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<p>The quest for justice, equality, and freedom has dominated the political landscape of the country over the past half-century, particularly since the emergence of student movements that led to the inception of organized political movements in the 1960s. In response to the popular demands, the socialist military government attempted to reorganize the state and society along socialist lines. However, this effort to democratize the state failed to yield positive results. Following the fall of the military government in 1991, ethnicity gained prominence in the interpretation and implementation of democratic principles. Since then, ethnicity has become a salient feature of every aspect of society and political arrangement. Despite the dominance of ethnicity as a primary identity and its incorporation into the organization of state and society over the past three decades, there are still calls for a reconsideration of politics that transcends primordial ties among significant segments of society and political elites that champion certain political causes. These contentious political positions have significantly impacted the country’s efforts to extricate itself from a fragile democratic experiment while also pursuing socio-economic transformation. This paper seeks to uncover the polarized political positions among political elites regarding how to reorganize the country’s political landscape. Accordingly, the study establishes facts, analyzes them, and aims to anticipate the challenges facing the state in its quest to democratize the political space, moving away from ethnic monopolization toward a more civic-oriented framework. Based on the data obtained from primary and secondary sources through key informants interview and desk review, the findings of the study revealed that the post-2018 political transition is derailed due to the politicization of ethnicity that has long been institutionalized in the country’s fiscal federalism, yielding a functioning legacy to date. The country now is hanging in the balance, dangling in between ethnic and civic spaces as well as charting a mid-way manifested itself in a rhetoric named after “Building Multinational Unity”. To curtail further devastation, the incumbent government needs to arrange for a new social contract to come by the virtue of the anticipated constitutional amendment, which in turn is expected to arise from the ongoing National Dialogue.</p>

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Ethiopia’s political transition: dueling between ethnic and civic spaces

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年11月20日

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  • Anteneh Getachew,
  • Henok Getachew

摘要

The quest for justice, equality, and freedom has dominated the political landscape of the country over the past half-century, particularly since the emergence of student movements that led to the inception of organized political movements in the 1960s. In response to the popular demands, the socialist military government attempted to reorganize the state and society along socialist lines. However, this effort to democratize the state failed to yield positive results. Following the fall of the military government in 1991, ethnicity gained prominence in the interpretation and implementation of democratic principles. Since then, ethnicity has become a salient feature of every aspect of society and political arrangement. Despite the dominance of ethnicity as a primary identity and its incorporation into the organization of state and society over the past three decades, there are still calls for a reconsideration of politics that transcends primordial ties among significant segments of society and political elites that champion certain political causes. These contentious political positions have significantly impacted the country’s efforts to extricate itself from a fragile democratic experiment while also pursuing socio-economic transformation. This paper seeks to uncover the polarized political positions among political elites regarding how to reorganize the country’s political landscape. Accordingly, the study establishes facts, analyzes them, and aims to anticipate the challenges facing the state in its quest to democratize the political space, moving away from ethnic monopolization toward a more civic-oriented framework. Based on the data obtained from primary and secondary sources through key informants interview and desk review, the findings of the study revealed that the post-2018 political transition is derailed due to the politicization of ethnicity that has long been institutionalized in the country’s fiscal federalism, yielding a functioning legacy to date. The country now is hanging in the balance, dangling in between ethnic and civic spaces as well as charting a mid-way manifested itself in a rhetoric named after “Building Multinational Unity”. To curtail further devastation, the incumbent government needs to arrange for a new social contract to come by the virtue of the anticipated constitutional amendment, which in turn is expected to arise from the ongoing National Dialogue.