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Abstract
Ethiopia has become a major recipient of international development aid since the coming to power of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). This is despite ideological differences between EPRDF and its donors. EPRDF champions the developmental state model that assigns to the state a key role in the development process within a dominant party political framework. Donors broadly fall within the liberalism continuum with the private sector as the driving force and the assumption of a democratic-pluralist politics. The paper examines the making of a robust aid relationship across this ideological boundary and the underlying tensions. It also analyses the “significant others” that have influenced the tone of the conversation between EPRDF and donors. The paper refers to the literature that considers aid relationship as a negotiation rather than the normative and politically loaded term “partnership”.
Acknowledgements
This article is part of the research project funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The author would like to thank the Humboldt Foundation for the generous support that he has received.
Notes
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2. Human Rights Watch, “Development without Freedom,” 4.
3. See: http://www.dagethiopia.org
4. See Bach, “Abyotawi Democracy,” in this issue.
5. Borchgrevink, “Limits to Donor Influence,” 195.
6. Gibson et al., The Samaritan's Dilemma; Whitfield, The Politics of Aid.
7. Whitfield and Fraser, “Negotiating Aid,” 27–8.
8. Borchgrevink and Hansen, “Cutting Aid to Promote Peace.”
9. African Development Bank, “Ethiopia: Structural Adjustment Programme Project Performance Evaluation Report.”
10. Borchgrevink and Hansen, “Cutting Aid to Promote Peace.”
11. International Monetary Fund, “Ethiopia: Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility.”
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13. ODI, “PSNP: Policy, Programme and Institutional Linkages.”
14. Borchgrevink and Hansen, “Cutting Aid to Promote Peace.”
15. Aregawi Berhe, A Political History of TPLF.
16. Medhane and Young, “TPLF: Reform or Decline?,” 392.
17. Young, Peasant Revolt in Ethiopia; Aregawi, A Political History of TPLF.
18. Meles Zenawi, “Speech at the Africa Task Force,” Manchester University.
19. African Development Bank Group, “Ethiopia: Structural Adjustment Programme Project Performance Evaluation Report”
20. Ottaway, “The Ethiopian Transition.”
21. Huntington, The Third Wave.
22. Stewart, Adjustment and Poverty.
23. Zack-Williams and Mohan, “Africa: From SAP to PRSP,” 501.
24. Buiter, “Country Ownership.”
25. Whitfield and Fraser, “Negotiating Aid.”
26. CIDA, “Ethiopia Country Programme Evaluation.”
27. Dr Howard Taylor, head of DFID-Ethiopia, Ethiopian Reporter, March 5, 2011.
28. DAG, “Aid Management and Utilisation in Ethiopia,” iii.
29. Dercon et al., “The Impact of Agricultural Extension and Roads.”
30. Asrat Seyoum, “Transformational Aid,” 12.
31. Erlich, Islam and Christianity in the Horn.
32. Keller and Iyob, “The Horn of Africa.”
33. Shinn, “Ethiopia: Governance and Terrorism.”
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35. HRW, “Collective Punishment”; HRW, “World Report: Events of 2008.”
36. Anderson and Williams, “The Securitization of Development Policy or the Developmentization of Security Policy.”
37. Hadfield, “Janus Advances?,” 54.
38. In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black project is conducted. Recently, the term has gained notoriety in describing secret prisons operated by the United States (US). See, Democracy Now, “Outsourced Guantanamo.”
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40. USIP, “Terrorism in the Horn,” 5.
41. Pureza et al., “Peace Building and Failed States.”
42. Whitfield and Fraser, “Negotiation Aid,” 337.
43. Prester John is a name given to a mythical medieval Christian priest–king of a vast empire in central Asia, and later in Ethiopia. It was hoped that Prester John might become an ally of the European Princes fighting to stop the Muslim advance in Mediterranean areas during the crusades; see Waters, “Ethiopia: The Land of the Prester John.”
44. The government plans to borrow at least 398.4 billion Ethiopian birr ($23.6 billion) from home and abroad to fund the five-year growth plan, with an additional 75.4 billion birr to finance fiscal deficits over the same period. See Davison, “Ethiopia's Investment Plan May Be Unsustainable, World Bank Official Says.”
45. Davison, “Ethiopia's Investment Plan May Be Unsustainable, World Bank Official Says.”
46. Meles Zenawi, “House of Peoples Representatives Meeting.”
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48. Williamson, Latin American Readjustment.
49. Stieglitz, “The End of Neoliberalism.”
50. Meles Zenawi, “Speech at the Africa Task Force.”
51. EPRDF, Revolutionary Democracy, 31–2.
52. Kelly, “No Return to the State.”
53. International Political Economy Zone, “Stieglitz Lauds Ethiopia's Growth, Too.”
54. Seyoum Mesfin, “Statement at the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.”
55. Meles Zenawi, “Speech at the Fourth African Economic Conference.” http://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/article/fourth-africaneconomic-conference-imperative-of-re-designing-africasdevelopment-trajectory-5336/
56. The Reporter, “Meles Zenawi's Response to Questions by a Panel of Distinguished Ethiopians.”
57. Devarajan, “Natural Recourses and the Washington Consensus.”
58. Edigheji, Constructing a Democratic Developmental State in South Africa.
59. Wong, “The Adaptive Developmental State.”
60. World Bank, “Towards the Competitive Frontier.”
61. Schröder, “From Bullets to the Bank Account.”
62. EPRDF, Revolutionary Democracy, 32–9.
63. As Paulos Milkias noted, “many of the successful business men in Addis Ababa have financial connections with the TPLF. If we take EFFORT, we see that it owns 51% shares in the Addis pharmaceutical factory, and STAR pharmaceutical and medical supplies,” “Ethiopia, the TPLF and the Roots of the 2001 Political Tremor,” 28.
