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This book argues that the development of federalism in Ethiopia fits in with a global trend towards increased attention to ethnic minority rights and to federalism as a mechanism for ethnic conflict prevention and management. The Ethiopian federation is designed as a framework within which the Ethiopian ethnic groups can protect their rights and within which they are stimulated to develop a cooperative relationship. To put it differently, the constitutional objective of the federal structure is the creation of 'unity in diversity.' The book evaluates the capacity of Ethiopian federalism to achieve this objective by investigating the relevant historical, political, and legal aspects. (Series: Recht und Politik in Afrika/Law and Politics in Africa - Vol. 10)
After the collapse of the military regime in 1991, Ethiopia's successor state, which is led by the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), has been faced with the task of putting democratic ideals into practice under conditions of great economic scarcity.
This book analyzes the progress of the MSRI, highlights the political and economic factors affecting its realization, and offers insights into the political and economic implications of China’s endeavor. It focuses specifically on countries within Africa and the Middle East to provide a basis for a substantive examination of these issues in a manner sensitive to the milieu in individual countries and relevant regions. It represents the final volume in a well-received series on China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI), which, so far, includes books covering China’s MSRI and South Asia (Palgrave, 2018) and China’s MSRI and Southeast Asia (Palgrave, 2019). This book will interest scholars of China, international relations, and the relevant regions, journalists, and policymakers.
In an era of globalization, population growth, and displacements, migration is now a fact of life in a constantly shifting economic and political world order. This book contributes to the discourse on the beneficiaries, benefactors, and the casualties of African displacement. While the few existing studies have emphasized economic motivation as the primary factor triggering African migration, this volume treats a range of issues: economic, socio-political, pedagogical, developmental, and cultural. Organized with a multidisciplinary thrust in mind, this book argues that any discussion of African migration, whether internal or external, must be conceived as only one aspect of a more complex, organic, and global patterning of "flux and reflux" necessitated by constantly shifting dynamics of world socio-economic, cultural, and political order.
During the Cold War, nationalism fell from favour among theorists as an explanatory factor in history, as Marxists and liberals looked to class and individualism as the driving forces of change. The resurgence of nationalism after the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, called for a reconsideration of nationalism. Against Orthodoxy uses case studies from around the world to critically evaluate more than a quarter-century of scholarship. The authors argue that theories of nationalism have benefitted from fresh insights, but have also ossified into a new set of orthodoxies: some scholars characterize nationalism as an outgrowth of modernity, others view it as a European export, and still others see it as the brainchild of intellectuals. The theoretically informed and empirically grounded studies in this volume challenge these orthodoxies and offer new ways to think about nationalism. Collectively, these essays show that nationalism is not a singular phenomenon but rather a generative force reflecting complex historical, political, and cultural arrangements that defy simplistic explanations.
A 2023 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title Africa beyond Liberal Democracy: In Search of Context-Relevant Models of Democracy for the Twenty-First Century explores possible future trajectories of democratization on the continent. At the dawn of political independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, many countries in Africa set out with liberal democratic constitutions. However, these were quickly dismantled by civilian regimes that turned their countries into one-party autocracies, or by military coups that set aside the constitutions altogether. The 1990s saw an attempt at reverting to competitive multi-party politics through the so-called second-generation constitutions, but these...
Local Autonomy as a Human Right contends that local communities struggle to preserve their territorial autonomy over time despite changes to the broader political and geographic contexts within which they are embedded. Forrest argues that this both reflects and is evidence of a worldwide embrace of local control as a key political and social value, indeed, of such importance that it should be embraced and codified as a human right. This study weaves together evidence grounded in a variety of disciplines - history, geography, comparative politics, sociology, public policy, anthropology, international jurisprudence, rural studies, urban studies -- to make clear that a presumed, inherent moral ...
This monograph addresses the complexity of China-Africa and Japan-Africa relations from a comparative perspective. The volume is divided into five sections. Section I focuses on the divergent perspectives that are reflected in the discourse on China-Africa relations. Section II discusses Japan’s economic modernization and its potential lessons for Africa. Section III compares the foreign policies of Japan and China in Africa and analyzes their supposed rivalries on the continent. Section IV explores the relationship between Southeast Asia and China and its relevance to Africa-China relations. Section V provides an in-depth case study of Ethiopia-China relations over the last century. The book fills a major gap in the existing literature on the triad of Africa, China, and Japan. Under the guidance of the disciplines of African studies, international relations, political sociology, and international political economy, this volume elucidates and examines the complexities of the foreign policies of the two Asian powers toward Africa as well as their economic, political, and cultural underpinnings.
This edited volume discusses infrastructural cooperation and industrial cooperation between China and several countries in Africa. In contributions by academics and practitioners alike, the book distils the conceptual implications of empirical and ethnographic findings and explores probable future developments in the Africa-China relationship. The chapters deal with numerous countries across the African continent, covering nearly all regions, showcasing the dynamics of China’s relations with different countries while highlighting African agency over major infrastructure projects and industrial activity. Providing an in-depth look at the evolving economic cooperation across these two regions, this volume will appeal to researchers and students of African politics, international relations, area studies, and comparative politics. The book will be of relevance to policymakers in governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations involved in policy formulation particularly regarding the Africa-China/China-Africa relationship.