Africa in Search of “True Federalism”: A Comparative Assessment of the Norm and Practice of Federalism in Ethiopia and Nigeria
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Date
2021-08
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Addis ababa university
Abstract
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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Keywords
Federalism, Centralization, Development, Security, Self-Rule, Shared-Rule