Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:17:49.059Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Voting for an ethnic identity: procedural and institutional responses to ethnic conflict in Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2007

Lahra Smith
Lahra Smith*
Affiliation:
African Studies Program, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Box 571042, ICC 305-I, Washington, DC 20057-1042, USA
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The literature on democratisation in diverse and divided societies suggests that procedural and institutional innovations can help create the conditions for democracy by adjudicating among groups with competing claims for recognition and inclusion. Some of the most critical assumptions about the relationship between ethnic identity and formal political institutions have been tested in Ethiopia since the early 1990s. Ethnic federalism is a unique and controversial attempt to account for the contested nature of ethnic identities in contemporary Ethiopian politics through a variety of mechanisms, including the use of a referendum to determine ethnic identity. In 2001 the Siltie people voted to separate from the Gurage ethnic group. With this political manoeuvre, the Siltie accessed greater levels of political power and greater resources, but also recognition under the constitutional arrangement as a distinct ethnic group. The Siltie case suggests that formal political institutions have a limited, though important, role in resolving contested citizenship claims. At the same time, it raises vital questions about the challenges of procedural solutions in the context of contested citizenship and democratic transition in sub-Saharan Africa.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 4 , December 2007 , pp. 565 - 594
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aalen, L. 2002. ‘Ethnic federalism in a dominant party state: the Ethiopian experience, 1991–2000’. MA thesis, Chr.Michelsen Institute, Bergen.Google Scholar
Abraham, Hussein & Wondimu, Habtamu. 1991. The Culture and History of the Siltie-speaking People of Azernet Berbere (in Amharic), Addis Ababa: Bole Publishers.Google Scholar
Abbink, J. 1997. ‘Ethnicity and constitutionalism in contemporary Ethiopia’, Journal of African Law 41, 2: 159–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abbink, J. 2006. ‘Discomfiture of democracy? The 2005 election crisis in Ethiopia and its aftermath’, African Affairs 105, 419: 173–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aminzade, R. 2003. ‘From race to citizenship: the indigenization debate in post-socialist Tanzania’, Studies in Comparative International Development 38, 1: 43–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bahru, Zewde. 1991. A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855–1974. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Bahru, Zewde. 2003. ‘Systems of local governance among the Gurage: the Yajoka Qicha and the Gordana Sera’, in Zewde, Bahru & Pausewang, , Ethiopia, 17–28.Google Scholar
Bahru, Zewde & Pausewang, S. eds. 2003. Ethiopia: the challenge of democracy from below. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.Google Scholar
Balsvik, R. B. 1985. Haile Sellassie's Students: the intellectual and social background to revolution, 1952–1977. East Lansing, MI: African Studies Center, Michigan State University.Google Scholar
Barkan, J. D. 2002. ‘The many faces of Africa: democracy across a varied continent’, Harvard International Review 24, 2: 72–7.Google Scholar
Barry, B. M. 2001. Culture and Equality: an egalitarian critique of multiculturalism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Baylis, E. A. 2004. ‘Beyond rights: legal process and ethnic conflicts’, Michigan Journal of International Law 25, 529–602.Google Scholar
Beiner, R. 1995. Theorizing Citizenship. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Benhabib, S. 1999. ‘“Nous” et “Les Autres”: the politics of complex cultural dialogue in a global civilization’, in Joppke, C. & Lukes, S. eds. Multicultural Questions. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Berman, B., Eyoh, D. & Kymlicka, W. eds. 2004. Ethnicity & Democracy in Africa. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandra, K. 2001. ‘Cumulative findings in the study of ethnic politics’, APSA-CP 12, 1: 7–11.Google Scholar
