Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T10:37:26.378Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Minority Rights, Culture, and Ethiopia's “Third Way” to Governance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Data Dea Barata
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Following a successful armed resistance against a dictatorial state regime, a new government of former rebels took control of the national state in Ethiopia in 1991. Prompted partly by unfolding sea changes in global politics in the early 1990s, the new Ethiopian government pledged to undertake radical governance reform. More than twenty years after the new government took office, contested assessments of its record vis-à-vis its human and minority rights pledge, among other issues, have generated waves of debate, criticism, controversy, and global protests. Based on observations from southern Ethiopia, this article takes an ethnographic look at both the process and the outcome of Ethiopia's experiment with ethnic self-government, with a special focus on understanding the value of minority rights as an ideological construct. Conceptually, the paper attempts to explain a disjuncture between the globally prescribed ideal of human/minority group rights and the realities of governance on the ground.

Résumé:

Résumé:

À la suite d'une résistance armée victorieuse contre un régime d'état dictatorial, un nouveau gouvernement formé par des anciens rebelles a pris le contrôle de l'état en Éthiopie en 1991. Motivé en partie par des changements importants en cours dans la politique mondiale au début des années 90, le nouveau gouvernement éthiopien promit de mettre en place des réformes radicales. Ces réformes, souvent classifiées d'expérimentations risquées à cause de l'importance grandissante et sans précédent donnée au principe d'ethnicité comme fondation d'une autorité légitime, sont en cours depuis vingt-et-un ans. En se fondant sur des observations faites en Éthiopie du Sud, cet article fait une étude ethnographique sur le processus et les résultats de l'expérimentation éthiopienne avec la gouvernance ethnique auto-proclamée, en se concentrant particulièrement sur la logique de la valeur placée sur les droits des minorités comme construction idéologique. Conceptuellement, cet essai essaie d'expliquer la séparation entre l'idéal universel prescrit des droits de l'individu et des minorités, et les réalités de gouvernance sur le terrain.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , December 2012 , pp. 61 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AAA. 1999. “Declaration on Anthropology and Human Rights Committee for Human Rights.” American Anthropological Association. http://www.aaanet.org.Google Scholar
Aalen, Lovise. 2002. Ethnic Federalism in a Dominant Party State: The Ethiopian Experience 1991–2000. Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute.Google Scholar
Aalen, Lovise. 2008. “Institutionalizing the Politics of Ethnicity: Actors, Power and Mobilisation in Southern Ethiopia under Ethnic Federalism.” Ph.D. diss., University of Oslo.Google Scholar
Abbink, J. 2006. “Discomfiture Of Democracy? The 2005 Election Crisis in Ethiopia and Its Aftermath.” African Affairs 105: 173–99.Google Scholar
Abbink, J. 2011. “Ethnic-Based Federalism and Ethnicity in Ethiopia: Reassessing the Experiment after 20 Years.” Journal of Eastern African Studies 5 (4): 596–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
An-Na'im, Abdullah A., and Hammond, Jeffrey. 2002. “Cultural Transformation and Human Rights in African Societies,” In Cultural Transformation and Human Rights in Africa, edited by An-Na'im, Abdullah A., 13–37. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Assefa, Getachew. 2009. “Human and Group Rights Issues in Ethiopia: A Reply to Kjetil Tronvoll.” International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 16: 245–59.Google Scholar
Assefa, Getachew. 2011. “Understanding the Distinction between Human Rights Violations per se and Those Ethnically-Motivated: A Reply to Rjetil Tronvoll.” International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 18 (1): 123–27.Google Scholar
Barata, Data D. 2011. “Family Connections: Inherited Status and Parliamentary Elections in Dawro: Southern Ethiopia.” In Contested Power in Ethiopia: Traditional Authorities and Multiparty Elections, edited by Tronvoll, Kjetil & Hagman, Tobias, 89–110. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Berhe, A. 2009. A Political History of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (1975–1991): Revolt, Ideology, and Mobilization in Ethiopia. Los Angeles: Tsehai.Google Scholar
CERD (Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination). 2007. Consideration of Reports Submitted by State Parties under Article 9 of the Convention: Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Ethiopia, CERD/C/ETH/CO/15. Geneva: CERD.Google Scholar
Clapham, C. 2002. “‘Controlling Space in Ethiopia.” In Remapping Ethiopia: Socialism and After, edited by James, W. et al., 9–30. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Cohen , Ronald, Hyden, Goren, and Nagan, Winston P., eds. 2003. Human Rights and Governance in Africa. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.Google Scholar
CSA (Central Statistical Agency). 2011. “Population–2010.” www.csa.gov.Google Scholar
