Ethnic Federalism in a Dominant Party State: The Ethiopian Experience 1991-2000 Lovise Aalen r 2002: 2

PARTY STRUCTURES 
77
6.3
S
UB
-
REGIONAL STRUCTURES IN THE REGIONAL STATES 
89
Tables
3.1
O
VERVIEW OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS INTERVIEWED 
28
3.2
O
VERVIEW OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM 
NGO
S
, 
JOURNALISTS AND 
“
ORDINARY
”
CITIZENS INTERVIEWED 
30
6.1
P
OPULATION
, 
AREA
, 
NUMBER OF ZONES AND WOREDA OF THE REGIONAL STATES
63
6.2
R
EPRESENTATIVES TO THE 
H
OUSE OF 
F
EDERATION 
1995-2000 
65
6.3
S
ELECTED SOCIO
-
ECONOMIC INDICATORS OF THE REGIONS OF 
E
THIOPIA 
69
6.4
S
HARE OF FEDERAL AND REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS IN REVENUE IN 
E
THIOPIA 
72
6.5 
F
EDERAL AND REGIONAL SHARES OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE IN 
E
THIOPIA 
72
6.6
R
EGIONAL IMBALANCE IN 
E
THIOPIA 
74
6.7
B
UDGET SUBSIDIES TO THE REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS 
75

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Summary
ISSN 0805-505X
ISBN 82-8062-010-9
Since 1991, when the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary
Democratic Front came to power, two parallel political
processes have taken place in Ethiopia. Firstly, the country
is restructuring into a federal system, where the regional
governments are obtaining the right to self-government and
representation at federal level. Secondly, the party in power
is strengthening its control of the regions by creating satellite
parties and including them within its centralised party
structures. These processes have two fundamentally different
aims. The federal system, formalised in the constitution, aims
at enhancing regional autonomy from the central
government, while the building of a centralised party system
has the objective of concentrating the power in the hands of
the party leadership at the top.
This study is an analysis of the implementation of a
federal system within a dominant party state. It includes
examinations of both the legal and functional aspects of the
federalisation process in Ethiopia. Theories on federalism
and federations are used as guidelines in the exploration of
literature, documents and own interview material on the
implementation of the federal system.
The analysis of the Ethiopian constitution and various
proclamations has shown that the Ethiopian de jure model
meets the requirements to be classified as federal. But the
process of drafting and ratifying the constitution was totally
dominated by the ruling party, and hence, the federal project
lost legitimacy. The exploration of the functioning of the
federal system disclosed that the federal division of power as
defined in the constitution is severely undermined by the
centralised party structures.

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