Clapham, C. 2002. ‘Rewriting Ethiopian history’, Annales d'Ethiopie 18: 37–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Constitution. 1995. ‘Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’, Addis Ababa: Berhanena Selam Publishers.Google Scholar
Ekeh, P. P. 1975. ‘Colonialism and the two publics in Africa: a theoretical statement’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 17, 1: 91–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elaigwu, J. I. 1993. ‘Nation-building and changing political structures’, in Mazrui, A. A. & Wondji, C. eds. Africa since 1935. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Eriksen, T. H. 2002. Ethnicity and Nationalism. Sterling, VA: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). n.d. 1. ‘Concluding local elections', unpublished paper.Google Scholar
EPRDF. n.d. 2. ‘Constitutional Right: the question of identity’, unpublished paper.Google Scholar
Etzioni, A., Volmert, D. & Rothschild, E.. 2004. The Communitarian Reader: beyond the essentials. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Fekadu, Gadamu. 1972. ‘Ethnic associations in Ethiopia and the maintenance of urban-rural relationships, with special reference to the Alemgana-Walamo road construction’, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of London.Google Scholar
Gabreyesus, Hailemariam. 1991. The Gurague and Their Culture. Los Angeles, CA: Vantage Press.Google Scholar
Gil-White, F. J. 1999. ‘How thick is blood? The plot thickens … : if ethnic actors are primordialists, what remains of the circumstantialist/primordialist controversy?’ Ethnic and Racial Studies 22, 5: 789–820.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halisi, C. R. D. 1999. Black Political Thought in the Making of South African Democracy. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Halisi, C. R. D., Kaiser, P. J. & Ndegwa, S. N.. 1998. ‘Rethinking citizenship in Africa: guest editors’ introduction: the multiple meanings of citizenship – rights, identity and social justice in Africa’, Africa Today 45, 3/4: 337–49.Google Scholar
Harbeson, J. W. 2005. ‘Ethiopia's extended transition’, Journal of Democracy 16, 4: 144–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heater, D. B. 1999. What Is Citizenship? Malden, MA: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Herbst, J. 1999. ‘The role of citizenship laws in multiethnic societies: evidence from Africa’, in , Joseph, State, Conflict, and Democracy in Africa, 267–83.Google Scholar
Horowitz, D. L. 1985. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
House of Federation, Parliament of Ethiopia. 2001. ‘Siltie Identity Determination Case, HTMF 15/4013/1’, Addis Ababa: unpublished.Google Scholar
Hudson, G. 1994. ‘Gurage studies: collected articles by Wolf Leslau’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 114, 4: 692–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudson, G. 2003. ‘Linguistic analysis of the 1994 Ethiopian census’, Northeast African Studies 6, 3: 89–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudson, G. 2004. ‘Languages of Ethiopia and languages of the 1994 Ethiopian census’, Aethiopica 7: 160–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, S. P. 2004. Who Are We? The challenges to America's national identity. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Institute for the Study of Ethiopian Nationalities (ISEN). 1984. Excerpts from Documents of the Founding Congress of WPE on the People's Democratic State and the Nationalities Question. Addis Ababa: ISEN.Google Scholar
ISEN. 1986. A Brief Almanac of Ethiopian Nationalities (in Amharic). Addis Ababa: ISEN.Google Scholar
Jackson, R. H. & Rosberg, C. G.. 1986. ‘Why Africa's weak states persist: the empirical and the juridical in statehood’, in Kohli, A. ed. The State and Development in the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 259–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joseph, R.ed. 1999. State, Conflict and Democracy in Africa. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Keller, E. J. 1988. Revolutionary Ethiopia: from empire to people's republic. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Keller, E. J. 2005. ‘Making and remaking state and nation in Ethiopia’, in Laremont, R. R. ed. Borders, Nationalism and the African State. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 105–58.Google Scholar
Keller, E. J. & Smith, L.. 2005. ‘Obstacles to implementing territorial decentralization: the first decade of Ethiopian federalism’, in , Roeder and Rothchild, eds. Sustainable Peace: power and democracy after civil wars. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 265–91.Google Scholar
