Samuel Addis Alemayehu Egyptians have recently been busy producing reams of alleged ‘information’, attempting to put the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in a negative light; some bordering paranoiac whims which pose challenge to one’s imaginary capabilities. From officials to retired generals to academicians of all
Richard N. Haass
NEW YORK – No set amount of time must pass before journalism gives way to history, but normally historians write with the advantage of perspective that reflects the passage of years, decades, or even centuries. Time is necessary for information to come to light, memoirs to be written, and the significance of events to reveal itself. What seems relatively trivial now may prove to have been anything but, just as what appears to loom large can fade in importance.
But, for better or worse, the West does not have the luxury of waiting to make sense of recent events in Ukraine, simply because there is no assurance that what occurred in Crimea is unique. Thousands of Russian troops remain on Ukraine’s eastern border; every day, there are new reports of unrest inside Ukraine, many allegedly instigated by Russia.
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.
