Impact of Ethnic Federalism in Building Developmental State of Ethiopia

This paper examines the impact of ethnic federalism in building successful developmental state of Ethiopia. The developmental state has two components: one ideological and one structural. It is this ideology- structure nexus that distinguishes developmental states from other forms of state. In terms of ideology, a developmental state is essentially one whose ideological underpinning is ‘developmentalist’ in that it conceives its mission as that of ensuring economic development. The main force behind the developmentalist ideology has usually been nationalism. On the other hand, the state-structure side of developmental state emphasis the capacity to implement economic policy sagaciously and effectively. The central to the activities of such developmental state is a highly competent and autonomous national bureaucracy. However, as indicated in the finding the ethnic federalism in Ethiopia has negatively impact in establishing highly competent bureaucracy due to the ethno-language criteria for recruitment and appointment of bureaucrat and their patron client arrangement. In addition, the creation of country wide citizenship has declined due to ethnic federal structure of the country.