Key Points
- Ethnic-based political narratives
- Linguistic ubiquity
- Conclusions and the way forward
In short, while developmentalism is the surest way out of poverty, marginalization, and deprivation, in contrast, distractionism diverts public attention, scarce resources, and the focus of policymakers away from development priorities or programmes.
Building on the peace agreement signed recently, Ethiopia should refocus on its development trajectory by addressing the root causes of the inter-ethnic conflicts, including religious and linguistic tensions.
This, of course, will require political will, developmental vision, and the dedication and courage of those who control the machinery of the State to take the country on a ‘developmentalism’ path. An important starting point is to rebuild state institutions and foster public trust and confidence in the governance system.
For any nation, a frequent distraction from addressing the root causes of underdevelopment is a recipe for disaster.
Unfortunately, this has been the experience of most African countries, which have been grappling with multiple development challenges, including the inability to eliminate poverty and give their population a decent living standard, ever since gaining independence from colonial powers over six decades ago.
For any nation, a frequent distraction from addressing the root causes of underdevelopment is a recipe for disaster.Mussie Delelegn Arega (PhD)
Ethiopia was not colonised, but it is not an exception and remains among the least developed of developing countries according to UN country classification.
As with most low-income countries in the developing world, Ethiopia’s development challenges are exacerbated by an interplay of exogenous and endogenous shocks and the resulting instabilities and structural vulnerability.
This phenomenon renders Ethiopia and many structurally weak and vulnerable economies, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa, to a perpetual decline in all economic development, prosperity, and well-being indicators.
To reverse this grime situation, the way out is to focus on mobilising all actors and factors of growth and re-calibrating these to achieve inclusive, sustainable, and broad-based development.
Historically, the Horn of Africa is a turbulent region that has seen more than its share of conflicts, socioeconomic destruction, backwardness, hunger, malnutrition, and all fallout from the confluences of such adverse situations.
One can safely argue that Ethiopia is the nation that has suffered the most in the East African region, undercutting opportunities and the potential that the country holds for growth and transformation.
These, in turn, have undermined Ethiopia’s potential role in lifting the economic performance of sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, given its strategic location, growing middle class and sheer demographic size.
One can safely argue that Ethiopia is the nation that has suffered the most in the East African region, undercutting opportunities and the potential that the country holds for growth and transformation.Mussie Delelegn Arega (PhD)
All these can serve as powerful tools for enlarging markets, mobilising domestic investment, building regional value chains, and attracting foreign direct investment.
Ethnolinguistic and religious conflicts widespread in sub-Saharan Africa are the outcomes of systemic and intrinsic conflicts between forces of globalisation, modernity, and social progress on the one hand, and underdevelopment, bad governance, weak institutions, and lack of economic opportunities and resources on the other hand.
Consequently, the prevailing assumptions that religious and linguistic differences will vanish in the face of globalisation and modernisation have become a fallacy.
Instead, despite outstanding socioeconomic and technological progress globally, identities such as language, religion or ethnicity are becoming more robust and pervasive than ever before, particularly in Africa and Asia.
However, while the Asian region has been systematically tapping the potential of diversity for production transformation and socioeconomic development, the African region is being held back by ethnocentric political narratives, inherent biases, and inter-ethnic conflicts- all of which are anti-developmental.
Ethnic-based political narratives….
Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth and development tragedies are intertwined and exacerbated by inter-ethnic, linguistic, and religious conflicts. Ethiopia is neither immune nor a bystander to this predicament.
As one of Africa's most ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse nations, Ethiopia’s ethnic-based political narratives are behind the country's persistent systemic and structural vulnerability to internal and external shocks.
While diversity can become an asset on its own, it can also become a liability by being the most destructive and distractive force if not carefully managed.
How quickly Ethiopia addresses its simmering internal conflicts, which arise from ethnolinguistic and religious fragmentation, polarisation, and disenfranchisement, will determine the pace of the country’s socioeconomic revival, growth, and development.
Various sociology, demography, and anthropology studies reveal that religious and linguistic fragmentation and polarisation can easily interact with identity politics, leading to disagreements, disenfranchisement, and, eventually, devastating conflicts.
Such conflicts can be intensified both in scope and extent in countries with poor or weak institutions and limited resources to share with different groups and expand public goods such as infrastructure, health, education, and water supplies to citizens.
How best to harness religious and linguistic diversity for development and ensure related freedoms can be predicated on sound political, regulatory, and institutional frameworks.
This implies that any country’s legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks that aim to ease religious, linguistic, or other inter-ethnic conflicts need to be clearly articulated and carefully defined to limit governments' encroachment on the rights and freedoms of citizens.
This is because freedoms from subjugation and conflicts are vital ingredients of economic development, socio-economic transformation, and a higher form of social cohesion.
Generally, the history of Ethiopia is one of celebrated coexistence of religions, cultures, and languages for centuries, making the country unique in a region known for ethnolinguistic and religious tensions.
However, Ethiopia is having difficulty continuing with its glorious past as a nation of systemic interconnectedness between its major ethnolinguistic and religious groups.
For instance, the recurrent tensions within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC), one of the oldest Christian churches on earth, is proving to be challenging for Ethiopia’s supposedly “unity in diversity federal architecture”.
The Ethiopian constitution clearly and systematically “codifies the separation of religion and the state, establishes freedom of religious choice, prohibits religious discrimination, and stipulates the government shall not interfere in the practice of any religion, nor shall any religion interfere in the affairs of the state”.
