The Politics of Contemporary Ethiopia - Ethnic Federalism and Authoritarian Survival

This book investigates the role of ethnic federalism in Ethiopian politics, reflecting on a long history of division amongst the country-s political elites. The book argues that these patterns have enabled the resilience and survival of authoritarianism in the country, and have led to the failure of democratization.

Ethnic conflict in Ethiopia stretches back to the country-s imperial history. Competing nationalisms begin to emerge towards the end of the imperial era, but were formalized by the Ethiopian People-s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) from the 1990s onwards. Under the EPRDF, ethnicity and language classifications formed the main organizing principles for political parties and organizations, and the country-s new federal arrangement was also designed along ethnic fault lines. This book argues that this ethnic federal arrangement, and the continuation of an elite political culture are major factors in explaining the continuation of authoritarianism in Ethiopia. <