Development as Structural Violence in Ethiopia

Development should not be done in a way that endangers the environment, human life, or non-human life that depends on it. However, in Ethiopia, economic development was carried out with little or no concern for the environment or indigenous and minority groups whose livelihoods directly depended on natural resources. Based on an examination of primary and secondary sources through the lens of structural violence theory, this article argues that Ethiopia’s economic growth was not equitable and happened at the expense of the country’s natural resources. Using the Negede Woyto of Lake Tana as a case study, this paper investigated how economic development projects in Ethiopia impacted minority communities. The conclusion reached was that the eprdf-led government actively worked to inflict structural violence on minority groups in the Lake Tana region, using sustainable economic development as a justification.