Description: Since 1991, Ethiopia has gone further than any other country in using ethnicity as the fundamental organizing principle of a federal system of government. Ethnic Federalism closely examines aspects of the Ethiopean case and asks why the use of territorial decentralism to accommodate ethnic differences has been generally unpopular in Africa.
Review Quotes: "Three primary assumptions guided the contributors. First, given its multi-ethnic character, there was agreement that there is no alternative to some form of federal system for Ethiopia. Second, given the relative lack of internal, ethnically based violence since the introduction of the federal system, it was generally agreed by the authors that the experiment until now has been largely successful in ameliorating ethnic tensions. Finally, the contributors agreed that when measured against the requirements of federalism in practice as opposed to federalism in theory, Ethiopia still has a long way to go."--International Journal of African Historical Studies