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Abstract
Since 1991 and the arrival of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) into power, the Ethiopian ideologists have maintained revolutionary democracy (abyotawi democracy in Amharic) as their core doctrine. The notion inherited from the struggle (1970s–1980s) aims at legitimizing a political and economic structure which de facto implies the resilience of authoritarianism. Abyotawi democracy has been presented by EPRDF as the exact opposite of liberalism and neoliberalism. As no article dedicated to a review and engagement with EPRDF's abyotawi democracy has been written so far, this article aims at analysing this Ethiopian version of revolutionary democracy. The evolution and uses of the notion since 1991 reveal a “bricolage” that abyotawi democracy has been operating out of Leninism, Marxism, Maoism, and also liberalism. While a review of party pamphlets and official party/state discourses reveals the degree to which revolutionary democracy has become an ambiguous doctrine vis-à-vis “liberalism”, the doctrine remains powerful as a fighting tool to exclude internal and external “enemies”.
Notes
1. I am grateful to Jon Abbink and Tobias Hagmann for their insightful comments. I particularly thank Tobias Hagmann for funding of archival research in Addis Ababa in February, March and April 2010, for his constant constructive feedback and support, and linguistic help with this paper.
2. Lenin was critical of the Russian social democratic party which considered economic action (strikes) as the best way to fight the Tsars. See Löwy, “Rosa Luxemburg et le communisme,” 25. For a complete study of the notion of revolutionary democracy in Marxist theories, see Marik, Reinterrogating.
3. Lallement, “Relations industrielles,” 376.
4. Lénine, Que faire?
5. Neculau, “La Corruption de la relation,” 140–1; Aregawi, A Political History, 190.
6. Cahen, “Lutte d’émancipation anticoloniale.”
7. Cahen, “Lutte d’émancipation anticoloniale.”.
8. Marik, Reinterrogating, 8.
9. The EPRDF is a coalition formed under the auspices of the still dominant TPLF at the end of the 1980 and the beginning of the 1990s. It comprises four political parties: the TPLF, the Amhara National Democratic Movement, the Oromo People's Democratic Organization and the Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Front. Derg is the Amharic word for Committee.
10. On the origin and formation of the TPLF, see Young, Peasant Revolution; Aregawi, A Political History.
11. On the origin and formation of the TPLF, see Young, Peasant Revolution; Aregawi, A Political History. See also Vaughan and Tronvoll, The Culture of Power, 113–14; Paulos, “Ethiopia, the TPLF.”
12. Merera, Ethiopia, Competing Ethnic Nationalisms.
13. Young, Peasant Revolution; Aregawi, A Political History.
14. On the foundation of MLLT, see Aregawi, A Political History, 169–92.
15. Vaughan and Tronvoll, The Culture of Power, 114.
16. Medhane and Young, “TPLF: Reform or Decline?”
17. Vaughan and Tronvoll, The Culture of Power, 73–4.
18. For an illustration of the ANC in South Africa, see Darracq, “Entre libération nationale.”
19. Aregawi, A Political History, 190.
20. Medhane and Young, “TPLF: Reform or Decline?”
21. Medhane and Young, “TPLF: Reform or Decline?”. See also Vaughan and Tronvoll, The Culture of Power, 121–2; Paulos, “Ethiopia, the TPLF.”
22. Tronvoll, “Briefing”; Lefort, “Power–Mengist–and Peasants …: Post-2005 Interlude.”
23. EPRDF, Program, 3.
24. Vaughan and Tronvoll, The Culture of Power, 116; Lefort, “Power – Mengist – and Peasants: Post-2005 Interlude”, 442; Tronvoll, “Briefing,” 4.
25. Abbink, “Discomfiture of Democracy?,” 195.
26. On the Ethiopian “culture of authoritarianism,” see Abbink, “Discomfiture of Democracy?”; Hagmann, “Ethiopian Political Culture Strikes Back”; Aalen and Tronvoll, “The 2008 Ethiopian Local Elections”; Merera, Ethiopia Competing Ethnic Nationalisms, 144. On the distinction between institutions and practices, see Aalen, Ethnic Federalism in a Dominant Party State, for an illustration of federal institutions vs. authoritarian practices, see Abbink, “The Ethiopian Second Republic,” who distinguishes republican institutions and authoritarian practices; Tronvoll, “Ambiguous Elections,” who opposes formal elections to “non electoral politics.”
27. Some sources were translated (non-officially) from Amharic to English, like interviews from the governmental newspaper Addis Zemen (the Amharic version of The Ethiopian Herald), the 1983 EC EPRDF Revolutionary Democracy Program, or pre-electoral debates broadcasted by Ethiopian TV before the 2010 general elections. These translations were financed by Tobias Hagmann and the University of Zürich.
28. See Yosyas, “Bashing Liberalism”; Yosyas, “To be (a Neoliberal) or not to be (a Liberal)”; Adal's answer, “Revolutionary Democracy vs. Liberal Democracy.”
