Factors Affecting Framing National Interests Of Ethiopia

Ethiopia,an independent country,surviving colonialism,with huge population,big size in the Horn of Africa and with a number of potentials,the study motivated by why a country with such potentials and could be a center of gravity in the region has remained in vicious circle of conflict and became the victims of the ensuing political calamities?Curious of the problem,the study sought to examine,what determined its framing and realization of national interest?Based on the investigation of the scholarly works on the subject matter,the dissertation designed its conceptual framework based on external factors(Systemic factor,as international system led by US hegemon),decision making and domestic factors(MoFA,Public Opinion,Political Parties and Nationalism selected as a variable).The research used mixed method,descriptive interpretation and discourse analysis as well as employed data from different sources,such as,policy documents,official statistics,memos,reports and critical review of selected literatures.The study find that,while MoFA and Public Opinion had minimal impact,it is a triangular interaction of external power,decision makers(regime on power)and domestic actors(Political Parties)that had a bearing on the national interest of Ethiopia.Therefore,breaking the negative relations of those factors are fundamentally important to get out of the vicious circle.In general,the study contributed much in synthesizing theories of International Relations scholarship and Foreign Policy Analysis to explain the foreign policy practices of Ethiopia as well as identifying the recurring problems in the past half a century.The research also indentified area of further study,while recommending much as to be done in working out coherent national interest that can bring consensus among domestic political actors.The study indicated that there is also a need of developing responsibility among domestic actors,strengthening institutions of foreign policy and people’s representatives,building the capacity of reading the international environment adequately based on core national interest and so on.