The politics of dominating Addis Ababa, 2005–18

Abstract

Abstract After surviving a major electoral challenge in 2005, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) remained the dominant political force in Addis Ababa for a considerable time. This chapter explores how the EPRDF succeeded in dominating socio-economic and political spheres in Addis Ababa until the party’s demise in 2018. It argues that three interrelated strategies enabled the EPRDF to dominate and govern Addis Ababa from 2005 to 2018. The first overarching strategy was the use of a legitimizing discourse of developmentalism, deployed to generate acquiescence and legitimacy among the public. The second strategy was politically inspired legal manoeuvring, which helped the EPRDF to shape and reshape formal and informal channels of governance and control for the ruling coalition. The third strategy involved various forms of co-optation, including both ‘passive co-optation’ and ‘co-operative empowerment’, as well as ‘coercive distribution’. These dynamics are explored empirically through the role of Urban Consumers’ Cooperatives and youth employment programmes.