Rebalancing Ethiopia’s Federal Order: Multinational Federalism, Self-Government, Equal Citizenship, and Shared Prosperity

By Faisal Omer; Former parliament member of Somali region

Abstract

Since 1991, Ethiopia has transformed from a highly centralized state into a federal order that constitutionally recognized the rights of the country’s “nations, nationalities, and peoples.” The 1995 Constitution established extensive regional self-government, collective rights, and self-determination while seeking to preserve national unity. Although this settlement addressed some important historical grievances concerning political recognition, cultural identity, territorial governance, and autonomy, more than three decades of experience have revealed persistent challenges, including ethnic polarization, territorial disputes, minority protection, fiscal dependence, uneven development, weak intergovernmental coordination, resource competition, and tensions between collective identity and equal citizenship.

This article argues that these challenges reflect not the inherent failure of federalism, but an enduring imbalance between self-rule and shared rule. Ethiopia’s most viable constitutional trajectory therefore lies neither in centralized homogenization nor in preserving an unreformed federal order, but in developing a rebalanced multinational federation that combines meaningful regional self-government with equal citizenship, effective shared institutions, enforceable minority protections, equitable fiscal arrangements, cooperative intergovernmental relations, and inclusive national political participation.