Contemporary Challenges to Building Multinational Federalism in Ethiopia

A Qualitative Review

Abstract

Federalism in general and multinational federalism in particular is largely believed to be a system to realize self-rule and national unity in a diverse society. However, building multinational federation in Ethiopia is not taking in the desired direction of accommodating diverse needs and interests, from both vertical and horizontal power distribution relationships. In light of this, the objective of this paper is to assess the contemporary challenges of building multinational federalism in Ethiopia. To achieve this objective qualitative research design with a desktop research review was employed. The study revealed that the current challenges made the federal system ensure neither significant self-rule nor absolute centralization of state power. The argument, therefore, is, building multinational federalism is a matter of surviving together and is a means for discreet management of diversity for the heterogeneous society of Ethiopia. For this reason, the experiment needs more improvement than its current performance. Hence, further democratization and empowerment of the system are required to build more co-operative and decentralized multinational federalism.