An Assessment Of Ethiopian Parliamentary Diplomacy:-a View From Non-conventional Diplomacy

This study aims to examine the role played by the parliament of FDRE specifically the fifth session of the parliamentary election(2014-2017),in its foreign relations.In a formal term,diplomacy is defined as the dialogue between governments,primarily the conduct between the sovereign states.However,in some cases,parliaments or other specialized organs of a country also serves much the same purpose.Given this,the thesis goes to explore the external interactions of the Ethiopian parliament and its successes and challenges.To that end,this study employed qualitative data inquiry methods,alongside the secondary sources,such as newspaper,telenews,government reports and academic researches.Most of the materials used for this study are recently published with an emphasis on the fifth term of FDRE parliament.Equally,this study was based on an analysis from constructivism as the theoretical framework.Historically speaking,Ethiopia has a long tradition to conduct its foreign relations through the parliament.Since 1958,the parliament has been approved to be involved into foreign affairs—the interactions between sovereign states—by the constitution.During the reign of former Emperor Hailesilassie,the initial role of the Ethiopian parliament in foreign affairs was substantially developed into a constitutionally-recognized level.Later,during 1974-77,the Derg regime declared to pursue formal diplomatic ties with other countries according to the 1987 constitution of Ethiopia.Following the collapse of the military government(Derg),the current government led by Ethiopian People`s Revolutionary Front(EPRDF)formed elected parliament by 1995 and has continued to foster the role of the parliamentary in foreign affairs.During the current regime,there are worth-mentioning practices and development,for example,since the 1990 s the regime conducted five general elections which resulted in the formation five consecutive parliaments.Within the parliament,a specialize foreign affairs standing committee is in charge of practicing Ethiopia‘s parliamentary diplomacy and communications.The committee is equally responsible to control,direct and supervise the ministry of foreign affairs and Ethiopian External Relations Strategic Research Center which serves the role like to strengthen Ethiopia's foreign relations with all nations on the basis of the core principles of mutual respect,mutual benefit,reciprocal trust and common interest.As a routine practices,sending and receiving parliamentary delegates,being participant in regional,continental and international parliamentary unions and hosting various parliamentary conferences at home capital were among the major practices undertaken by parliament in terms of diplomatic relations and communication.Meanwhile,the Ethiopian parliament is also in charge of or deeply involved into the services such as coordination,monitoring,and supervision activities in external friendship,symbolic representation and image building,pursuing national interest and information gathering,approving international agreements,supporting government diplomacy.These responsibilities and public activities of the parliamentary standing committee are clearly within the study range of the thesis.Legally and politically speaking,the FDRE parliamentary diplomatic communication is guaranteed by legal framework.The rule and regulation of the parliament allows the parliament to play its independent role in realizing the country`s benefits through establishing clear rule.The rule serves to guide the execution of multilateral and bilateral diplomacy.The objectives of parliamentary diplomacy are based on the constitutional tenets in order to promote foreign relations and of external relation and rules formed to implement to follow up and supervise that the bilateral or multilateral agreements and loan,grant agreement,which Ethiopia has reached with other countries,are infavour of the national interests of the people,ensure the sovereignty of the country and are computable with foreign relation principles and policies.However,although the Ethiopian parliament has achieved impressive and constructive progresses in foreign relations,it is necessary to pay close attention to the issues and challenges ahead.For example,the first challenge is that the communication skills including the foreign languages proficiency are so vital that sometimes it does indeed cause confusion and even misunderstanding.Second issue is the proper training and education qualification of the FDRE parliamentary standing committee.At the present time,the regular members of diplomatic corps of the parliament are ethnic representatives according to their political and gender backgrounds.So,the members who conduct diplomacy were selected from the ethnic groups,as a result,they are arguably affected by the lacks of the necessary qualifications and skills from communication,persuasion and even maneuverability.On the other hand,the findings from primary source,diplomatic parliament members suggested that although some of them have worked hard to improve their diplomatic communication skills,they are still short of qualified institutions to help them achieve that end.In addition to technical problems,diplomacy conducted by the parliament also includes the absence of protocol and etiquette.Classical diplomacy has been existed for centuries and they are practiced and protected by a series of international agreements and treaties regarding the codes of diplomacy,such as 1961 Vienna conventions on diplomatic relations.Yet,there are no internationally recognized or proposed codes of conduct on parliamentary diplomacy.As a result,such a situation exposes the practices for personalization activities.The parliament does not have a rule related to the protocol of parliamentary diplomacy,even though a growing call for need has been raised for many years by the ministry of foreign affairs of many countries.Due to this,this study aims to appeal to the academic circles around the world to further develop the study of public diplomacy with an eye keeping on the vital role played by the parliamentary diplomacy.The study‘s Structure is into five chapters.These are:The first chapter includes;the introduction part which comprises of the background(debate),research questions,study significance,theoretical framework,methodology,literature review,structure of the study and study limitation.The second chapter reviews the practice of the Ethiopian parliamentary diplomacy such as sending and receiving parliamentary delegates,being participant in regional,continental and international parliamentary unions and hosting various parliamentary conferences at home capital were among the major practices undertaken by FDRE parliament.Chapter three discusses the major achievements of FDRE parliamentary diplomacy such strengthen friendly relationship with different country parliamentarians,symbolic representation and image building,supplement government diplomacy in the area of fostering external friendships.Chapter four elaborates different challenges like that were found as factors that pushed back the process of undertaking parliamentary diplomacy of FDRE.The last chapter deals with conclusion,summary and recommendations forwarded on the basis of the findings acknowledged by the study.