Three weeks ago, the federal government of Ethiopia launched a military offensive against the government of the state of Tigray. Tensions had escalated after national elections were postponed due to Covid-19 and the Ethiopian constitution did not provide a clear answer on the fate of an uncumbent whose term ends before an election.
Covid-19 makes elections hard to hold – and forced Ethiopia to reschedule its general election for the House of Representatives. It is unclear how and when the election will be held instead – a pressing issue as the canceled election was to take place only a month before the current term of office ends. Who will have the mandate to govern after this date until the Ethiopians are able to go to the polls to elect the next House of Representatives?
20 November 2019 might go down in history as one of the turning points for federalism in Ethiopia. It was the day on which the unparalleled clause of the Ethiopian Constitution, which provides ethnic communities with the right to establish their own state (i.e. subnational unit), was put into practice.
Unlike other federations, where geography or administrative conveniences have been used to organize the federation, Ethiopia has opted to take ethnicity as the point of departure for the remaking of the Ethiopian map. In light of growing tensions, however, it is time to rethink this model of federal structure.
On the morning of 4 August 2018, troops were seen taking over key positions in Jijiga, a capital city of the State of Somali, one of the constituent units of the Ethiopian federation. Heavily armed military vehicles were stationed outside the state parliament, the offices of state government and the state TV station. It was not an invasion by a foreign force. It was a federal intervention.
13. September 2025
Giovanni Capoccia
12. September 2025
Anne Peters
12. September 2025
Anne Peters