Transition to Federalism: The Ethiopian Experience - Forum of ...

Abstract
ethiopia is a nation of ethnic diversity. it is mainly an agricultural society.
now a federation, the country was previously a unitary and centralized state.
historically, unlike many african states, ethiopia was never colonized but was
under imperial rule until 1974. The subsequent military rule was short-lived,
and was overthrown by the ethiopian people’s revolutionary democratic
Front (eprdF) in may 1991. The process of transition from a unitary to a
federal system took place in two phases. The first phase (devolution) occurred
during a 1991-1995 transition period, and the second phase began in 1995
(adoption of federal constitution).
The most significant development in the initial transition was the adoption
of the Transitional period charter. The charter proclaimed fundamental
human rights and guaranteed the right of each individual, each nation and
each ethnic community in ethiopia to self-determination. it also established
two parallel systems of government, the central government and the regional/
national self-governments. however, the central government and the selfgoverning
regional units could not immediately establish a federal political
system as there was a lack of constitutional legitimacy, since the regional
self-governments were, at that stage, considered subordinate to the central
government. But in the second stage of the devolution process, the new
constitution was adopted in 1995, and it provided the necessary political
stability to ethiopia’s ethnic communities for them to share political power
and exercise self-rule.
Thus, after a long period of political evolution and restructuring, ethiopia
has now built a federal political system that is organized on the basis of
the recognition and institutionalization of the right of ethno-territorial
communities to self-determination, ensuring the equality and unity of its
diverse ethnic communities.
Keywords: central; community; constitution; ethnic; federal; ethiopia;
governance; human rights; nation; region; transition.