Ethiopian Journal of Federal Studies

Federal Design and Supranational Integration Plans for East Africa: Regional Geopolitics, the Changing Global Order, and the Imperial Constitutional Repertoire

2025-08-21T14:41:18+00:00

In the midst of tectonic changes to the global order, and within the context of unprecedented volatility in regional geopolitics, the political future of East Africa is no longer easy to predict. Ideas for a federation bringing together the countries of the region had been around for more than a hundred years. As the world’s attention shifts to what the next global order might look like, plans for regional federal unions are likely to re-emerge. This article examines the impact of regional geopolitics, the changing global order, and the constitutional repertoire of the British Empire on federalism debates. There is one historical episode when the abstract federal plans for supranational integration in East Africa were put into action and concrete steps were taken, not only to politically integrate, but also to merge the key policies of transportation, taxation, communication, customs, and to create federal institutions to devise and administer these policies. Supranational integration between member countries was to be paralleled by stage-by-stage democratic reforms within the member states. Relying on the constitutional repertoire and experience of other federal systems in their Empire – now reformed and renamed as the Commonwealth – the British devised a detailed roadmap in 1953 and started laying the foundations for a federation. By 1963 the project was taken over by the changing global order and new regional dynamics. What was designed (with the aid of the imperial constitutional repertoire) was out of step with the times (marked by majoritarian political ideas and a desire for speedy modernization through centralization). The article examines the various official documents on the federal design of the union and the projected democratic reforms within the members, contrasting this with the changes in regional and global geopolitics. Also covered are secondary sources from the time-period. The lesson from this investigation highlights how in moments of big changes to the regional and global order, geopolitics tends to trump the intricacies and technicalities of constitutional and administrative design.

Comparative Case Analysis of Constituent Unit Boundary Making Processes in Ethiopia, India, and South Africa

2025-08-21T14:45:25+00:00

The foundation of federal systems of governments is the division of territory into political states, provinces, or regions (also known as constituent units). This article examines the processes and criteria used for redrawing constituent unit boundaries in Ethiopian, Indian, and South African federal systems. It uses a qualitative comparative approach, synthesizing secondary data from academic literature, legal documents, and policy analyses. Thematic coding guided the analysis of the data. The study found that the divergent criteria utilized to redraw the constituent unit boundaries in the three federations depend on the nature of each country’s population for political mobilization around identity for self-rule. In Ethiopia and India, ethnic, linguistic, historical, and administrative factors mainly affected the boundary-redrawing process. In South Africa, balancing administrative efficiency and ethnicity has engineered the provincial boundary design. The criteria, number, name, and boundaries of constituent units have been changing over time, adding non-ethnic factors in both Ethiopia and India. South Africa prioritizes administrative efficiency over ethnic recognition, while Ethiopia prioritizes strong group recognition. The study suggests that federalism should be viewed with caution, as it does not create a “peaceable kingdom”.

The Post 2018 Ethiopia’s State Building Approach: Responsive and/or Unresponsive Federalism Approach?

2025-08-21T14:48:23+00:00

The change in leadership, following the 2018 reform in Ethiopia, evidently created many expectations. The general objective of this study is to critically examine whether the post-2018 state-building approach is responsive and/or unresponsive. The study employed a qualitative approach using both primary and secondary data. The key findings of the study were twofold: the continuity of business-as-usual politics (employing unresponsive strategies and approaches); and massive deconstruction indicating key departures in historical, political, security, and economic aspects. Although the grand new way forward approach has come along with the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who has brought the Medemer (literally to mean addition, synergy or coming together) approach, the real politics in the aftermath of June 2018 has reinvented suspicious politico-security environments. The results have further shown that the reformist government had labelled the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) as reactionary forces; the tactical alliance between the Oromo and Amhara forces was successful in overthrowing TPLF, which had full supremacy over the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) from the centre, and yet eventually the alliance was collapsed; and the implicit hegemonic role of the EPRDF has been sustained, though there have been endeavours to peripheralize conflicts. There have been also ongoing responsive paths (like the light under a bowl): merging up all incumbent ethno-national (regional) political parties, economic liberalization, establishing national dialogue commission, urban beautification, etc. It has, therefore, been recommended that all stakeholders need to commit to a responsive approach to the constitutional federal state-building and give up cynical unresponsive approach(es).

Emerging Trends in the Interpretation of the Constitutional Human Rights in Ethiopia: A case Study of the Council of Constitutional Inquiry’s Decisions and Recommendations

2025-08-21T14:50:44+00:00

This article delves into the fascinating realm of constitutional interpretation within the context of human rights in Ethiopia, focusing on the dynamic decisions rendered by the Council of Constitutional Inquiry (CCI). The emerging trends of the Council in interpreting human rights issues has been examined in this study taking eleven cases. These cases reveal a significant transformation in the Council’s approach, where it shifted from initially ruling against applicants to subsequently submitting recommendations to the House of Federation (HoF) in their favor. One key aspect of this transformation lays in the Council’s interpretation of the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) in line with international human rights instruments. By citing these international human rights instruments, the Council has laid the groundwork for a more robust human rights framework in Ethiopia. The study adopts a doctrinal legal research approach that combines qualitative case analysis and comparative legal assessment. Through serious analysis, this article underscores the Council’s evolving role as a guardian of human rights in Ethiopia. While the Council had previously rejected numerous human rights cases, it has recently displayed a commendable commitment to the enforcement of human rights. This shift not only highlights the Council’s responsiveness but also reflects a broader positive trend in the protection and promotion of human rights within the Ethiopian constitutional landscape.

Management of Mineral Resources in Ethiopia’s Federal System: Practical Challenges, Institutional Constraints and Constitutional Infringement

2025-08-21T14:55:38+00:00

This article examines one of the critical issues in the governance of mineral resources in federal systems and the Management of the extraction of Mineral resources. In particular, it assesses how Ethiopia's identity-based federal system addresses the management of significant mineral resources in its design and operation. To this end, a qualitative approach that combines a doctrinal legal analysis with grounded empirical research has been employed. Document analysis, interviews, and an interdisciplinary literature review were used to collect data. The results have identified significant legal, institutional, and practical gaps in the management of mineral resources in the Ethiopian federal system. This is a stark contrast between the FDRE Constitution, which recognizes regional states as important actors in mineral resource management, and the subsequent legislative and institutional arrangements that have concentrated power within central agencies, leaving regional governments and local communities out of mining-related decision-making processes. Furthermore, this approach has enabled the Federal Government to create a highly centralized management practice that ignores the specific needs and concerns of subnational actors, as a result of which disagreement and conflict happen several times. The results further reveal that the Federal Government has recently attempted to improve the management of mineral resources, but lacks binding legal authority and strong institutional frameworks. It concludes by noting the urgent need for comprehensive reforms that foster a more inclusive and collaborative approach to mineral resource governance. Ultimately, it made important legal and practical recommendations to improve mineral resource management in Ethiopia's federal system, including restoring constitutional compliance, fostering intergovernmental cooperation, strengthening the capacities of regional government management, and enhancing the participation of local communities.