African Studies

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Browsing African Studies by Author "Abebe (PhD), Dechassa"

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    Africa in Search of “True Federalism”: A Comparative Assessment of the Norm and Practice of Federalism in Ethiopia and Nigeria
    (Addis ababa university, 2021-08) Teressa, Yohannes; Abebe (PhD), Dechassa
    Federalism as a normative concept has two important aspects: self-rule for certain purposes and shared-rule for others with a view of accommodating and promoting distinct identities within a larger political union. The quest for self-rule and shared-rule gives rise to centripetal and centrifugal forces. The delicate balancing of these opposing forces is the real challenge of a truly federal exercise.Given the wide ethno-cultural diversities in African countries, it is surprising that only a few countries on the continent have so far opted for federalism. Among these few countries are found the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In this thesis, the federal exercise in these two countries have been comparatively examined with a view of finding out the convergences and divergences exhibited in their federal exercisesin light of classical theories of federalism. Towards the attainment of this objective, the thesis seeks to answer wheatear and if the federal exercises in the two countries are in par with the tenets of federalism, how their exercises in federalism have impacted the socio-economic developments of the countries and what corrective measures, if any, should they take to fine-tune their ventures in federalism. The methodological approach of this study is qualitative. The main objective of the study being achieving an in-depth understanding of the federal exercises in the two countries by reviewing pertinent literature, this approach is followed.The study has established that, finding the right balance between the centripetal and centrifugal forces and forging a sustainable federal system has been a real challenge in both countries. In spite of their circumstances of extreme diversities, bothcountries haveaccumulated political powers and financial resources at the center at the expense of the regional governments. These facts have not only impeded their attainment of tangible socio-economic development but also forced many to question whether and if the countries can truly be considered federal at all. Having considered the problems in the federal exercises of the two countries this thesis recommended that if the countries are to materialize any meaningful socio-economic development and ensure sustainable peace and security for their people, then, they should realign their modus operandi (norm and practice) in line with the classical theories of federalism by truly decentralizing political power and fiscal resources in a way that empowersthe regional governments. Key Words: Federalism, Centralization, Development, Security, Self-Rule, Shared-Rule.
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    Challenges of Building Developmental States in Africa: The case of Rwanda and
    (Addis ababa university, 2021-06) Abie, Mulugeta; Abebe (PhD), Dechassa
    This paper examines Challenges of Building Developmental State of Africa: The case of Rwanda and Ethiopia. The political setting is tightly constrained, ethnic based and the state has not allowed the private sector freedom of action to generate the required levels of production. The prevalence of party allegiance at the expense of meritocracy in recruitment and promotion coupled with corruption and rampant rent-seeking political economy became threat to the country’s existence and development. Ultimate success will depend on the capacity to transform a state as it has been central to the development process. Rwanda has made achievements in building developmental state as part of its priority means of poverty reduction. It also backed its economy in the spirit of f nationalism and by structuring its political structure through some restrictions including the 2003 ban on political parties based on ethnicity, religion, or sex. Major parties include the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the Social Democratic Party, and the Liberal Party. Further, it has also performed well in other aspects towards building a developmental state. The subject matter of the study i.e. the developmental state has not been researched adequately. Particularly in the case of Ethiopia little research is available on the issue. Hence, this research is intended to provide preliminary understanding on the factors, instigating specific questions in this line of inquiry. Therefore, the exploratory research design is most suited to the purpose sought – exploring factors affecting the developmental state perspective. In order to analyze the problem, secondary data was collected.