64. World Bank, “Towards the Competitive Frontier,” 54.
65. Fortado and Smith, “Ethiopia: Retaining Sovereignty in Aid Relations,” 131.
66. Whitfield, “Aid and Power,” 337.
67. A vivid example of donors’ concern for reputation risks is Robert Zoellick's advice to the World Bank Ethiopia Country Office staff to closely work with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for fear of his extensive global networks that could be used to damage the Bank's reputation. Personal observation, World Bank Staff Meeting, Addis Ababa, January 17, 2011.
68. Whitfield and Fraser, “Negotiating Aid,” 348.
69. Stieglitz, “The IMF Ravages Developing Countries, Ethiopia is the Proof.”
70. Borchgrevink, “Limits to Donor Influence,” 204.
71. Hansen and Borchgrevink, “Cutting Aid to Promote Peace and Democracy?,” 12.
72. Borchgrevink, “Limits to Donor Influence,” 205.
73. Africa Development Bank, “The 2009 Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA).”
74. Bieckmann, “Three Interesting Trends in the Traditional Aid Discussion.”
75. Bartholomes, “Sector Budget Support in Practice,” 9.
76. Mamdani, Citizens and Subjects.
77. Fikrie Sintayehu, “Ehiopia Continues Dam Construction Over UN Objections.” Addis Fortune, August 7, 2011. http://www.addisfortune.com/Vol_12_No_588_Archive/
78. Aalen and Tronvoll, “The 2008 Ethiopian Local Elections”; Clapham, “Post-war Ethiopia”; Abbink, “The Ethiopian Second Republic”; see also Hagmann and Abbink “Twenty Years of Revolutionary Democratic Ethiopia,” in this issue.
79. See Merera Gudina, “Elections and Democratization,” in this issue.
80. Jawar Mohammed. “Gambling: Meles Zenawi's New Foreign Policy Doctrine.”
81. European Union, “Ethiopia: House of Peoples Representatives and State Councils Election,” 1.
82. World Bank, “Ethiopia: Country Brief.”
83. Walta Information Centre, “Spiralling the Foundation of Ethiopian Renaissance.”
84. The criteria used to determine whether a country is a middle-income country is the 1000 U$ GDP per capita per year threshold. Currently Ethiopia's GDP is estimated at 400 U$.
85. Clapham, “Post-war Ethiopia,” 187–8.
86. Kasfir, “No Party Democracy.”
87. Meles Zenawi, “Dead Ends and New Beginnings,” 14.
88. Pei, “China: Can Economic Growth Continue.”
89. Proclamation to provide for the regulation and registration of Charities and Societies, No. 621/2009.
90. Atakilt Gidey, Vice Chairman of the Charities and Societies Agency, quoted in Centre for International Human Rights, “Sounding the Horn,” 3.
91. Tesfaye Hailu, “Ethiopia's New NGO Legislation Long Overdue and a Step in the Right Direction.”
92. Debebe Hailegebrial, “Ethiopia,” 3–5.
93. Centre for International Human Rights, “Sounding the Horn.”
94. Addis Rae, “Colour Revolution and the Fourth National Election.”
95. Personal communication from Professor Alem Habtu, Inter-Africa board member, Addis Ababa, August 18, 2010.
96. Meles Zenawi, electoral debate, ETV, April 2010.
97. Mathieu, “For Sustainable Growth, Ethiopia Needs to Promote Remonetization.”
98. HRW, “Targeting the Anuak”; HRW, “Collective Punishment.”
99. Genocide Watch and Survivors’ Rights International, “Crimes against Humanity, Acts of Genocide and Ongoing Atrocities against the Anuak People of South-western Ethiopia.”
100. HRW, “One Hundred Ways of Putting Pressure”; HRW, “Development Without Freedom.”
101. MOFA, “Human Rights Watch: World Report 2009.”
102. Epstein, “Cruel Ethiopia.”
103. Ohashi, “Cruel Ethiopia – Reply to Helen Epstein.”
104. Devarajan, “Wax, Gold and Accountability in Ethiopia.”
105. Meheretab Assefa, “Cruel Ethiopia or a Ruthless NGO Tribe.”
106. Alem Habtu, “Letter Submitted to the Editor: Helen Epstein's ‘Cruel Ethiopia’.”
107. Huse and Muyakwa, “China in Africa: Lending, Policy Space and Governance.”
108. AFP, “Ethiopian PM Embraces ‘Strong Developmental State’,” February 7, 2007.
109. Walta Information Centre, “China Gives Ethiopia 500 million USD.”
110. Wudineh Zenebe, “Addis Ababa-Adama Expressway Hogs Funds.”
111. Fitzgerald, “Chinese Massive Investment in Ethiopia at What Cost?”
112. Todays Zaman, “Ethiopia Crucial Business Partner for Turkey.”
113. Tekeda Alemu, “The World, Africa, China and Ethiopia.”
114. Meles Zenawi, Parliamentary Speech, February 11, 2011.