds) Emerging Federal Structures in the Post-Cold War Era. Federalism and Internal Conflicts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93669-3_10
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