Kidane, Mengisteab. 1997. ‘New approaches to state building in Africa: the case of Ethiopia's ethnic-based federalism’, African Studies Review 40, 3: 111–32.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, W. 1995. Multicultural Citizenship: a liberal theory of minority rights. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, W. & Patten, A. eds. 2003. Language Rights and Political Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laitin, D. D. & Reich, R.. 2003. ‘A liberal democratic approach to language justice’, in , Kymlicka & , Patten eds. Language Rights and Political Theory, 80–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lijphart, A. 1977. Democracy in Plural Societies: a comparative exploration. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Laponce, J. & Saint-Jacques, B.. 1997. ‘Introduction: institutions as problem-solvers’, International Political Science Review 18, 3: 233–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lonsdale, J. 2004. ‘Moral and political argument in Kenya’, in , Berman et al. , Ethnicity and Democracy in Africa, 73–95.Google Scholar
Lyons, T. 2005. ‘Ethiopia in 2005: the beginning of a transition?’ CSIS Africa Notes, 25.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. C. 1981. After Virtue: a study in moral theory. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Mamdani, M. 1996. Citizen and Subject: contemporary Africa and the legacy of late colonialism. London: James Currey.Google Scholar
Marcus, H. G. 1994. A History of Ethiopia. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markakis, J. 1998. ‘The politics of identity: the case of the Gurage in Ethiopia’, in Salih, M. A. & Markakis, J. eds. Ethnicity and the State in Eastern Africa. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 127–46.Google Scholar
Marshall, T. H. & Bottomore, T.. 1991. Citizenship and Social Class. Concord, MA: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Martiniello, M. 2002. ‘Citizenship’, in Goldberg, D. T. G. & Solomos, J. eds. A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
May, S. 2003. ‘Misconceiving minority language rights: implications for liberal political theory’, in , Kymlicka & , Patten, Language Rights and Political Theory, 123–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medhane, Tadesse & Young, J.. 2003. ‘TPLF: reform or decline?’, Review of African Political Economy 30, 97: 389–403.Google Scholar
Gudina, Merera. 2003. Ethiopia: competing ethnic nationalisms and the quest for democracy, 1960–2000. Addis Ababa: Shaker Pub.Google Scholar
Mesfin, Woldemariam. 2003. ‘Where will the present path take us?’, Vision 2020: whither Ethiopia? Addis Ababa: Ethiopian Economic Association, ms.Google Scholar
Minasse, Haile. 1996. ‘The new Ethiopian constitution: its impact upon unity, human rights and development’, Suffolk Transnational Law Review 20: 1.Google Scholar
Ministry of Education, Transitional Government of Ethiopia. 1994. ‘National Education and Training Policy (NETP)’, Addis Ababa, unpublished report.Google Scholar
Ndegwa, S. N. 1997. ‘Citizenship and ethnicity: an examination of two transition moments in Kenyan Politics’, American Political Science Review 91, 3: 599–616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oldfield, A. 1990. Citizenship and Community: civic republicanism and the modern world. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Olukoshi, A. O. & Laakso, L.. 1996. Challenges to the Nation-State in Africa. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet and University of Helsinki.Google Scholar
Osaghae, E. E. 2004. ‘Political transitions and ethnic conflict in Africa’, Journal of Third World Studies 21, 1: 221–40.Google Scholar
Ottaway, M. & Ottaway, D.. 1978. Ethiopia: empire in revolution. New York: Africana Pub. Co.Google Scholar
