Building an idea of the state? Regime dominance and the material legacy of a development project in Ethiopia

A growing body of research argues that development assistance bolsters authoritarian regimes in Africa, but its impact on regime dominance remains underexplored. This article traces the material legacy of an ambitious rural development project in Ethiopia, including its ideational elements, and reveals its consequences for the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the incumbent regime at the time. The Merhabete Integrated Rural Development Project, implemented by the non-governmental organization Menschen für Menschen between 1988 and 2009, built clinics, schools, a hospital, offices, roads, and other facilities in the Merhabete district of Ethiopia’s Amhara region. Based on original fieldwork conducted 10 years after the project closed, I show that the project’s infrastructure significantly extended the regime’s presence in the district. However, these same structures also helped shape local ideas of the state, by exemplifying what a good mengist (government or state) might look like; this acted to weaken people’s acceptance of EPRDF rule. These findings inform our understanding of the relationship between aid and authoritarianism and demonstrate the need to consider development schemes’ long-term material legacies.