THE STATE OF MULTIPARTY DEMOCRACY AND MULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE UNDER THE ETHIOPIAN DEVELOPMENTAL STATE MODEL: A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Ethiopia’s experiment with the developmental state model (DSM) within its federal system has been widely contested on the grounds of its compatibility with the country’s democratic and federal systems of governance. This paper argued that even though DSM tends to favor centralized state structure and authoritarian governance system, these features however are not necessarily inherent features of the model as the experiences of countries like India and South Africa demonstrate. They managed to build a democratic developmental state under a constitutionally decentralized state structure. Regarding the Ethiopian experience with the model, the article shows that Ethiopia’s experiment with the DSM has been largely driven by revolutionary democracy which led to authoritarian developmentalism which significantly undermined both multiparty democracy and multilevel governance system in the country.