Ethiopian Federalism: Fact or Fiction?
(Some Notes from the Ground)
Background
& Overview
(Zerihun Teshome, Hashim Tofik, Getachew K.Reda)
Center for Federalism and Public Policy Research(CEFPOR)
Background
& Overview
Analysis about and evaluation of the processes of political transition in most developing Societies including our own country has for the most part been modeled on the pervasive paradigms of Western political discourse particularly after the onset of the so-called New World Order. Accordingly, any topic on economic development and democratization is arrogantly viewed only through, and judged on the basis of a single Eurocentric intellectual prism- an arrogance that pretty much smacks of an ill-disguised racism. According to this world view, everything sanctioned by the West is the hallmark of modernity and is considered effective to a fault whereas indigenous initiatives by natives of nations elsewhere such as Ethiopia are often characterized as downright primordial and as such, doomed to a certain failure.
This dichotomy clearly glosses over the disparate social, political and economic realities that may obtain in different societies and conveniently assumes away the idiosyncrasies and unique cultural experiences inherent in human nature.
Ethiopia's efforts at political and economic transition throughout the last decade or so have been no exception to this lopsided observation. An unquestioning embrace of the clichés of free market economy, multi-party democracy and some such, as well as a deeply entrenched intellectual parasitism have for the better part of the last fifteen years been some of the common threads that run through the views of the detractors and critics of the bold political and economic experiments undertaken in Ethiopia thus far. However, the tenacity with which the proponents of this Eurocentric worldview have tried to shove it down our throats in various policy forums is decidedly in the wane, with all the lustre & appeal it always exuded slowly dying down and more and more attention being focused on whether or not it can really prove its mettle.
But in a larger sense, the holier-than-thou orthodoxy of the West-over-the-Rest began to lose its appeal-real or imagined- due mainly to the fact that its hard and fast solutions were proving much too far from coming anywhere close to explaining a significant part of the myriads of problems of countries in transition, much less become the magic wand its proponents would have us believe it was. The pushing of such one-size-fits-all approaches to healing economic and political pathologies of nations has been dealt a serious blow due to a series of setbacks it suffered so much so hardly any clever manipulation of grand theories or any level of intellectual chicanery can offer any logical defense in its favour. It is against the backdrop of this realization that we are witnessing a healthy plethora of works by scholars and researchers who took it upon themselves to embrace openness, dialogue and constructive engagement rather than crippling orthodoxy, reverence for received wisdom & scholarship bereft of practicality.
One area in which this infectious change in intellectual culture is palpable concerns the debate surrounding the issue of how and/or what form of federalism to put in place in order to address the unity and diversity in multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual societies. The question relating to the efficacy or even advisability of ethnic federalism as a viable political solution has for the better part of the last three or so decades been accorded only scant attention due to two major historical developments: the rather successful experience of the building of Nation States in the West on the one hand, and the disintegration at the end of the 1980s of the former communist States and the subsequent disowning of the Stalinist formula on the other.
What transpired as a result of the relative success of the Western experience and the failure of the Stalinist model was that the politico-economic models of liberalism took on an increased role as the ultimate models of state formation and functioning governance while the whole notion of ethnic federalism and the question of nations were, at least in mainstream scholarship, relegated to the backwaters of history. However, the last few decades have seen a revival in the topic mainly among academics in some parts of the West- a development that owes pretty much to the a growing demand on the part of linguistic, cultural or religious minorities for more rights and better representation in all aspects of public life. This demand for more representation and larger space in public life and the subsequent efforts exerted to deal with the same were beginning to prove beyond doubt that there was more to addressing the problem than further expanding individual rights- the stock-in-trade of liberalism. This has once again brought the issue of ethnicity and ethnic federalism back to the academic as well as political limelight.
Questions related to the practicability or sustainability of the solution notwithstanding, the once seemingly unassailable position that putting in place a federal arrangement based on ethnicity is tantamount to an almost certain disintegration has been refuted or at least proved essentially wrong. The position that touted liberalism as the one and only formula that proved its mettle across the board held on the other hand that any experiment of federalism that gives due respect to ethnic, linguistic and territorial issues was inherently wrong and thus an exercise in futility. Not only was this line of argument proved to be far from the ultimate truth that it was always held out to be: We have now a much more realistic trend of scholarship comprising of authorities both from the West and elsewhere who emphatically argue, and logically so, that there is no one single formula to address the question of identity or ethnicity, and that instead, the question calls for an approach that takes into account the various historical and political experiences of countries, the cultural, linguistic idiosyncrasies of the constituent ethnic groups as well as the need for a pragmatic and flexible approach fully cognizant of the imperatives of fair play & justice.
Ethiopia's nascent federalism, a rather bold experiment with far reaching consequences, has had more than its fair share of detractors most of whose criticism was punctuated by the kind of doom saying we mentioned earlier on. Despite the pessimistic predictions of descent into ethnic carnage espoused by its critics, the federal experiment that was put in place more than a decade ago now seems to have turned a corner among some intellectual circles, a development such as to warrant a renewed attention and a rather positive note as an example of a step in the right direction.[1]
Indeed, Ethiopia's version of ethnic federalism has come a long way tinkering with identity politics unlike hitherto experienced elsewhere both in terms of the boldness and radical way with which the ethnic question is approached. As such, it will have to undergo a series of political, economic and cultural transformations that will require far reaching structural as well as policy changes. Be that as it may, it has thus far registered a modest success in dispelling what little credibility could be lent to the ideologically charged allegations that it was primarily motivated by an ill-conceived agenda to impose and perpetuate the superiority of this or that ethnic group over others. Indeed, it is altogether fitting and proper that it be given its proper place in academic or applied research alike as another variant- a bold one at that- of ethnic federalism that was necessitated by the unique aspects of the historical-political realities of the various ethnic groups in Ethiopia and the need to give full faith and credit to their multifaceted aspirations. This will, at least in part, explain why there has been, if a modest one, an interest to look at it in much more positive light.
But then again, there are even more fundamental explanations why Ethiopia's experience in this regard may merit drawing such a curious interest and attention. More important, Ethiopia's federalism essentially draws on and the widely acknowledged fundamental theories of federalism in general and incorporates the various legal, institutional and policy frameworks that building a functioning federalism presupposes. Equally important also is the fact that the federal scheme and the decentralization of power that goes with it is not only being implemented at all levels of government-federal, regional & local alike, but it is also being implemented with all due respect to the historical, cultural and institutional exigencies of the respective constituencies. In this regard, an attempt should be made to evaluate at length the extent to which this experiment so far has fared in practice in light both of its congruency with or departure from accepted theoretical standards of federalism and the efficacy and appropriateness of the various legal, institutional and policy changes put in place throughout the entire process. The following two parts of this paper are intended to do just that.
The first part deals mainly with the essential features as well as pointers of Ethiopian Federalism. This part will therefore reflect on the extent to which the Constitutional guarantees and their interpretations are consistent with the ideals of Ethiopia's version of ethnic federalism. This part will also highlight the extent to which federalism in Ethiopia has come a long way to become anchored on a very solid ground and do so by drawing on the discernible advantages to the constituent units made possible by the various political, social & economic programs and reforms that have so far been put in place with a view to enforcing the provisions of the constitution.
The second part will then try to put related developments in perspective and forward alternative explanations about what some critics' predict are going to be potential dangers lurking behind the shadows of this nascent federal arrangement. In the final analysis, this paper will point out the reasons for optimism about the potentially positive outcomes yet to come as a result of a fullest possible implementation of the Federal scheme while pointing to the cautions that need to be taken all the way.