Explaining distributive politics in road infrastructure in the Ethiopian ethnic-based federal system

Abstract

Most literature in federal systems took specific institutions and socio-cultural variables to justify distribution in road infrastructures. The regime base analysis, called the state-building process, has been adopted in this study due to the shortcomings in the above variables to explain the share of roads in constituent units in less democratic, developing federal countries. Building an ethnically arranged polity is challenging because of constitutionally supported strikingly competing political and economic interests. Centrally made strategic decisions whose goals have emphasized achieving accelerated economic growth and ensuring equity among regions were, however, responsible to guide the state-building trajectories in post-1991 Ethiopia. Evidence from the interview and secondary sources revealed that despite enhancing the economy, the strategies have not yet equitably built member regions. For example, regional governments did not realize the equitable size of one of the means of development, all-weather roads. This study recommends a different path of institutionalized state-building practices anchored on the negotiated decision of member regions of the Ethiopian federation.