The Paradox of Ethiopia’s Underdevelopment: Endogenous Factors in Retrospect

Ethiopia is a country of diverse historical, cultural, geographical, archeological, and ecological resources and is well known as the cradle of humanity. It is also the tenth-largest country in Africa and endowed with vast land and water resources. This country was unable to translate these potentia...

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Main Author: Feyera Senbeta
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Jimma University 2021-02-01
Series:PanAfrican Journal of Governance and Development
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.ju.edu.et/index.php/panjogov/article/view/2907
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spelling doaj-ac1d90f81cb64d228df6fdec0755880c2021-04-21T17:05:30ZengJimma UniversityPanAfrican Journal of Governance and Development2707-13082707-13162021-02-0121330https://doi.org/10.46404/panjogov.v2i1.2907The Paradox of Ethiopia’s Underdevelopment: Endogenous Factors in RetrospectFeyera Senbeta0Addis Ababa UniversityEthiopia is a country of diverse historical, cultural, geographical, archeological, and ecological resources and is well known as the cradle of humanity. It is also the tenth-largest country in Africa and endowed with vast land and water resources. This country was unable to translate these potential resources into positive development outcomes. This paper examines the historical perspective of Ethiopia’s underdevelopment mystery under the last three regimes (i.e., Haile Selassie (Imperial), Derg, and the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)). Qualitative approaches mainly interview, discussion, document analysis, and personal experiences were employed in generating relevant data that were analyzed and presented thematically. The results show that Ethiopia ranked the least in many global human development indexes such as Human Development Index, Corruption Index, and Global Hunger Index in the last decade. The underlying historical development challenges include political instability, despotic leadership, corruption, dependence on foreign aid and assistance, controlled freedom of expression, lack of diversity within unity, and inconsistent development policies. Over the last three successive regimes, the state-society relationship has been characterized by conflict, disagreement, and supremacy of state which messed up available national development opportunities. If Ethiopia has to come out of poverty and underdevelopment, it needs to improve its political stability and governance. It must be governed by ‘popularly elected’ not by ‘self-elected leader’ and put in place a system of accountability for a better future and wellbeing of its population. Consistent and pro-poor policy, good working culture, and unity in diversity must be other areas of concern for future development.https://journals.ju.edu.et/index.php/panjogov/article/view/2907corruptiondevelopmentdiversityethiopiapolicyunity
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Feyera Senbeta
spellingShingle Feyera Senbeta
The Paradox of Ethiopia’s Underdevelopment: Endogenous Factors in Retrospect
PanAfrican Journal of Governance and Development
corruption
development
diversity
ethiopia
policy
unity
author_facet Feyera Senbeta
author_sort Feyera Senbeta
title The Paradox of Ethiopia’s Underdevelopment: Endogenous Factors in Retrospect
title_short The Paradox of Ethiopia’s Underdevelopment: Endogenous Factors in Retrospect
title_full The Paradox of Ethiopia’s Underdevelopment: Endogenous Factors in Retrospect
title_fullStr The Paradox of Ethiopia’s Underdevelopment: Endogenous Factors in Retrospect
title_full_unstemmed The Paradox of Ethiopia’s Underdevelopment: Endogenous Factors in Retrospect
title_sort paradox of ethiopia’s underdevelopment: endogenous factors in retrospect
publisher Jimma University
series PanAfrican Journal of Governance and Development
issn 2707-1308
2707-1316
publishDate 2021-02-01
description Ethiopia is a country of diverse historical, cultural, geographical, archeological, and ecological resources and is well known as the cradle of humanity. It is also the tenth-largest country in Africa and endowed with vast land and water resources. This country was unable to translate these potential resources into positive development outcomes. This paper examines the historical perspective of Ethiopia’s underdevelopment mystery under the last three regimes (i.e., Haile Selassie (Imperial), Derg, and the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)). Qualitative approaches mainly interview, discussion, document analysis, and personal experiences were employed in generating relevant data that were analyzed and presented thematically. The results show that Ethiopia ranked the least in many global human development indexes such as Human Development Index, Corruption Index, and Global Hunger Index in the last decade. The underlying historical development challenges include political instability, despotic leadership, corruption, dependence on foreign aid and assistance, controlled freedom of expression, lack of diversity within unity, and inconsistent development policies. Over the last three successive regimes, the state-society relationship has been characterized by conflict, disagreement, and supremacy of state which messed up available national development opportunities. If Ethiopia has to come out of poverty and underdevelopment, it needs to improve its political stability and governance. It must be governed by ‘popularly elected’ not by ‘self-elected leader’ and put in place a system of accountability for a better future and wellbeing of its population. Consistent and pro-poor policy, good working culture, and unity in diversity must be other areas of concern for future development.
topic corruption
development
diversity
ethiopia
policy
unity
url https://journals.ju.edu.et/index.php/panjogov/article/view/2907
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