Ethiopië lijkt een fase van 'deconstructie en reconstructie' door te maken sinds de val van het regime Mengistu in mei 1991. Het land is in een proces van politieke herstructurering verwikkeld... Show moreEthiopië lijkt een fase van 'deconstructie en reconstructie' door te maken sinds de val van het regime Mengistu in mei 1991. Het land is in een proces van politieke herstructurering verwikkeld en poogt een basis te leggen voor een meer open, democratische samenleving. Als gevolg van bijna vier jaar overgangsbeleid is Ethiopië reeds aanzienlijk veranderd: er bestaat vrede en relatieve rust; er is veel meer sociale en politieke vrijheid; er is een opener, markt-georiënteerde economie, met betere voorwaarden voor economische activiteit; het bewind is erin geslaagd etniciteit of 'nationaliteit' een alom tegenwoordig punt te maken onder de bevolking; decentralisatie en 'etnisering' van de regio's zijn vergevorderd, ofschoon de feitelijke controle nog steeds bij de centrale regering ligt. Een probleem vormt de dominantie van het EPRDF (Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front) en de TGE (Transitional Government of Ethiopia) en de relatie tussen de zittende machthebbers en de oppositie. De verkiezingen van juni 1994 en mei 1995 leidden tot een versterking van de positie van de zittende regering, maar losten de problemen van representativiteit en legitimiteit van deze regering niet op. Het dilemma van etnisering en/of representatieve democratie blijft voorlopig nog bestaan. Noten, samenvatting in het Engels (p. 624) Show less
This chapter describes responses to the ecological crisis and political changes in Ethiopia in the early 1990s among the Suri, an agropastoral group in K„fa Region, southern Ethiopia. Data are... Show moreThis chapter describes responses to the ecological crisis and political changes in Ethiopia in the early 1990s among the Suri, an agropastoral group in K„fa Region, southern Ethiopia. Data are derived from fieldwork carried out in the area after the change of regime in 1991. Attention is paid to environmental conditions and the Suri subsistence system, relations between the Suri and neighbouring ethnic groups, drought and famine in the area, in particular in the 1980s, and the Suri attitude towards the interventions of outside agencies, interethnic conflict in the period 1984-1993, Suri recovery and adaptation in the early 1990s, and the effects of drought, famine, and political upheaval on Suri socioeconomic organization, local political relations, and ethnic identities and interethnic relations. Bibliogr., notes, ref Show less
This paper examines the transformation of violence in Ethiopian society, chiefly in the context of processes of 'modernization' and political change since the turn of the century, but focusing on... Show moreThis paper examines the transformation of violence in Ethiopian society, chiefly in the context of processes of 'modernization' and political change since the turn of the century, but focusing on the most recent period (1970s-1980s). Forms and practices of violence varied in the different periods of modern Ethiopian history. The author distinguishes roughly four periods where a change of political regime initiated a different sort of performance of violence, viz. the period of expansion under Minelik II (d. 1913) and the Yasu-Zewditu era (1889-1930), the Italian intermezzo (1935-1941), the post-War Haile Selassie period (1941-1974), and the 'revolutionary' period (1974-1991). The present 'transitional' period is only marginally discussed. The most important period was that of the revolution. It can be argued that a radical break with the past occurred under the regime of the 'Dergue', the military council ruling Ethiopia after 1974. The breaking point was the period of the 'Red Terror' in the years 1976-1978. It was a period of intense physical and psychological violence which became rooted in society and had a lasting effect on the collective mind and on social relations among Ethiopians. Bibliogr., notes, ref Show less
L'expérience de renouveau politique en Éthiopie est en cours depuis 1991, lorsque le régime du colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam fut remplacé par une coalition de mouvements de guérilla à base ethnique... Show moreL'expérience de renouveau politique en Éthiopie est en cours depuis 1991, lorsque le régime du colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam fut remplacé par une coalition de mouvements de guérilla à base ethnique dirigée par l'EPRDF (Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front). La politique de restructuration démocratique du TGE (Transitional Government of Ethiopia) est fondée sur le postulat que la démocratisation ne pourra être établie qu'à travers la réalisation des droits ethniques des différentes 'nationalités' du pays. L'Éthiopie devrait donc devenir une fédération démocratique de régions-ethnies au lieu de rester un État unitaire. Cet article évoque les implications d'une telle ligne idéologique et évalue les élections 'démocratiques' tenues depuis 1992. Pour une partie croissante de la population, la politique de restructuration devient décevante. La République fédérale d'Éthiopie a été réalisée le 8 décembre 1994 avec l'adoption par l'Assemblée constituante de la nouvelle Constitution. Mais les partis d'opposition les plus importants ne sont pas satisfaits et ils sont tentés de boycotter les élections nationales prévues pour mai ou juin 1995. Postscriptum, réf Show less
This essay deals with the relation between ritual behaviour and environmental conditions in an African rural society, that of the South-East Surmic (Nilo-Saharan)-speaking Me'en people, a group of... Show moreThis essay deals with the relation between ritual behaviour and environmental conditions in an African rural society, that of the South-East Surmic (Nilo-Saharan)-speaking Me'en people, a group of 'tribal' cultivators in Käfa region, Ethiopia. The study attempts to integrate 'ideational' and material-environmental elements, in order to explain how meaning in ritual is constituted in the dialectic between human action and environmental conditions. For this purpose, a text of the 'mósit', a central ritual of the Me'en, is presented and discussed. The author looks at the significance of environmental referents in the ritual acts and words, and at how the language and the context of the 'mósit' reflect social and reproductive relations within Me'en society. The aim is an explanatory account of the 'mósit' as a religious ritual system. The unifying theoretical perspective which informs this analysis is derived from the theory of E.T. Lawson and R.N. MacCauley (1990), which advocates a 'competence'-approach to religious ritual behaviour. Show less
This article examines how violent interaction between ethnic and social groups in Ethiopia has shaped the contours of contemporary society. It focuses on the so-called Red Terror period of the... Show moreThis article examines how violent interaction between ethnic and social groups in Ethiopia has shaped the contours of contemporary society. It focuses on the so-called Red Terror period of the late 1970s, which marks a decisive stage in the transformation of violence and politics in Ethiopia. The intense physical and psychological violence of the Red Terror period had a lasting effect on the collective mind and on social relations among Ethiopians. Because of its violation of central sociocultural ideals and codes in Ethiopian society, it decisively undermined any idea of 'social contract' or 'trust' between the State and the population. This breakdown of trust led to a dissociation of civilians from national policy and power structures, and to a serious weakening of overall social cohesion. Show less
