6.01 Davide Chinigo; John Markakis; Catherine Dom; Sarah Vaughan

State and society: Changing systems, changing relationships in Ethiopia

Social, economic and political changes are mutually reinforcing processes, and as they evolve so does society’s relationship with the state. The outcomes are not easily detected while these changes are in progress but they can be analysed in retrospect and described while unfolding. Ethiopia’s modern history combines three clearly marked historical junctures with gradual evolutions.  The creation of the imperial state (up to 1975), its demise and succession by the military/Marxist regime (1975-1991), and the latter's own demise and succession by the federal/developmental state (1991-today) each brought abrupt and dramatic systemic changes in the society, the economy and the state, and transformed society’s relationship with the state. In each phase, structures and relationships also evolved gradually, and these evolutions were factors in the abrupt shifts. Radical as these changes have been, they have been shaped by the national fabric: geopolitical issues such as lack of access to the sea and disputed state boundaries; material ones, such as the stagnant peasant economy on which state and society both depend, population growth and shortage of land; cultural ones, such as the multi-ethnic composition of the population and the challenge it poses to national integration and state-building; political ones, such as perennial challenges to sovereignty, inadequate control over contested border regions, and the disproportionate share of resources devoted to security.  An example of the enduring influence of these constraints is the tendency toward state centralisation over all three phases, which, in turn, shapes the state’s relationship with its citizens. While Ethiopia’s macro trajectory of change and continuity transforms the relationships between state and society, the plurality of social, economic and political systems shapes different ideas of the state at different levels. Both dynamics continually refashion the relationship between state and society. Panelists are asked to focus primarily on the society-state relationship in the context of Ethiopia’s ongoing material, social and political transformations. On this broad historical and thematic canvas they can choose one or more of the three phases noted above, to focus on manifestations of systemic change and the resulting shifts in state-society relations as they reflect the influence of enduring issues. Contributions reflecting the diversity of these manifestations across the Ethiopian domain are particularly welcome.

ACCEPTED PAPERS

Political mobilisation
Prof. ASPEN Harald Room to maneuver? State, peasant society and modernization under EPRDF. A case study from North Wälo
 Dr. LYONS Terrence The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front: From Insurgency to Authoritarian Party, 1991-2014
Dr.&Dr. FANTINI Emanuele & VILLANUCCI Alessia Public health, community participation and political mobilisation in Ethiopia: the Women Development Army
Long evolution of the (developmental) state
Dr. BEVAN Philippa Evolving relations between the State and rural societies in Ethiopia since the later 19th century: similarities and differences in twenty exemplar places 
Prof. MARKAKIS John State and society in Ethiopia: Evolving Features in an Enduring Relationship
Dr. & Dr. POLUHA Eva & ELEHU FELEKE The "Developmental" State - A Model for Ethiopia? 
The state and young citizens' evolving economic opportunities
Dr. CHINIGO' Davide 'The peri-urban space at work'. Micro and Small Enterprises, collective participation, and the developmental state in Ethiopia
Mr LEFORT René Young male unemployment in a rural kebele of North Shoa 
Dr. NUNZIO Marco di ‘Capitalism is an old word’. Labour, the state and construction companies in Addis Ababa
Marginalisation in state-society relations
Dr. & Dr. AALEN Lovise & Marit Tolo ØSTEBØ Mobilising women in EPRDF's 'developmental state' 
Ms. JONES Beverly Promoting equity, 'leaving no-one behind' - A common theme across post-Imperial regimes?
 Ms. MERCY FEKADU MULUGETA Modern Ethiopia and the “pastoralists question”: The Nyangatom narrative of the history of their relation with the State 
 Mr  SAMUEL ANDREAS ADMASIE  Achieving subordination: state power and organized labour in Ethiopia