29. Lefort, “Power – Mengist – and Peasants …: Post-2005 Interlude,” 442–3.
30. EPRDF, Report to 7th Congress, 27.
31. Hailemariam Desalegn has been nominated Deputy Chairperson of EPRDF and Minister of Foreign Affairs in September 2010, replacing two loyal senior EPRDF officials to Meles, i.e. Addisu Legesse and Seyoum Mesfin.
32. First six-party debate, on democracy, February 12, 2010, Ethiopian Television (ETV).
33. Kassahun, “Party Politics and Political Culture in Ethiopia”; Aalen, Pausewang, and Tronvoll, Ethiopia since the Derg; Lefort, “Powers – Mengist – and Peasants: May 2005 Elections”; Aalen and Tronvoll, “The End of Democracy?”; Tronvoll, “Briefing.”
34. Cf. Federal Negarit Gazeta, “A Proclamation on Anti-Terrorism”
35. Cf. Federal Negarit Gazeta, “A Proclamation to Provide for Freedom of the Mass Media and Access to Information”; numbers of daily and weekly newspapers have been closed since the 2005 general elections. The Prime Minister Meles Zenawi himself announced the end of Voice of America and Deutsche Welle broadcasting in Ethiopia during the 2010 election period, comparing these stations to the Rwandan Radio Mille Collines.
36. Cf. Federal Negarit Gazeta, “Proclamation to Provide for the Registration and Regulation of Charities and Societies.”
37. For instance, during the first six-party debate on democracy, the EPRDF was allotted 3/8 of airtime, and the other five parties had to share the remaining 5/8.
38. Meles, “Dead End Neo-Liberal Paradigm.”
39. Rosanvallon, La Légitimité démocratique.
40. For a good summary of the recent developments on democracy and participation see Blondiaux, Le Nouvel Esprit de la démocratie ; Sintomer, Le Pouvoir au peuple.
41. Rosanvallon, La Contre-Démocratie; Blondiaux, Le Nouvel Esprit de la démocratie.
42. Macpherson, Principes et limites de la démocratie libérale.
43. Darbon, La Politique des modèles en Afrique.
44. Foucher, “Difficiles successions en Afrique subsaharienne,” 136 (translation from the author). For an opposite view considering the regular holding of multi-party elections in Africa as improving democracy, see Lindberg, Democracy and Elections in Africa.
45. Alemseged, “Diversity and Democracy in Ethiopia,” 176.
46. See Schmitter, “Transitology.”
47. Quantin, “La Difficile Consolidation des transitions démocratiques”; Buijtenhuis and Thiriot, Démocratisation en Afrique au Sud du Sahara.
48. See Camau and Geisser, Le Syndrome autoritaire; Levitsky and Lucan, Competitve Authoritarianism; Geisser et al., Autoritarismes démocratiques et démocraties autoritaires.
49. Aalen and Tronvoll, “The End of Democracy?,” 203.
50. Although the mass organizations were officially separated from the ruling party in 1997, their relationships remain very close. See Vaughan and Tronvoll, The Culture of Power, 115.
51. EPRDF, Statute, 5–8.
52. Hagmann, “Beyond Clannishness,” 524. Gem gema is a process of “evaluation” and “self-criticism” inherited from the TPLF's internal organization. It was implemented country-wide after 1991.
53. EPRDF, The Development Lines of Revolutionary Democracy, 121.
54. On gem gema, see Paulos, “Ethiopia, the TPLF”; Medhane and Young, “TPLF: Reform or Decline?”; Aalen, Ethnic Federalism in a Dominant Party State; Young, Peasant Revolution.
55. The party membership was estimated at 760,000 in 2005. See Tronvoll, “Briefing,” 12.
56. EPRDF, Report to 7th Congress, 4–5. See also Lefort, “Power – Mengist – and Peasants: Post-2005 Interlude”.
57. Woreda and kebele are administrative divisions. The latter are inherited from the previous regime.
58. EPRDF, Report to 7th Congress, 4–7.
59. EPRDF, Report to 7th Congress, 4–7, 97.
60. Neculau, “La Corruption de la relation d'aide.”
61. Neculau, “La Corruption de la relation d'aide.”.
62. See Lefort, “Power – Mengist – and Peasants: Post-2005 Interlude.”
63. EPRDF, Statute, 1.
64. EPRDF, Program, 1991 (1983 EC); see also Fontrier, La Chute de la junte militaire éthiopienne.
65. EPRDF, Program, 1991 (1983 EC).
66. EPRDF, Program, 1991 (1983 EC).
67. Cf. EPRDF, Development, Democracy and Revolutionary Democracy.
68. Meles Zenawi, “Dead End Neo-Liberal Paradigm.”
69. EPRDF, Program, published at the occasion of the 2010 general elections.
70. Hailemariam Desalegn, six-party debate on federalism.
71. In the summer of 2000, Meles Zenawi presents a Report to the TPLF Central Committee (CC) about “Bonapartism.” The Report is debated in January 2001 within the CC, and adopted in Februray by the latter. It leads to the TPLF CC Split in March, the exclusion of dissidents and the reinforcement of Meles at the top of the TPLF-EPRDF and the state. Some extracts were published in The Reporter magazine in Amharic and commented by Paulos; see Paulos, “Ethiopia, the TPLF.” The “renewal strategy” or “Tehadso” in Amharic, was elaborated in the aftermath of the crisis. See Medhane and Young, “TPLF: Reform or Decline?”; Vaughan and Tronvoll, The Culture of Power, 43, 120–35.
