Ethnic federalism and its potential to dismember the Ethiopian state

Abstract

The Horn of Africa has become the most fragmented post-colonial region in Africa. The largest state in the region, Ethiopia, with its unequalled demographic and resource power lost one of its provinces to secession and the rest of the country became divided into ethnic enclosures called killiloch, which are federal states with tribal designation. The recitation of divisive counter-narratives on the history of the Ethiopian state by ethnically inspired governing and non-governing political elite has minimized the collective identity of Ethiopians leading to their decomposition into tribal groupings in killiloch with neo-tribal restrictive covenants that include the right of secession. The supporters of such divisions have touted the policies as emancipatory that are ostensibly designed to help in the self-determination of Ethiopia’s various nationalities and to govern their own local affairs under a form of dual federalism (exclusive states’ rights). The objective of this article is to reflect on the adverse consequences of dual federalism based on ethnic killils and to explore an alternative framework for cultural and functional integration of the Ethiopian state under the rubric of cooperative federalism.