Dotted by pitfalls but functional
Merkeb Negash, Special to Addis Standard
In the past, series of articles published in this magazine on Ethiopia’s developmental statism focused on what a developmental policy oriented Ethiopia can’t perform – that the Ethiopian bureaucracy is far from the Weberian ideal type which demands competent, efficient and autonomous institutions that characterized the East Asian States; that the Ethiopian bureaucracy does not demonstrate the meritocratic selection process, long-run career rewards and corporate coherence that are essential to civil service autonomy. By providing more than ample empirical evidences, these articles dub Ethiopia’s attempt to become a developmental state as “dysfunctional” and predict its inevitable demise if the state is not fixed before it is too late.