Identity politics and the struggle for liberty and. The politics of ethnic identity and conflicts under ethnic. The map of current ethiopia encloses a large number of disparate peoples of different languages and cultures whose customs and traditions differ as the land masses they occupy. This tragic incident is emblematic of the volatile nature of ethnic politics in ethiopia, which has started to crack the foundations of. Muslim ethiopia the christian legacy, identity politics. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the seminar islam as a globalizing project, globalization research group, african studies centre leiden, 29th april 1998. Identity, citizenship, and nation building in africa 2. Identity politics, human rights and democratization provisional agenda day 2 am. The renowned political scientist holds that current day politics is too concerned with identity. Ethiopia in fact was an african country that had a feudal and monarchical system like. Ethnic federalism is a federal system of national government in which the federated units are defined according to ethnicity. Filtered through a mostly international media the information of african wars is confined to narrow categories of explanation emergi.
Ethnicity, religion, and identity politics among tribes in. Tronvoll masterfully weaves past and present, local and national, individual and collective strategies of. Identity politics, sometimes referred to as identitarianism, is a political approach and analysis based on people prioritizing the concerns most relevant to their particular racial, religious, ethnic, sexual, social, cultural or other identity, and forming exclusive political alliances with others of this group, instead of engaging in more traditional, broadbased party politics. Wayforward to address the current political challenges in ethiopia for discussion purpose by temesgen fikiru, addis ababa, 25 december 2017 the federal democratic republic of ethiopia constitution adopted on 8 december 1994 in its preamble stated as one of the objectives and the principles that convinced that to live as one. First, i distinguish between various approaches to defining identity politics and the challenges presented by each approach. After 1991 the eprdf leadership made radical changes to the institutional structures of the ethiopian state, primarily through the writing of a new constitution. According to a fox news report, 1 ethiopian muslims set ablaze about 50 churches and dozens of christian homes. Religion, and identity politics among tribes in jharkhand. For this reason, the unit of african studies at the university of pretoria and the institute of foreign and comparative law at the university of south africa, with the financial support of the konrad adenauer foundation, decided to hold a conference entitled politics of identity and exclusion in africa. Identity politics and the struggle for liberty and democracy in ethiopia 1 berhanu nega bucknell university introduction with the fall of the soviet union and the collapse of communism as an ideological project in the late 80s and early 90s, there was optimism that political liberalism will spread uncontested around the world.
Ethiopias refusal to determine the issue by the administration of a supervised plebiscite, as somalia had proposed, suggests that the ethiopian government anticipated that the decision of. Adwa and ethiopian political identity ecadf ethiopian news. This event heralded a period of 25 years of unbroken eprdf rule. Identity politics and the struggle for liberty and democracy in ethiopia1 berhanu nega bucknell university introduction with the fall of the soviet union and the collapse of communism as an ideological project in the late 80s and early 90s, there was optimism that political liberalism will spread uncontested around the world. The crackdown against antigovernment injustice protestors in oromia the peaceful protests against the so called the addis ababa integrated master plan in mid november 2015 in oromia regional state escalated into a political crisis as the government of ethiopia. Identity and geographic restoration of wolkaittegede. Oromo and amhara opposition leaders, in particular, mobilize their base by shaping ethnic identity around the otherness of not being tigrayan. Identity politics filling the gap between federalism and.
A balance sheet of post1991 ethnically based federalism the political transition in ethiopia in 1991 came at a time when there were high hopes among africans, civilsociety organizations, the international community and scholars for processes of democratisation. Ethnicity is a socially constructed category that has a shared cultural heritage, language, history. The christian legacy, identity politics and islamic reformism can be regarded as book that indicates the necessity of including islam and muslims in ethiopian studies, particularly in the contemporary period. But insofar, unitary nationalism is the mother of all identity politics in ethiopia. Democratisation, while imperative, will not solve ethiopias problems. Identity of membership is preserved by a frequent resl. Salman rushdie on identity politics, trigger warnings and the weirdness of reality duration. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. Ethiopia must abandon ethnic politics or it will explode. Ideally suited to courses on security studies, conflict resolution and international relations, the book will also prove useful for peacemakers in national governments and international institutions. Identity politics in ethiopia today is defined by not being tigrayan. Identity politics and ethiopias transition to democracy. Contemporary ethiopia emerged from the rebellioncumliberation struggle that toppled the military junta in 1991.