Dea, Data. 2003. The Challenges of Integrative Power: Hierarchy and Political Change in Dawro, Southern Ethiopia. Ph.D. diss., University of Bergen.Google Scholar
Dea, Data. 2010. “Governance, Language, Politics and Education in Southern Ethiopia: The Tribulations of Inventing WoGaGoDa.” In Education, Politics and Social Change in Ethiopia, edited by Kebede, P. M. M., 117–28. Los Angeles: Tsehai.Google Scholar
De Waal, A. D. 1992. “Ethiopia: Transition to What?” World Policy Journal 9 (4): 719–37.Google Scholar
Donham, Donald. 1999. Marxist Modern: An Ethnographic History of Revolution in Ethiopia. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Donnelly, Jack. 2007. International Human Rights: Dilemmas in World Politics. 3rd edition. New York: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Evans, Tony. 2011. Human Rights in the Global Political Economy: Critical Processes. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Reiner.Google Scholar
Farmer, P. 2005. Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights and the New Warm the Poor. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Freeman, M. 2002. “Anthropology and the Democratization of Human Rights.” International Journal of Human Rights 6 (3): 37–54.Google Scholar
Freeman, Dena, and Pankhurst, Alula, eds. 2003. Peripheral People: The Excluded Minorities of Ethiopia. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Gamachu, Daniel. 1994. “A Nation in Perpetual Transition: The Politics of Changes in Administrative Divisions and Subdivisions in Ethiopia.” In Ethiopia 94: Papers of the 12th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, edited by Marcus, Harold G., 83–113. Lawrenceville, N.J.: Red Sea Press.Google Scholar
Gane, Nicholas. 2005. “Max Weber as Social Theorist: Class, Status and Party.” European Theory of Social Theory 8 (2): 211–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudina., M. 2003. Ethiopia: Competing Ethnic Nationalisms and the Quest for Democracy, 1960–2000. Addis Ababa: Chamber Printing House.Google Scholar
Hamesso, Seyoum. 2004. “The Sidama Nation and the Solidarity of the Colonised Nations.” In State Crises, Globalization and National Movements in North-East Africa, edited by Jalata, Asafa, 165–81. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, Will. 2006. “Emerging Western Models of Multination Federalism: Are They Relevant for Africa?” In Ethnic Federalism: The Ethiopian Experience in Comparative Perspective, edited by Turton, David, 32–64. Athens: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Raz, Joseph. 2010. “Human Rights in the Emerging World Order.” Transnational Legal Theory 1: 31–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milkias, Paulos. 2010. “Authoritarianism and the Ethiopian Body Politic: Dissonance between Democratization and Elite Political Subculture.” In Research in Ethiopian Studies, edited by Aspen, Harald, 349–66. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Pausewang, Siegfried, et al., eds. 2002. Ethiopia since the Derg: A Decade of Democratic Pretension and Performance. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Ringelheim, Julie. 2010. “Minority Rights in a Time of Multiculturalism: The Evolving Scope of the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities.” Human Rights Law Review 10 (1): 99–128.Google Scholar
Shaw, C. M. 2007. “The Evolution of Regional Human Rights Mechanisms: A Focus on Africa.” Journal of Human Rights 6: 209–32.Google Scholar
Suberu, Rotimi. 2006. “Ethnic Federalism and the Management of Ethnic Conflict: The Nigerian Experience.” In Ethnic Federalism: The Ethiopian Experience in Comparative Perspective, edited by Turton, David, 65–92. Athens: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Todd, D. 1977. “Caste in Africa.” Africa 47 (4): 389–412.Google Scholar
Tronvoll, L. A. K. 2000. Ethiopia: A New Start? London: Minority Rights International Group.Google Scholar
Tronvoll, L. A. K. 2008. “Human Rights Violation in Federal Ethiopia: When Ethnic Identity Is a Political Stigma.” International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 15: 49–79.Google Scholar
Tronvoll, L. A. K. 2009. “The End of Democracy? Curtailing Political and Civil Rights in Ethiopia.” Review of African Political Economy 120: 193–207.Google Scholar
Tronvoll, L. A. K. 2010. “Interpreting Human Rights Violations in Ethiopia: A Rejoinder to Getachew Assefa.” International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 16: 475–79.Google Scholar
Turton, David, ed. 2006. “Introduction.” In Ethnic Federalism: The Ethiopian Experience in Comparative Perspective, edited by Turton, David, 1–31. Athens: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Vaughan, S. 2006. “Responses to Ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia's Southern Region.” In Ethnic Federalism: The Ethiopian Experience in Comparative Perspective, edited by Turton, David, 181–207. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Williams, J. 2003. Gilles Deleuze's “Difference and Repetition”: A Critical Introduction and Guide. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. A. 2006. “Afterword to ‘Anthropology and Human Rights in a New Key’: The Social Life of Human Rights.” American Anthropologist 108: 77–83.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar