Structural and conjunctural constraints on the emergence of a civil society/democracy in Ethiopia, 1991-2005

Abstract

This thesis examines the structural and conjunuctural constraints that inhibit the emergence of a civil society and democracy in Ethiopia, 1991-2005. Freedom and democracy are taken as precondition for development and social transformation. It introduces a model of how state and society relationship affects development and social transformation in transitional societies placing freedom as a pivotal link.

The thesis establishes a marked continuum in the modalities of state and society relationship throughout the three post-War governments in Ethiopia. It examines the current state/society relationship and highlights lack of freedom as the major constraint. This is examined against the backdrop of what the historical realm for social change in post-War Ethiopia is, namely freedom and democracy. It examines the policies of the current government (EPRDF) on non-state organizations, the 'theoretical' rationales it advanced and how the perceptions that the ruling party held back in 1975 haven't changed. It holds that the government exacerbated the problem of the fragile relationship it had with society.

The thesis also examines the government's policy on ethnicity as the 'rationale' that governs the functions of its institutions of governance and deconstructs the concepts of EPRRDF's "revolutionary democracy", the dichotomy between quality and quantity as well as between cadres and experts. It also deconstructs the EPRDF's thesis on the "national question" both in terms of its claims to have proceeded from the positions of the old student movement on the one hand and from the Marxian theoretical perception on the "national question" on the other.

The analysis is extended to examine, within the poverty-unfreedom nexus, the development challenges that Ethiopia currently faces. Four major development challenges are advanced for examination: gender, environment, rural development and population. The thesis concludes that the EPRDF has failed to resolve these structural problems. EPRDF's exclusion of the nascent civil society, suppression of freedom and official political opposition are taken as the main factors behind the failure. The case of the 2005 elections is presented as a sequel to the thesis.