Pdf the underlying causes for the ethnic, religious, and political divides among the tribals of jharkhand have been examined. Related terms are multiethnic federalism and ethnofederalism this type of federation is identified above all with the governance of meles zenawi from the 1990s in ethiopia, where it has sometimes been known as zenawism. Pdf there have been significant social, economic and political changes in ethiopia in recent decades. This chapter aims at providing a general background about the politics of. Toward an analytical framework of identity and citizenship in africa. Politics, governance, and statesociety relations atlantic council 1 foreword the middle east is seeing a centuryold political order unravel, an. Dont let ethiopia become the next yugoslavia foreign policy. Proposed solution for addressing the current political. Developing a general theory on the relations between identity politics, democratisation, and state building is beyond the scope of this paper. In this effort, the symbolism of adwa is important to develop our ethiopian political identity. Identity politics breaks new ground and challenges several accepted views of the minimum requirement for the existence of a state. Politics and religion in ethiopia a thesis presented to. Similar to the former yugoslavia, ethiopia is a federal state with nine units organized along ethnic lines. Identity politics, democratisation and state building in.
Theoretical and formallegal dimensions of the concept of citizenship in africa 3. Identity politics and current realities in ethiopia. Past and present of political power in ethiopia power. Identity politics define by otherness this brings us to the point in this essay about identity politics in ethiopia today. The politics of ethnic identity and conflicts under ethnic federal system in ethiopia journal of international politics v1 i2 2019 17 formalized identity politics seen through a historic making and remaking of modern ethiopia it is obvious that any attempt to understand the post 1990s identity politics or politicized. The tigray, somali, amhara, and oromia regions around 80 percent of ethiopia take.
Pdf ethnicity, religion, and identity politics among. Identity politics stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. It will be argued that three aspects of the nature and style of eprdf governance have shaped the evolution of ethiopia s political settlement over this period in. Identity, citizenship, and political conflict in africa. Instead, the paper aims to contribute to our understanding of the nature of the relationships by exploring how they have unfolded in ethiopia s fifteenyearold federal arrangement. Introduction ethiopian history has been studied and written by both foreign and local scholars for many centuries. In conclusion, war and the politics of identity in ethiopia offers a methodical, original, and highly informed account of the contested political identities that have marked africas second most populous country in the past two decades. Instead, the paper aims to contribute to our understanding of the nature of the relationships by exploring how they have unfolded in ethiopias fifteenyearold federal arrangement. Then and now vibha pingle and ashutosh varshney i do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. Raise any kind of sociopolitical issue, you are prone to be categorized either as citizenship or identity politics promoter. The good, the bad, and the ugly of identity politics. Most notable among the political changes of this period were. In march 2011, news about the forced flight of christians from western ethiopia stirred a highly charged controversyboth within and beyond ethiopiaabout the role of islam in the horn of africa.
As many have pointed out before, far from being culturally or ethnically neutral, it idolizes a particular form of cultural identity and history namely, the abyssinian orthodox identity. Identity politics as a mode of organizing is intimately connected to the idea that some social groups are oppressed. Professor smiths research focuses on citizenship in contemporary african states, ethnic identity, and political conflict. Identity politics and selected cases in conflict over citizenship rights in africa 4. This is expressed in its most rudimentary form in the current ethiopian political discourse. Identity and geographic restoration of wolkaittegede, gondar, amhara, ethiopia by. Nationality itself is a group identity in the name of which injus. International affairs this book represents yet another fine contribution to the study of the politics of ethiopia by kjetil tronvoll. Against identity politics lecture by political scientist. In the process, i show that these approaches reflect competing theoretical understandings of the relationship between experience, culture, identity, politics, and power. Ethiopia was governing arabs and arabs were paying tributes to the kingdom of ethiopia. As western society seeks to detach politics from islam, we should also deethnicised politics in ethiopia. The real challenge for ethiopias opposition political leaders, scholars, elites and ordinary folks today is to reconceptualize the politics of identity which for so long has been based on historical and current grievances to a politics based on.