72. Lefort, “Power – Mengist – and Peasants. …: Post-2005 Interlude.”
73. EPRDF, Report to 7th Congress, 12–13.
74. EPRDF, Strategy of Revolutionary Democracy, I thank Lefort who provided me with this EPRDF internal discussion paper.
75. EPRDF, Development, Democracy and Revolutionary Democracy, 66.
76. EPRDF, Development, Democracy and Revolutionary Democracy 49.
77. EPRDF, Development, Democracy and Revolutionary Democracy, 31–2.
78. EPRDF, Development, Democracy and Revolutionary Democracy, 43–4.
79. EPRDF, Development, Democracy and Revolutionary Democracy 69.
80. Meles, “Dead End Neo-Liberal Paradigm.”
81. See ERPDF, Development, Democracy, and Revolutionary Democracy; EPRDF Program.
82. EPRDF, Program.
83. EPRDF, Report to 7th Congress, 39–40.
84. Vaughan and Tronvoll, The Culture of Power, 75–6; Abbink, “The Ethiopian Second Republic”; Paulos, “Ethiopia, the TPLF”; Merera, Ethiopia, Competing Ethnic Nationalisms.
85. EPRDF, Development, Democracy, and Revolutionary Democracy, 54.
86. EPRDF, Development, Democracy, and Revolutionary Democracy, 6.
87. EPRDF, Development, Democracy, and Revolutionary Democracy, 9.
88. EPRDF, Development, Democracy, and Revolutionary Democracy, 55
89. Cf. the “three phases” in the EPRDF internal document, Development, Democracy, and Revolutionary Democracy, 26–7 and 57–8.
90. Rostow, “The Stages of Economic Development”; Zolberg, “The Structure of Political Conflict”; Dahl, On Democracy.
91. For a critical study of these theories, see Badie, Le Développement politique.
92. Meles, “Dead End Neo-Liberal Paradigm.”
93. Musso, “De la socio-utopie à la techno-utopie.”
94. Young, Peasant Revolution.
95. Gebru, The Ethiopian Revolution, 311–42; Tronvoll, War and the Politics of Identity in Ethiopia.
96. For an illustration, see EPRDF, The Development Lines of Revolutionary Democracy, 66.
97. See Aregawi, A Political History, particularly chapter 8.
98. See Aregawi, A Political History, particularly chapter 8.
99. See Medhane and Young, “TPLF: Reform or Decline?”
100. In the summer of 2000, Meles Zenawi presented a Report to the TPLF Central Committee (CC) about “Bonapartism.” The Report was debated in January 2001 within the CC, and adopted in February by the latter. It led to the TPLF CC split in March, the exclusion of dissidents and the reinforcement of Meles at the top of the TPLF-EPRDF and the state. Some extracts were published in The Reporter magazine in Amharic and commented by Paulos Milkias; see Paulos, “Ethiopia, the TPLF.”
101. Aregawi is here referring to the 1985 exclusions, during which he was himself expelled from the Central Committee and the TPLF. Aregawi, A Political History, 181.
102. The EPRP was one of the most important Marxist movements within the 1960–1970s Ethiopian Student movement. The TPLF and EPRP fought against each other during the struggle until the TPLF took the advantage. The EPRP did not manage/was not allowed to come back on the Ethiopian political scene after the fall of the Derg. See Young, Peasants Revolution; Vaughan and Tronvoll, The Culture of Power. The AAPO, though ethnically based, defended a “pan-Ethiopian” and unitary agenda after 1991, against the EPRDF federalism. The AAPO neither managed to enter the political scene. See Kassahun, “Party Politics and Political Culture in Ethiopia.”
103. Tronvoll, “Briefing.”
104. Tronvoll, “Briefing.”
105. Adal, “Revolutionary Democracy vs. Liberal Democracy.”
106. EPRDF, Development, Democracy, and Revolutionary Democracy, 85.
107. The same articles, pamphlets and news supporting the Ethiopian government and opposing international critics are to be found indifferently on different official or affiliated websites such as, among others, Aigaforum (http://www.aigaforum.com/), Walta Information Center (http://www.waltainfo.com/), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its daily publication A Week in the Horn (http://www.mfa.gov.et/), the Ethiopian News Agency (http://www.ena.gov.et/), or the Ethiopian Press Agency (http://www.ethpress.gov.et/).
108. Office for Government Communication Affairs (OGCA), “No Amount of External Pressure Can Force Ethiopia.”
109. Office for Government Communication Affairs (OGCA), “No Amount of External Pressure Can Force Ethiopia.”
110. See, for instance, OGCA, “Neo-liberal behind US State Department, HRW Reports.”
111. On authoritarian restoration, see Aalen and Tronvoll, “The End of Democracy?”
112. Luxemburg, La Révolution russe, cited in Löwy, “Rosa Luxemburg et le communisme,” 26.