Everyday conceptions of the state in Ethiopia: corruption discourses, moral idioms and the ideals of mengist

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which ideas of state are constituted in North Ethiopia by focusing on corruption and development discourses found in local public domains as well as on religious metaphors and idioms which define the roles and obligations involved in governance. Specifically, I highlight the ways in which people draw on experiences of everyday life to formulate the normative basis of state authority and how this contributes to the production of an understanding that the state appears to be both above and separate from local politics and society. The study generates new insights into how local values, expressed through metaphors and idioms, serve to orient asymmetrical power relations between state and local people into a relationship (and mutual recognition) of responsibility and obligation. I argue that state formation can be fruitfully explored from a vantage point that explores specific configurations of divergent discursive practices, a process shaped by the ongoing contingencies of social relations, as well as the actions, expectations and hopes of the people involved in the process.