While constitutional inconsistency and lack of clarity have been the sources of identity-based politics in Ethiopia, it is in the best interest of the country that the Government of Ethiopia upholds the supremacy of the relevant provisions of the country’s constitution in addressing religious, linguistic and ethnic standoffs Fostering constructive dialogue, social cohesion and religious peace-building will be critical for Ethiopia not only to restore peace and stability but also to promote socioeconomic progress and pursue the ‘developmentalism’ agenda.
In this respect, Ethiopia can draw lessons from the East Asian experience. Beyond providing spiritual guidelines and ethical standards, religion has been a vital force for State building and, by implication, nation-building by promoting common traditions, cultures, and social cohesion.
Given its development challenges, Ethiopia cannot afford to be trapped in a vicious circle of conflict- linguistic, religious, or interethnic. In this regard, a paradigm shift in Ethiopia’s political narrative away from one based on ethnic identity towards a national identity-based political narrative is urgently needed more today than ever.
Linguistic ubiquity
Another area of recent tensions between Ethiopia’s dominant ethnic groups relates to ethnolinguistic disagreements and disenfranchisements, now resurfacing as the source of religious tensions.
Ethnically and linguistically diverse countries such as Ethiopia should formulate and implement intelligent, pragmatic, and forward-looking policies to address ethnolinguistic fragmentation, polarization, and disfranchisement.
Such policies must have at least three-pronged approaches: adopting international lingua franca (the language of global opportunity) alongside language(s) that foster social capital and social harmony.
The government should avoid imposing languages but espouse incentive's societal benefits of inter-ethnic learning. This can include mobilising and rallying public support through precise communication tools and promoting the fostering of social capital as opposed to political or ethnic capital.
The choice and application of languages as national and international lingua franca must balance four key priorities: benefiting from global megatrends (such as globalisation and interdependence), fostering national unity in diversity, recognising minority languages, including vernacular and dialects, and undertaking cost-benefit analysis to determine the viability of a given language(s).
Such an approach is critical to reversing socioeconomic decline or stagnation, fostering international competitiveness and facilitating economic growth and development with distributive justice.
These noble objectives cannot be realised through ethnic identity-based politics due to well-known biases inherent in such a governance model.
As with dealing with religious contentions, linguistic divisions are harmful to the cohesion of societies and the mobilization of scarce resources to address the root- causes of common problems of underdevelopment, poverty and deprivation.
Therefore, these problems must be addressed through national dialogue under national identity-based political narratives instead of the current ethnic-based political approaches to development, well-being, and prosperity.
Conclusions and the way forward
This short article's key message is to underline that given its developmental challenges, Ethiopia is better off following the ‘developmentalism’ approach by addressing the root causes of inter-ethnic conflicts, including religious and linguistic tensions.
This requires rebuilding state institutions, championing national identity-based politics and fostering public trust and confidence in the governance system. Without vibrant and functioning institutions and effective public mobilisation under a unified political agenda, Ethiopia will be difficult to relaunch inclusive and accelerated economic growth and development.
It also requires ensuring equal access of the poor and marginalized groups to productive assets and essential services, including education, healthcare and other vital services, without ethnolinguistic or religious bias.
Another critical area that requires urgent attention and public consensus is establishing operational legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks so that government does not infringe on civil liberties and political and religious freedoms.
Beyond enacting policies, strategies, rules, and regulations, what is critically essential for Ethiopia is the strict implementation and enforcement of practical actions and commitments to achieve inclusive growth and sustainable development outcomes.
Moreover, mobilising and empowering citizens and forging strategic alliances with the public, including at the federal and state levels, is vital in disseminating information about development policies, strategies, and outcomes for shared prosperity.
Creating awareness and establishing precise mechanisms for the multi-directional flow of information between state institutions, private and civil society stakeholders, and the public are also vital in fostering national consensus on policy approaches.
Ensuring equal access to economic resources and opportunities is essential, often a source of grievances and disenfranchisement. However, they may be manifested in different forms: religious, linguistic or ethnic.
In short, for multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multi-linguistic nations such as Ethiopia, ethnic identity-based politics is a recipe for disaster. Inclusive and national identity-based political narrative and governance is the way out from current and perpetual instabilities, conflicts, fractionalization, and polarization at all levels.
For multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multi-linguistic nations such as Ethiopia, ethnic identity-based politics is a recipe for disaster.Mussie Delelegn Arega (PhD)
This requires active collaboration with and engagement of all citizens in the development process, irrespective of ethnicity, political or ideological considerations.
Removing social, institutional, and political barriers, impediments, and all forms of discrimination (gender, ethnicity, religion, income, or social status) is vital for the socio-economic progress of all nations.
In this context, Ethiopia’s development policies and strategies should focus on how best to tap each citizen's potential and mobilize public action towards fully and effectively implementing these policies and procedures.
Therefore, the stark choice for Ethiopia is between mutually cancelling approaches: Developmentalism or distractionism but the latter is a disastrous option.
Mussie Delelegn Arega (PhD), A/Head, Productive Capacities and Sustainable Development Branch, Division for Africa, LDCs and Special Programs, at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not represent the views of UNCTAD or the United Nations. The author can be reached at ([email protected]).
This article is re-publish with the permission of the author. The article was published in the Reporter newspaper on March 11, 2023.
