Revolutionary Democracy: A Terminus or Way Station for Ethiopia?

This special issue of JDS provides several critical perspectives on the federal Constitution, the state, and contemporary politics of Ethiopia. All the contributors agree that Ethiopia’s federal system promotes ethnic conflict rather than fostering an Ethiopian identity and national unity. The federal Constitution establishes a legal foundation for secession and in effect the possible disintegration of the federal state and the country’s multi-ethnic political system. The current political actors, their ideology, and the prevailing political conditions in the country are leading the country down the path to a failed state. A fundamental issue in Ethiopian politics today is the prevailing ideology of revolutionary democracy, which has led its political actors to pursue policies and practices that aggravate the country’s ethnic conflicts, weaken its national unity, and accentuate the contradictions in its flawed federal system of government.