The Politics of Ethnic Nationalism in the Ethiopian Statehood: Its Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

This paper explores the dynamics of contending and ultra-ethnic based nationalism movement in Ethiopia which has recently created a rift in the country, a divergence that could have far-reaching implications to the insecurity of the Ethiopian statehood. Through the use of a qualitative desk research approach, the paper reveals that the primacy of ethnicity and ethnic nationalism in Ethiopia originally emanated from the ideological inputs of Marxism-Leninism ideology, an ideology that dominates the politics of Ethiopia for more than two decades. The paper further argues that ethnic nationalism in the Ethiopia context arguably a recent phenomenon and its provenance primarily associated with the exclusive ideological narratives of the state elites and in some case the state formation process of the country. The paper further argues the guise ‘nation-building’ narratives of the post-1990s have further intensified the saliency of ethnicity in the Ethiopian Political market place. Put differently, the re-structuring of the Ethiopian state along ethnic lines and the constitutional engineering of ‘self-determination’ including secession has further intensified ethno-nationalist movement in the country which has been become the major challenges for the continuation of the Ethiopian statehood. Perhaps, its continuance as a unified state seems lays on the will of these ultranationalist groups. Keywords: Ethnicity, Nationalism, Nation-Building, Political Narratives DOI : 10.7176/JCSD/54-01 Publication date: December 31 st 2019