New Visiting African Research Fellow at LSE

Dr Asnake Kefale is the 2013/2014 Visiting African Research Fellow based in the LSE IDEAS. He is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Addis Ababa University. I met with him on his arrival at the School to talk about his research

Regional organizations and security governance: a comparative assessment of IGAD and ASEAN

The security functions of regional organizations have been greatly enhanced in the post-Cold War period, but they are determined by a host of external and internal factors. In this paper the security functions of two regional organizations, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), are examined from a comparative standpoint. It is amply demonstrated that the efforts of regional countries to pacify the conflict ridden Horn of Africa region through IGAD continue to be frustrated by long-standing practices of mutual intervention, shifting alliances, and an inability to develop shared norms regarding security governance. In contrast to IGAD and many other regional organizations in the developing world, ASEAN has a better track record in the maintenance of regional security in South East Asia. The key to the success of ASEAN in regional security governance lies in its development of norms proscribing mutual intervention and encouraging the use of quiet diplomacy in the resolution of disputes. It is hoped that this will furnish better understanding of both organizations and provide insights that will contribute to academic and policy debates on regionalism in the third World

State Capacity and Trade in the Ethiopia-Somali Borderlands

Cross-border trade is an enduring feature of African borderlands. Ethiopia had a long history of informal economic relations in its frontiers. This study examined the prevalent trends of economic relations in the Ethiopia-Somaliland borderlands, with particular reference to the post-1991 period. These trends are assessed in the context of the entrenchment of state authority. The paper found that ‘informal’ trade, which is pervasive in these borderlands, is not as such informal. Indeed, the distinction between formal and informal is found to be imprecise. The conventional view holds that the presence of a large size of informal economy is a manifestation of state’s weakness. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, this paper shows that state capacity is not something to be owned or possessed but rather is a result of a multifaceted negotiation of actors on the ground

Shoats and smart phones: Cross-border trading in the Ethio-Somaliland corridor

This working paper examines the dynamics and trends of cross-border trading in the Ethio-Somaliland corridor. The Ethio-Somaliland corridor is not a mere geographic pathway for the transfer of goods and commodities but rather a transboundary space with ethnic and transethnic networks, official and unofficial authorities, and formal and informal norms. While cross-border trading between the interior parts of Ethiopia and the Somali littoral territories has a long history and continues unabated, it has been affected by state formation processes both in Ethiopia and Somaliland. This study focuses on the trading of livestock and electronics. The two commodities were chosen because of their dominance in terms of the market size and the attention they garner from policy makers. Livestock is by far the major outgoing commodity from Ethiopia in the corridor. The sector also plays a significant role in the livelihoods of large borderland communities on both sides of the border. In recent years, trade in consumer electronics has emerged as an important activity in the corridor, in particular since the introduction of mobile phones. The materiality of the two commodities - live animals and small but high value electronic goods - helps to explain the different trajectories the two goods take in the corridor. This working paper underscores that the fundamental reason for the thriving of cross-border trading in the corridor is the economic rational. As far as this structural issue is not addressed, efforts of the Ethiopian government to prevent or 'regularize' cross-border trading is not going to be realized

Traditional coping mechanisms for climate change of pastoralists in South Omo, Ethiopia

573-579<span style="font-size: 9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">Pastoral groups in the Horn of Africa are marginalized and live under extreme poverty. Climate change brings newer and more complicated challenges. It is expected that the frequency and severity of extreme weather events will increase in the region. This will have devastating consequences for the peoples of the region in general and the pastoral communities in particular. This paper examines traditional coping mechanisms that the Dassanech and Nyangatom pastoral groups of the South Omo valley, southern Ethiopia use. These include: migration, herd diversification, herd splitting, income diversification, restocking and local alliances. The interventions of governmental and non-governmental actors by and large overlook the capacity of such traditional mechanisms. The Ethiopian government focuses on settlement in its development intervention and believes that settling pastoral communities through introduction of irrigation schemes would bring them a more ‘stable’ way of life. <span style="font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:" ms="" mincho";mso-font-kerning:12.0pt;mso-ansi-language:="" en-gb;mso-fareast-language:ja"="" lang="EN-GB">However, we contend that introduction of large-scale irrigation in the Omo valley would bring pastoral communities more challenges than opportunities. <span style="font-size:9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB" lang="EN-GB">The paper’s major conclusion is that the adoption of viable policies to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change in the Omo valley requires a concerted effort to recognize and to utilize efficiently the traditional knowledge of pastoral groups. </span