The Federal Governance of Multiethnic Cities in Ethiopia: Urban Policy and Conflict in Addis Ababa & Dire Dawa
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Date
2017-06
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Addis Ababa
Abstract
Thi:\ clissc rt;llioll is a comparati,'c Urb;1l1 policy re sca rc!l ill co nl e sled IllUI LicLlillic ciLies.
II I
additioll
to li H.: lI ille regio llal-states, Eliliopia also has two lCdcrall y gu vcrll cd COlllcstcd ll1ullicLhllic ei ti cs-
Addis A haba alld Dire Dawa. By focLlsilig 0 11 Ihese cilies, this study illvestigates the C;IIJSCS alld
d Yliamics or urba n cOllllicts, the exLcllts or cClllralizatioll and urban local auto llo mies, and urban
poiicies/illsLiluLi0I1S of rcgulaLillg clllllo-llaliOilal di ve rsities. '1'0 lilis CllCi , combillaLiol ls of rcs earcll
strat.egies includillg comparative, Ili5\.orica1 , illstituLio llal/slructu ral,
tlilci
lTIulti-ctllllic/muILicullural
approaches have beell e mployed . An illtegrated anal ytical IClls, through which both primary and
secoudary data are qualitaLi vely analyzed and inte rpreted, was constructed from three inte rwove n
variables: group cOililicts, local political institutiOiIS <uld cultllral policies. 'T'llcoretically, urban semi-
cOllsociatio llalism and multicultural policies of ITIultie tlmic cities in develo ped and emergi ng
fe de ratiOils were helpful for comparative con<:lusioll .
'"I'he findings corroborate that the causes and dynamics of the e thno-nationalist conflicts to
Ihc cilics o r Addis Ababa alld Dirc DalYa arc lillkcd 10, among oth crs, (I) historically established
urban cultural dominations, political marginalization and idclItity mallipuiations-in olle phrase
'eUmo-territoriality ractor', (2) the current political institutiolls/ cultural policies imposed li'om the
cente r perpetuating the same dominations and marginalizaLion, and (3) boundal)' issues . Secondly,
there was no evidence indicating that the residents o f Dire Dawa ;Uld Addis Ababa are exercising
local autonomy or self-gove rnment rights. Various data have instead shown formal centralization of
both city admillistrations largely red ucing Ulcm to local agencies or the JCdcral governmcnt due
mainly to thcir respective geopolitical signilicances, Thirdly, it is su bstantiated Ulat combinatiolls or
urban policies of regulating eumo -nationai diversity ranging from cul tural assimilation to parLial
accommodation have been practiced in Ule cities. In terms of urban power sharing, the ruling party
o f Ethiopia devised whaL appears semi-consociational arrangelnent largely as instrument of
hegemonic conlrol in Ule cities es pecially in the post-2005 elcction-the e lcction Ulal it lost in boul
cilies, Accordingly, inu'a-rul ing party e thnic-based grand coalitio n rormulas, kn own as ' 25:25:25:25 '
equal-quota in Addis Ababa and' 4ยท0:40:20' qu ota ill Dire Dawa, have been implemented; and
since 2006, the mayo rs of Lhe former have been O romo by eUlIIic, while Ule same post jn the laLter
has beell ro tating between O ro mo <llld Somali.