The Comparative Political Economy of Development in Ethiopia: The Cases of EPRDF and Prosperity Party
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Date
2025-10-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study investigates the comparative political economy of development in Ethiopia under the Ethiopian People‘s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and the Prosperity Party (PP) regimes. Employing a qualitative comparative historical research design, the study draws on extensive primary and secondary data, such as policy documents, government reports, party manifestos, academic journal articles, books, etc., to analyze the ideological orientations, policy frameworks, institutional structures, and development strategies of the two regimes. Through a two-step analytical approach—case-specific examination followed by cross-regime comparative analysis—the research uncovers both significant divergences and enduring continuities in Ethiopia‘s developmental trajectory. The findings reveal that the EPRDF‘s developmental state model emphasized strong state intervention, centralized governance, and state-led industrialization, drawing heavily from East Asian experiences. While this approach delivered a double-digit economic growth and substantial infrastructure development, it was not able to bring about structural transformation. A combination of unintended macroeconomic imbalances, rising corruption, mounting debt, income inequality, increasing authoritarianism, limited political inclusivity, and growing ethnic tensions all ultimately converged, resulting in widespread unrest that led to the regime‘s collapse. In contrast, the PP-led regime has adopted a neoliberal model characterized by a more liberalized policy orientation, focusing on privatization, market liberalization, deregulation and foreign direct investment breaking away from the state-led developmental statist approach of the previous regime. However, the PP‘s reform agenda has faced challenges related to weak institutional capacity, persistent political instability, and unresolved federalist tensions. Based on these findings, the study recommends the adoption of a pragmatic hybrid development model that balances state guidance with market dynamism, gradual and sequenced liberalization, strengthened institutional capacity, inclusive political settlement, investment in human capital, and enhanced evidence-based policymaking. Ethiopia‘s developmental experience underscores the need for adaptive, context-sensitive strategies that address both political and economic dimensions of development within its unique socio-political context.
Keywords: Political Economy, Developmental State, Neoliberalism, EPRDF, PP, Ethiopia
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Keywords
Political Economy, Developmental State, Neoliberalism, EPRDF, PP, Ethiopia