Eurasian Empires as Blueprints for Ethiopia

From Ethnolinguistic Nation-State to Multiethnic Federation

Asnake Kefale, Tomasz Kamusella, Christophe Van der Beken

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367744809
• eBook ISBN: 9781000383584
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

This book is a contribution to the global history of the transfer of political ideas, as exemplified by the case of modern Ethiopia.

Like many non-European nation-states, Ethiopia adopted a western model of statehood, that is, the nation-state. Unlike the postcolonial polities that have retained the mode of statehood imposed on them by their colonial powers, Ethiopia was never successfully colonized leaving its ruling elite free to select a model of 'modern' (western) statehood. In 1931, via Japan, they adopted the model of unitary, ethnolinguistically homogenous nation-state, in turn copied by Tokyo in 1889 from the German Empire (founded in 1871). Following the Ethiopian Revolution (1974) that overthrew the imperial system, the new revolutionary elite promised to address the 'nationality question' through the marxist-leninist model. The Soviet model of ethnolinguistic federalism (originally derived from Austria-Hungary) was introduced in Ethiopia, first in 1992 and officially with the 1995 Constitution. To this day the politics of modern Ethiopia is marked by the tension between these two opposed models of the essentially central European type of statehood. The late 19th-century 'German-German' quarrel on the 'proper' model of national statehood for Germany – or more broadly, modern central Europe – remains the quarrel of Ethiopian politics nowadays.

The book will be useful for scholars of Ethiopian and African history and politics, and also offers a case in comparative studies on the subject of different models of national statehood elsewhere.

Index

Note: Page numbers in italics indicate a figure and page numbers in bold indicate a table on the corresponding page. Page numbers followed by ‘n’ indicate a note.

1931 Constitution of Ethiopia 7, 23, 29, 85; adoption of 25; drafting of 25; Haile Selassie’s speech after the signing of 26–27; influence of Japanese experience 25; key objectives 27; Meiji Constitution, differences 27–28; Meiji Constitution, influence of 25, 26, 85; mention of law in 27; monarchy concept in 27, 85; nation-state concept in 27; people concept in 27; reformists and traditionalists, struggle between 23; structure and content 25–26, 27

1955 Constitution of Ethiopia 8, 28, 29, 33, 89; centralized nation-state under emperor’s absolutist power 29; Federal Act and Eritrean Constitution, narrowing the gap between 29; monarchy concept in 29; nation-state concept in 29; official (national) language, addition of 88; rights under 29, 33; structure and content 28; universal suffrage, introduction of 89

1977 Soviet Constitution 38–44, 51; autonomy of federated units 48; capitalism 38–39; centripetal objectives 40; communist polity’s nationalities unification 38; ethnicity 38–39; ethnically (ethnolinguistically) defined federated units 41; ethnoterritorial federations 42–43; Marxist-Leninist ideology 38–39; right to secession 49; union republics and autonom...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of contributors
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of acronyms
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• The 1931 Constitution: the importation of Western concepts via Japan
• From the Soviet Union to Ethiopia’s ethnoterritorial federalism
• Conclusion
• Sociopolitical timeline of modern Ethiopia
• Bibliography
• Index