Democratic Developmental State in Ethiopia: Experience From The Tigray National Regional State (2001-2019)

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2020-11

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

This study examines whether or not the political and policy practices in the Tigray National Regional State essentially reflect the basic attributes of the democratic developmental state. Field data were gathered through key-informant interview and focus group discussion. As the findings of the study reveal that there are signs of good achievements in economic growth and strengths in terms of state autonomy, political commitment of the leadership, and ideational capacity, which enables the government penetrate deep into society to exercise political and policy control. However, there are limitations in achieving structural transformation of the economy, building capacity for effective policy implementation, and genuine commitment of the government to strengthening democratic institutions, which are vital for representation and empowerment of the people to effectively involve in the process of planning and implementing development activities, as well as, ensuring accountability of the government. Low level of agricultural transformation, backward institutions of support-provision and development infrastructures, lack of strong public-private cooperation and the subsequent limited capacity of the private business to invest in the manufacturing subsector, and absence of adequately trained human power are the main factors limiting structural transformation in the economy. The low level of effective policy implementation, in this regard, is largely associated with the deficiency of the civil service system, which is expressed in terms of poor organization and lack of implementing the reform-based capacity building programs, and inadequacy of strictly following the merit principles (due to politicization) in the process of selection, recruitment, and placement of civil servants. Democracy, which empowers the people to engage in policy and development processes, is difficult to achieve in Tigray because the region’s government is not amenable to multiparty politics, and the participatory institutions both at the regional and local levels are nominal and more essentially loyal to the ruling party than the people whom they constitutionally represent. These findings suggest that if the current practices continue in this way, the aspiration of achieving the ideals of democratic developmental state in Tigray would largely remain rhetoric. The findings of the study also imply the need for effective institutional frameworks to build robust support provision structures, productive public-private cooperation, and depoliticized or merit-based civil service system with the requisite capacity for effective policy implementation. Moreover, as the findings of the study suggest that there is a need for strengthening the institutions of democracy in order to enhance multiparty politics and allow the people to broadly engage in the process of policy decisions, implementation of development activities, and ensuring government accountability.

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Democratic Developmental State in Ethiopia: Experience From The Tigray National Regional State

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