Taye Negussie (PhD) Ever since its assumption of power in 1991, the current ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Democratic Front (EPRDF) has been persistently coining varied rhetoric and discourses apparently with the view to validate and sustain its unremittingly single-handed reign ad infinitum. And, these rhetoric and discourses
By Volker Perthes BERLIN – Three distinct timelines are shaping developments in the Middle East: the short-term timeline of daily struggles and politics; the medium-term timeline of geopolitical shifts, which is measured in decades; and the long-term timeline of sociocultural transformation, or what the historian Fernand
Opinion
Semahagh Gashu Abebe (PhD)
The Ethiopian regime and supports are commemorating the second year anniversary of the passing away of the late Meles Zenawi. Although the late Meles was responsible for making Ethiopia a landlocked country and masterminded a repressive ideology that has made the Ethiopian political discourse divisive and unpredictable, his sudden departure had gripped the nation causing credible concern including to his detractors. This is mainly due to the fact that the country has not departed from its totalitarian past and political power has never been institutionalized in the country’s long history. In the past, Ethiopian emperors had absolute legislative, judicial, and executive power. Though the 1974 revolution had terminated the legitimacy of imperial rule, the autocratic form of governance that grants absolute power to head of the state has not been altered. The trends of worshiping the ‘legacies’ of the late Meles Zenawi is partly due to the continuity of the repressive culture. However, the level of adulation extended to the late leader is unprecedented and transformed into a dangerous precedent.
