Party System and Pluralistic Federalism in Ethiopia
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Date
2024
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The study delves into the intricate relationship between party system and Ethiopia's federal constitutional system. Employing an interpretative case study design, the research leverages theoretical and empirical frameworks to provide a nuanced analysis of the Ethiopian case within its unique contextual setting. Notably, the aim is not to generate or test generalizable propositions, but rather to offer an in-depth understanding of this case. The study framework encompasses the historical experiences of pluralistic federations, acknowledging the diverse outcomes that range from success to failure. Since World War II, the number of federations has grown significantly, reaching approximately 44 by the early 1990s. However, this period also witnessed the dissolution of 27 of these federations, all of which shared characteristics of multiethnicity or pluri-nationality and a lack of robust democratic systems. Concurrently, other states acceded to the remaining 17 federations, including Ethiopia. While the recent recognition of federalism's inherent link to democratic principles is a positive development, the historical failures of undemocratic federations offer a stark reminder: federalism requires a democratic foundation for its effective functioning. This attests to the proposition that the Ethiopian ethnic federal formula could not flourish without multiparty democracy. Since the inauguration of the ethnic federal system in 1995, six national elections have been conducted in which the practice of multiparty system has come under question. Therefore, the main purpose of the study is to investigate the practice of multiparty democracy, with a competitive multiparty system and democratic elections at its centre, in light of the ethnic federal constitutional order. It finds that the lack of multiparty politics, mainly multiparty-multilevel representation, has blocked the legitimacy and effectiveness of the federal constitutional in three ways (with which the chapters of the study and its research question are structured). The first is the overwhelming dominance of the drafting, the public discussion, and the ratification of the Federal Constitution by the EPRDF has precipitated the legitimacy gap of at least the federal system in procedural (the deficit of multiparty deliberative constitution-making and constitutional imposition) as well as substantive aspects (a politicised constitution from the Marxist-Leninist-inspired revolutionary-democratic articulations of the EPRDF). The second is that the structures of the federal system and their operations have been dependent on the political interests of the non-competitive and centralised dominant party, the EPRDF, at the expense of the democratic representativeness of the federal institutions of self-rule and-rule. Lastly, the system of constitutional review and amendment has been ossified and devoid of meaningful dynamism under the de facto one-party rule. In sum, the study underlines the federal malfunction of the one dominant-party system in Ethiopia. It has implications for the recent political developments in terms of juxtaposing the politics, structure, and functioning of the Prosperity Party (PP) with the objectives, principles, and development of the ethnic federal constitutional map. The way incumbents interact, which involves the debate on the broad-based integrative advantage of multiethnic congressional hegemonic parties in containing ethnic rivalry and fragmentation, with the federal system has far-reaching impacts on the stability of the Ethiopian polity that has seen spates of ethnic-based tensions and violence. How the tottering democracy performance of the country improves towards multiparty opening in such a way that sets easily with the contentious ethnic politics is a notable topic for further research.
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Keywords
Constitution-making Ethnic federalism, Ethiopia, party system, EPRDF, Ethiopian Constitution, Ethiopian federalism, democracy