Bulletin n. 2/2007
October 2007
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Hamer John H.
    Decentralization as a Solution to the Problem of Cultured Diversity: An Example from Ethiopia
    in Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute , Volume 77, Number 2 ,  2007 ,  207-225
    The failure of the nation state in sub-Saharan Africa has been a topic of great concern in recent years. In this article I explore in detail the historical experience of one ethnic group in the Horn of Africa, the Sidāma, and show how the nation state has had a comparatively negative effect upon another group in southern Ethiopia, the Maale. For the Sidāma, historic disparagement by the state, though discouraged by the present Ethiopian government, is shown to continue into the present in regard to dispute settlement and policy making by the elders. The Maale, though different in culture and social structure, experienced similar distrust and disparagement in Ethiopia's revolutionary period (1974-91). In the case of the Sidāma, indications are that this has continued into the post-revolutionary period of state-sponsored parliamentary democracy. As a solution I propose the 'indirect state' as a means not simply of maintaining the past culture of the Sidāma, but also of encouraging the people to originate change for themselves. Rather than institutional edicts being imposed from above by the nation state, the people will, in conjunction with other ethnic groups, negotiate both vertically and horizontally to reach consensual agreements for change.
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