The Eprdf In The Polotical Development Of Ethiopia: Origin,Development And Evolution

Ethiopia’s centuries-old monarchy did not have a culture of party politics until1991,when it officially introduced the multi-party system after the fall of militery military government—the Derg,and the subsequent establishment of a federal state.During the civil war,nationalist movements developed vigorously in various regions,and the ethnic armed forces led by national liberation front in different regions gradually united,and established a national political alliance after the regime change.The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front(EPRDF)has been Ethiopia’s ruling party for nearly three decades.Based on the existing literature,this paper traced the origin,development and evolution of the EPRDF in contemporary Ethiopian political development of Ethiopia,and explores at the ethnic problem in Ethiopia from the rise and fall of the EPRDF.This paper is divided into four parts.The first part discusses the development and integration of regional armed forces and ethnic political organizations in the embryonic period of Ethiopia’s party politics.During the reign of Haile Selassie I and the Derg,the rulers were faced with threats from ethnic organizations and ethnic movements in various parts of the country.With its strong military strength and hierarchical organizational discipline,the Tigray People’s Liberation Front(TPLF)stood out from a number of armed groups in the civil war,and led other nationalist ethnic organizations toward armed alliances and overthrow the Derg regime.It created a national coalition of political parties after the war and established its leading position in contemporary Ethiopian politics.The second part discusses the development of EPRDF “strongman politics” of under the leadership of Meles Zenawi.In the first ten years of the EPRDF’s rule,the TPLF led by Meles firmly controlled the bureaucracy from the central to the local level.The Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict triggered a split in the EPRDF’s leadership and the struggle for power among the political elites,which made the EPRDF’s internal experience “reshuffled”.Later,the EPRDF again tightened its control over the media and oppossition in response to the exetremely threatening results of the2005 national elections.The third part discusses the division of the ruling party coalition under Hailemariam Desalegn’s leadership.The city plan unveiled by the central government in 2014 sparked a nationwide wave of protests and ethnic nationalism that nearly plunged the government into its worst crisis since the founding of the nation,eventually leading to democratic reforms by the ruling party and the government.At the same time,escalating internal rivalries between the four parties in the ruling coalition broke into the open,and the TPLF’s leadership began to falter,opening the door for a new leadership.The fourth part discusses the disintegration of EPRDF and the struggle of TPLF since Abiy Ahmed Ali came to power.Abiy has carried out a series of ambitious political and economic reforms that have won him widespread support at home and abroad.The distribution of power within the ruling coalition has shifted from the long-dominant TPLF to the long-marginalised OPDO.Long-simmering anti-Tigray sentiment has led to violent clashes and heightened tensions across the country,with frequent communal violence threatening to tear apart Ethiopia’s multiethnic society.