The Ethiopian Federation: Formation, Features, and Challenges.

Ethiopia’s transition from a centralized imperial and socialist state to a federal political order in the 1990s marked one of the most consequential constitutional transformations in modern African history. The Ethiopian Federation examines the formation, structural features, and enduring challenges of Ethiopia’s federal system through a political and ideological approach to federalism. Guided by constitutional pact theory, the book traces the international and domestic legal foundations of self-determination, the collapse of the Derg regime, and the political bargains that shaped the 1995 Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. It analyzes Ethiopian federalism as an institutionalization of the sovereignty of Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples, combining self-rule and shared-rule within a dual system of governance. The study interrogates the conceptual ambiguity of federalism, the tension between decentralization and centralization, and the gap between constitutional promises and political practice. Drawing on historical analysis, constitutional interpretation, and political theory, the book offers a critical and balanced account of Ethiopian federalism’s achievements and limitations.