Constitutional Reform in a Fragile and Conflict-Affected Environment? Outlook on Constitutional Reform Processes in Ethiopia

Abstract

The Ethiopian Federal Constitution currently in force has hitherto been formally unreformed. This does not mean that there has been no societal pressure to reform; rather, the opposite is true. Since the time of its adoption, the Constitution has been a controversial document, and it has been subjected to substantial criticism both from within academic circles and from a wide range of political parties and other societal elites. Due to a lack of democratic space in the process of its development, the Federal Constitution has suffered from a legitimacy deficit, which has prevented the document from constituting the basis for a widely shared national identity or standard for common citizenship. These legitimacy problems have not benefited from the fact that the many identity-related tensions and conflicts that have ravaged the country and have prevented durable peace, stability, and sustainable socio-economic development are directly linked to the Constitution by its detractors. It seems that only a constitutional reform could offer a way out. Rather than focusing on the substance of constitutional reform, this paper concentrates on the process that should create a conducive environment for such substantive options to be debated and decided on. While the deep ethnic polarization and manifold public security problems currently afflicting Ethiopian society make such reform necessary, they simultaneously create a very challenging environment for a constitutional reform process to be adequately implemented and administered. In this regard, the paper argues that, apart from the necessity of securitization measures, the design of the constitutional reform process, which needs to be participatory and inclusive, can have a positive impact on both these security problems and on the development and drafting of a constitutional document that provides a widely agreed-upon and, hence, legitimate foundation for durable peace, stability, and sustainable socio-economic development.