Ethnic Federalism: A Tool for Managing or a Fuel for Ethnic Conflicts in Ethiopia

Abstract

The overall objective of this study was to examine the Ethiopia's ethnic based federal experiment whether it has been served as a tool for managing or a fuel for the ethnic conflicts in Ethiopia. After the collapse of the military regime in 1991, EPRDF adopted ethnic federalism since it was supposed to solve Ethiopia's chronic ethnic inequalities generated by the flawed nation building process of the Ethiopian state. However, ethnic federalism since its adoption has had different implications for the country. The project has to be more researched. Therefore, the researcher, by taking the Ethiopia's experiences into account, inspired to examine whether the present ethnically based political formation exacerbates or reduces ethnic conflicts throughout the country. The study used qualitative research methodology and it was based on an explanatory research design. The researcher collected data from secondary sources such as documents produced by EPRDF (the ruling party), opposition parties and from related literatures. The qualitative data was analyzed and interpreted qualitatively using words. All in all, the study concludes that ethnic based federal experiment has failed to manage ethnic conflicts in Ethiopia. It is therefore, recommended that Ethiopia should adopt a territorial federal arrangement to manage inter and intra ethnic conflicts in the country.