Understanding the conflict and exploring political alternatives to remake a stable political system in Ethiopia

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to explore political alternatives to remake a stable political system in Ethiopia. A qualitative research approach with an exploratory research design was used to understand the conflicts. Both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were collected from political party leaders and freedom fighters. Additionally, data were taken from scholars’ studies and media discourses. Thus, interviews were conducted with purposively selected participants because they were aware of the origins of conflict in Ethiopia. The acquired data were analyzed using critical discourse analysis. This helped the researcher to understand the participants’ speeches and texts about the conflict. Accordingly, the findings indicated that the ambition to unmake and remake the existing political system of Ethiopia caused conflict and instability. In addition, the Amhara Fano, a freedom fighter in Ethiopia, battles the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed-led regime. Although the regime strives to maintain the status quo, Amhara Fano is fighting to unmake and remake it. To make it worse, the Abiy-led Ethiopian regime failed to manage conflicts and conflict-driven crises in the Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray Regional States. Thus, the main conflict focuses on preserving or amending the constitutionally declared exclusive ethnic federalism in 1995. Therefore, this study proposes political alternatives for conflicting areas of Ethiopia’s political system.

Keywords

• Ethiopia
• contending discourse
• national dialogue
• conflict resolution
• inclusive system
• political stability