In memoriam Siegfried Pausewang (1937-2012)

  Obituary  

The Revolutionary Democracy of Ethiopia: A Wartime Ideology Both Shaping and Shaped by Peacetime Policy Needs

The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), victor in the civil war in 1991, has since transformed into an authoritarian party. While this transition is well covered in the literature, few studies have explored how the party's ideology has adapted after its position was consolidated. This article addresses this gap, by analysing the EPRDF's ideology of revolutionary democracy, and how the interpretation of it has changed over time. The Ethiopian case shows that wartime ideologies should not be considered as static remnants of the past. Instead, the ideology has served as a flexible political tool for controlling the state and for justifying or concealing major policy changes. More recent protests and ruptures in the ruling party, however, indicate that revolutionary democracy may have an expiry date. There seems thus to be a limit to how long a wartime ideology can provide power to uphold a rebel government's hegemony and coherence

The paradox of federalism and decentralisation in South Sudan: An instrument and an obstacle for peace

A power sharing agreement and the inauguration of a new government in South Sudan has been put to a halt. Disagreement on the number of states and local self-government, security issues and the unifying of a national army are contested issues. Strife about how to share the power between the local and central level through federalism and decentralisation remains at the core of the controversies. Sorting out the relationship between central and local levels of government is a precondition for lasting peace. Drawing on experiences from African post-war states, this CM brief identifies what it will take for federalism and decentralisation to be implemented and functioning in South Sudan

Former Armed Groups in Power and Post-war Youth Policies

This research brief discusses the role of youth in relation to rebel-to-party transitions and how to improve the inclusion of youth in such processes, bringing about genuine youth participation. There is a growing recognition that youth are key actors in achieving sustainable peace in post-war settings. Still, both national political leaders and international policymakers often see large youth populations as a potential threat to stability. The main youth-centred strategy of former rebel parties in power has been to control and co-opt this population without opening up for genuine youth representation. This research brief series has been initiated through a collaboration between the Politics After War (PAW) research network, the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA), and the United Nations Depart¬ment of Peace Operations, Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions: DDR Section (UNDPO/OROLSI/DDR) with the aim to provide research perspectives and scientific evidence on the inter¬section of DDR and politics with a particular em¬phasis on the transformative dynamics of armed groups and combatants

After the uprising: Including Sudanese youth

The youth were the backbone of the protests that led to the fall of Sudan’s president Omer al-Bashir in April 2019. Yet, two years after the uprising they are still largely excluded from the political decision-making and suffer severely from the economic hardship in the country. This brief is based on interviews of youth activists in Khartoum in early 2020, and discusses what must be done to include the youth in Sudan

Ethnic Federalism in a Dominant Party State: The Ethiopian Experience 1991-2000

Since 1991, when the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front came to power, two parallel political processes have taken place in Ethiopia. Firstly, the country is restructuring into a federal system, where the regional governments are obtaining the right to self-government and representation at federal level. Secondly, the party in power is strengthening its control of the regions by creating satellite parties and including them within its centralised party structures. These processes have two fundamentally different aims. The federal system, formalised in the constitution, aims at enhancing regional autonomy from the central government, while the building of a centralised party system has the objective of concentrating the power in the hands of the party leadership at the top. This study is an analysis of the implementation of a federal system within a dominant party state. It includes examinations of both the legal and functional aspects of the federalisation process in Ethiopia. Theories on federalism and federations are used as guidelines in the exploration of literature, documents and own interview material on the implementation of the federal system. The analysis of the Ethiopian constitution and various proclamations has shown that the Ethiopian de jure model meets the requirements to be classified as federal. But the process of drafting and ratifying the constitution was totally dominated by the ruling party, and hence, the federal project lost legitimacy. The exploration of the functioning of the federal system disclosed that the federal division of power as defined in the constitution is severely undermined by the centralised party structures

Neglect, Control and Co-optation: Major features of Ethiopian Youth Policy Since 1991

Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous state, has a young population with more than 70 percent of its inhabitants below the age of 35. Ethiopian regimes have a history of youth neglect and repression, and more recently, co-optation through patronage politics. Unemployment and political marginalization have continued to be a major challenge for young people, also after youth protests contributed to bring Africa’s youngest Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to power in 2018