Coping With Winds of Change: Analyzing the Resilience of tbe Ethiopian Federal Compact

Abstract

The Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic, championed by the Ethiopian Peoples'
Revolutionary Democratic Front (Ef'RDF), was established in 1995. But
the viability of the ~yslem under a different political party is yet to be tested.
This paper argues thaI the resilience of the Ethiopian federal arrangement is
dependent on the relative strengtils of its achievements and pitfalls. The federal
arrangement has, so far, gained several achievements sllch as responding to the
historic 'national question ', ensuring ethno-Iinguistic equality, increasing avai/ability
and just distribution of resources, delivering national economic goods
sllch as building infrastructure, health care, territory education, and growing
the economy. There are, however, challenges such as lack oJ compa,ibility between
the laws and principles on one hand, and the political practice on the
other, increasing centralizalion, conflicts, and poverty. II is argued ,hal while the
current federal arrangement is resilient in (hal it has provided solutions to key
demands, the federal system needs some institutional reforms in order 10 align
constitutional powers of the government with the practices of its leaders