Poluha, E. 1998. ‘Ethnicity and democracy: a viable alliance?’, in Salih, M. A. & Markakis, J. eds. Ethnicity and the State in Eastern Africa. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 30–41.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reaume, D. G. 2003. ‘Beyond personality: the territorial and personal principles of language policy reconsidered’, in , Kymlicka & , Patten, Language Rights and Political Theory, 271–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, A. 2002. The Architecture of Democracy: constitutional design, conflict management, and democracy. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roeder, P. G. & Rothchild, D. S.. 2005. Sustainable Peace: power and democracy after civil wars. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Samatar, A. I. 2004. ‘Ethiopian federalism: autonomy versus control in the Somali region’, Third World Quarterly 25, 6: 1131–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandel, M. J. 1982. Liberalism and the Limits of Justice. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shachar, A. 2001. Multicultural Jurisdictions: cultural differences and women's rights. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shack, W. 1966. The Gurage: a people of the ensete culture. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shack, W. 1974. The Central Ethiopians: Amhara, Tigrigna and related peoples. Ethnographic Survey of Africa, Part IV. London: International African Institute.Google Scholar
Sherif, Leri. 1985. ‘A history of the Silti community in Addis Ababa: a study in rural-urban migration’, Senior Thesis, Addis Ababa University.Google Scholar
Siltie People's Democratic Unity Party (SPDUP). 2002. ‘Party Statement’, unpublished.Google Scholar
Sklar, R. L. 1999. ‘African politics: the next generation’, in , Joseph, State, Conflict, and Democracy in Africa, 165–77.Google Scholar
Smith, L. 2005. ‘Voting for a Nationality: ethnic identity, political institutions and citizenship in Ethiopia’, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Smith, L. 2007. ‘Implications of the 2005 elections for Ethiopian citizenship and state legitimacy’, International Journal of Ethiopian Studies 3, 1 (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Smith, R. M. 1988. ‘The “American creed” and American identity: the limits of liberal citizenship in the United States’, Western Political Science Quarterly 41: 225–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spears, I. 2002. ‘Africa: the limits of power-sharing’, Journal of Democracy 13, 3: 123–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, C. 1995. Philosophical Arguments. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, C. & Gutmann, A.. 1994. Multiculturalism: examining the politics of recognition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilly, C. 1995. ‘Citizenship, identity and social history’, International Review of Social History 40, 3: 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tully, J. 2000. ‘The challenge of reimagining citizenship and belonging in multicultural and multinational societies’, in McKinnon, C. & Hampsher-Monk, I. eds. The Demands of Citizenship. New York: Continuum, 212–34.Google Scholar
Tully, J. 1995. Strange Multiplicity: constitutionalism in an age of diversity. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaughan, S. 2006. ‘Responses to ethnic federalism in Ethiopia's southern region’, in Turton, D. ed. Ethnic Federalism: the Ethiopian experience in comparative perspective. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 181–207.Google Scholar
Walzer, M. 1983. Spheres of Justice: a defense of pluralism and equality. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Whitaker, B. E. 2005. ‘Citizens and foreigners: democratization and the politics of exclusion in Africa’, African Studies Review 48, 1: 109–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woods, D. 2003. ‘Rent-seeking and ethnic conflict in Ivory Coast’, Journal of Modern African Studies 41, 4: 641–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Worku, Nida. 2000. ‘Fanonet: ethnohistorical notes on the Gurage urban migration in Ethiopia’, Ufahamu: Journal of the African Activist Association 28, 2–3: 43–73.Google Scholar
Young, I. M. 1990. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Young, J. 1999. ‘Along Ethiopia's western frontier: Gambella and Benishangul in transition.’ Journal of Modern African Studies 37: 321–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Newspapers (published in Addis Ababa)

Addis Tribune; The Reporter.

Interviews

Interview #23: Official, House of Federation, Addis Ababa, February 2003.

Interview #54: Official, Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's (SNNPR) Regional Bureau of Education (REB), Awassa, June 2003.

Interview #58: Official, Gurage Zone Education Office (ZEO), Welkite, September 2003.

Interview #67: Official, Siltie Zone Education Office (ZEO), Worabe, October 2003.

Interview #85: Politician, Addis Ababa, November 2003.

Interview #90: Representative, Siltie People's Democratic Unity Party (SPDUP), Addis Ababa, December 2003.