Contested Power in Ethiopia
Traditional Authorities and Multi-Party Elections
Published on 9. December 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
316 pages
978-90-04-21843-7 (ISBN)
Description
This book offers a comparative ethnography of the contested powers that shape democratization in Ethiopia. Although multi-party elections have become the norm in Africa, relatively little is known about the significance of non-state actors such as traditional authorities in electioneering. Focusing on Ethiopia's competitive 2005 elections, this book analyzes how customary leaders, political parties and state officials confronted and complemented each other during election time. Case studies reveal the contemporaneousness of traditional authorities in modern politics, but also how multi-party competition reproduces traditional relations of domination among ethnic groups. The book documents the importance of customary authority in selecting party candidates and providing legitimacy to political parties, but also their limitations in a country dominated by a semi-authoritarian party-state.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Anthropologists, political scientists and development practitioners interested in democratization, multi-party politics, electoral studies and the study of power and politics in Africa and Ethiopia.
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
508 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-21843-7 (9789004218437)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Kjetil Tronvoll, PhD (2003) in political anthropology from LSE, is professor of human rights at the University of Oslo and Senior Partner of the International Law and Policy Institute. He has published extensively on the Horn of Africa, and his latest monograph is War and the Politics of Identity in Ethiopia (James Currey, 2009).
Tobias Hagmann, Ph.D. (2007), University of Lausanne, is a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley. He has published on politics in the Horn of Africa and is co-editor of Negotiating Statehood: Dynamics of Power and Domination in Africa (Wiley Blackwell, 2011).
Tobias Hagmann, Ph.D. (2007), University of Lausanne, is a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley. He has published on politics in the Horn of Africa and is co-editor of Negotiating Statehood: Dynamics of Power and Domination in Africa (Wiley Blackwell, 2011).
Content
CONTENTS
List of Maps, Photographs, Tables and Charts ......................................vii
Notes on Contributors ...............................................................................ix
List of Acronyms .........................................................................................xi
Introduction Traditional Authorities and Multi-Party Elections in Ethiopia ...... 1
Kjetil Tronvoll & Tobias Hagmann
Chapter 1 Electoral Politics in the Nuer Cultural Context .................31
Dereje Feyissa
Chapter 2 Fishing for Votes in the Somali Region: Clan Elders, Bureaucrats and Party Politics in the 2005 Elections .........61
Tobias Hagmann
Chapter 3 Family Connections: Inherited Status and Parliamentary Elections in Dawro, Southern Ethiopia .....89
Data Dea Barata
Chapter 4 A Revival of Tradition? Th e Power of Clans and Social Strata in the Wolayta Elections ....111
Lovise Aalen
Chapter 5 Cynicism and Hope: Urban Youth and Relations of Power During the 2005 Ethiopian Elections ....137
Daniel Mains
Chapter 6 Islam and Politics: The EPRDF, the 2005 Elections and Muslim Institutions in Bale ..................165
Terje Ostebo
Chapter 7 'We Say they are Neftenya; They Say we are OLF': A Post-Election Assessment of Ethnicity, Politics and Age-Sets in Oromiya ........................193
Charles Schaefer
Chapter 8 Customary Institutions in Contemporary Politics in Borana Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia ....................221
Marco Bassi
Chapter 9 Th e 2005 Elections in Maale: A Reassertion of Traditional Authority or the Extension of a Nascent Public Sphere? ........................................251
Donald L. Donham
Epilogue The 'New' Ethiopia: Changing Discourses of Democracy ...................269
Kjetil Tronvoll
Index .........................................................................................................289
List of Maps, Photographs, Tables and Charts ......................................vii
Notes on Contributors ...............................................................................ix
List of Acronyms .........................................................................................xi
Introduction Traditional Authorities and Multi-Party Elections in Ethiopia ...... 1
Kjetil Tronvoll & Tobias Hagmann
Chapter 1 Electoral Politics in the Nuer Cultural Context .................31
Dereje Feyissa
Chapter 2 Fishing for Votes in the Somali Region: Clan Elders, Bureaucrats and Party Politics in the 2005 Elections .........61
Tobias Hagmann
Chapter 3 Family Connections: Inherited Status and Parliamentary Elections in Dawro, Southern Ethiopia .....89
Data Dea Barata
Chapter 4 A Revival of Tradition? Th e Power of Clans and Social Strata in the Wolayta Elections ....111
Lovise Aalen
Chapter 5 Cynicism and Hope: Urban Youth and Relations of Power During the 2005 Ethiopian Elections ....137
Daniel Mains
Chapter 6 Islam and Politics: The EPRDF, the 2005 Elections and Muslim Institutions in Bale ..................165
Terje Ostebo
Chapter 7 'We Say they are Neftenya; They Say we are OLF': A Post-Election Assessment of Ethnicity, Politics and Age-Sets in Oromiya ........................193
Charles Schaefer
Chapter 8 Customary Institutions in Contemporary Politics in Borana Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia ....................221
Marco Bassi
Chapter 9 Th e 2005 Elections in Maale: A Reassertion of Traditional Authority or the Extension of a Nascent Public Sphere? ........................................251
Donald L. Donham
Epilogue The 'New' Ethiopia: Changing Discourses of Democracy ...................269
Kjetil Tronvoll
Index .........................................................................................................289