Federalism and Ethnic Conflict in Ethiopia

Asnake Kefale is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

• 1. Introduction 2. Ethiopia’s Ethnic Federalism: History and Ideology 3. Asymmetries and Trends of Conflcits in Federal Ethiopia 4. Ethnic Makeup and History: Background to the Study Regions 5. Federalism and Autonomy Conflicts in the Somali Region 6. Federalism and Autonomy Conflicts in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region 7. Inter-regional Conflicts: Somali Region 8. Inter-Regional Conflicts: Benishangul-Gumuz Region 9. Centre-regional Relations: Somali and Benishangul-Gumuz Regions 10. Conclusion

"Asnake Kefale's account on federalism and ethnic conflict in Ethiopia is valuable and highly recommendable for interested readers. By structuring conflicts into various categories and comparing two very distinct regions as the Somali and Benishangul-Gumuz, the author has reached his goal to increase the debate over the shape of federalism in Ethiopia. The main contribution of this book lies in the fact that the issue of federalism is still very acute and 'tangible' in Ethiopia, especially with its so repeatedly criticized 'ethnic' variety. Asnake Kefale's valuable insight, which was based on field work in both discussed regions, shows that federalism – when it is not taken in an appropriate form and when its functioning is not well developed and managed––can cause serious troubles. As some of the issues are not „invented by federalism itself and they have longer historical roots, the book, thus, should be recommended to all who are interested in federalism, problems of federalism, modern history and politics of Ethiopia, conflicts and political systems in Africa, or simply modern and contemporary history of Ethiopia." - Jan Záhořík, Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences and Language Studies