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117-496: The constitution consists of 106 articles in 11 chapters. Articles I-VII contains general provisions on matters of nomenclature of state, territorial jurisdiction, and the Ethiopian flag; Articles VIII-XII describe sovereignty, the supremacy of the constitution, democratic rights, separation of state and religion, and accountability of the government. It provides for a federal government of nine ethnically based regions governed by

234-572: A central government established usually through coercion (on the model of the Roman Empire ). An empire often includes self-governing regions, but these will possess autonomy only at the sufferance of the central government. On the other hand, a political entity that is an empire in name, may comprise several partly autonomous kingdoms organised together in a federation, with the empire being ruled over by an emperor or senior king ( great king , high king , king of kings ...). One example of this

351-405: A federal government ( federalism ). In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision, neither by the component states nor the federal political body without constitutional amendment. Sovereign power is formally divided between

468-487: A parliament divided into the House of Peoples' Representatives and the House of Federation . It provides for a parliamentary system, with a mostly ceremonial president as head of state, and executive power vested in a Council of Ministers headed by a prime minister . The constitution expressly provides for a set of basic human rights ; Article 13 specifies that these rights and freedoms will be interpreted according to

585-492: A secret service that purportedly commits unlawful detentions and extrajudicial killings in Oromia Region with the aim of suppressing and uprising the mass. Abiy Ahmed was born in the small town of Beshasha , Ethiopia. His deceased father, Ahmed Ali, was a Muslim Oromo. Abiy's father was a typical Oromo farmer, speaking only Oromo . The ethnicity of Abiy's deceased mother, Tezeta Wolde, varies according to

702-505: A stronger central government than the US in the wake of the Civil War of the latter, use the term "Confederation" to refer to the formation or joining, not the structure, of Canada. Legal reforms, court rulings, and political compromises have decentralized Canada in practice since its formation in 1867. An empire is a multi-ethnic state, multinational state , or a group of nations with

819-450: A broad definition of a basic federalism , there are two or more levels of government that exist within an established territory and govern through common institutions with overlapping or shared powers as prescribed by a constitution. The federal government is the government at the level of the sovereign state. Usual responsibilities of this level of government are maintaining national security and exercising international diplomacy, including

936-433: A central authority and a number of constituent regions so that each region retains some degree of control over its internal affairs. Overriding powers of a central authority theoretically can include: the constitutional authority to suspend a constituent state's government by invoking gross mismanagement or civil unrest, or to adopt national legislation that overrides or infringes on the constituent states' powers by invoking

1053-470: A critical situation of inter-religious clashes between Muslims and Christians with a number of deaths. He brought calm and peace in a situation of communal tensions accompanying the clashes. In later years, following his election as an MP, he continued these efforts to bring about reconciliation between the religions through the creation of the Religious Forum for Peace. In 2006, Abiy was one of

1170-514: A different rhetoric, with an open and respectful discussion in the political space to allow political progress and to win people for democracy instead of pushing them. Until early 2018, Abiy continued to serve as head of the ODP secretariat and of the Oromia Housing and Urban Development Office and as Deputy President of Oromia Region. He left all these posts after his election as the leader of

1287-426: A federation is Malaysia , in which Sarawak and Sabah agreed to form the federation on different terms and conditions from the states of Peninsular Malaysia . A federation often emerges from an initial agreement between several separate states. The purpose can be the will to solve mutual problems and to provide for mutual defense or to create a nation-state for an ethnicity spread over several states. The former

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1404-475: A federation to be brought into being by agreement between a number of formally independent states, in a unitary state self-governing regions are often created through a process of devolution, where a formerly centralized state agrees to grant autonomy to a region that was previously entirely subordinate. Thus, federations are often established voluntarily from "below" whereas devolution grants self-government from "above". A confederation , in modern political terms,

1521-604: A large area of territory (such as Russia , the United States , Canada , India , Brazil , Pakistan or Australia ), but neither is necessarily the case (such as Saint Kitts and Nevis or the Federated States of Micronesia ). About 40% of world population live in a federation. Several ancient chiefdoms and kingdoms, such as the 4th-century-BCE League of Corinth , Noricum in Central Europe , and

1638-936: A meeting in Addis Ababa between the South Sudanese president Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar in an attempt to encourage peace talks. In December 2022, he attended the United States–Africa Leaders Summit 2022 in Washington, D.C., and met with US President Joe Biden . In February 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Abiy Ahmed in Paris. In April 2023, Abiy met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Addis Ababa. In early May 2023, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa to normalize relations between Germany and Ethiopia that had been strained by

1755-743: A member of the central committee of ODP and congress member of the executive committee of the EPRDF in quick succession. In the 2010 national election, Abiy represented the district of Agaro and became an elected member of the House of Peoples' Representatives , the lower chamber of the Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly . Before and during his time of parliamentary service, there were several religious clashes among Muslims and Christians in Jimma Zone . Some of these confrontations turned violent and resulted in

1872-593: A pattern the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (the former ruling government coalition) had followed despite constitutional limits on federal power. The first general election held after the adoption of the constitution was the 2000 election . There were three earlier written constitutions of Ethiopia , the preceding one being the 1987 Constitution . The 1995 constitution has been subjected to constitutional crisis with involvement of few cliques to run their own agenda. Some critics claim that

1989-822: A post which he left after only 12 months. From October 2016 on, Abiy served as Deputy President of Oromia Region as part of the team of Oromia Region's president Lemma Megersa while staying a member of the Ethiopian Federal House of Peoples' Representatives. Abiy Ahmed also became the head of the Oromia Urban Development and Planning Office. In this role, Abiy was expected to be the major driving force behind Oromia Economic Revolution, Oromia Land and Investment reform, youth employment as well as resistance to widespread land grabbing in Oromia region. As one of his duties in office, he took care of

2106-419: Is a fitness aficionado and professes that physical health goes hand in hand with mental health and, as such, he frequents physical and gym activities in Addis Ababa. Abiy is a Pentecostal Christian , born of a Muslim father and a Christian mother. He was raised in a family of religious plurality. Abiy and his family are regular church attendees, and he also occasionally ministers in preaching and teaching

2223-588: Is an important challenge. The inability to meet this challenge may lead to the secession of parts of a federation or to civil war, as occurred in the United States (southern states sought to protect the institution of slavery while northern states opposed it, with a catalysis occurring in the then– Kansas Territory ), in Nigeria and in Switzerland . In the case of Malaysia , Singapore was expelled from

2340-630: Is another nation-state that has switched between confederal, federal and unitary rules, since the German Confederation was founded in 1815. The North German Confederation , the succeeding German Empire and the Weimar Republic were federations. Founded in 1922, the Soviet Union was formally a federation of Soviet republics , autonomous republics and other federal subjects, though in practice highly centralized under

2457-651: Is divided into three traditional chiefdoms: Uvea , Sigave , and Alo . The chiefdoms are allowed to have their own legal system which have to be implemented along with French legal system . Under the terms of the Fomboni Accords, signed in December 2001 by the leaders of all three islands, the official name of the country was changed to the Union of the Comoros ; the new state was to be highly decentralised and

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2574-488: Is giving or taking away my Oromummaa ." Tezeta was a fluent speaker of both Amharic and Oromo . Abiy is the 13th child of his father and the sixth and youngest child of his mother, the fourth of his father's four wives. His childhood name was Abiyot (English: "Revolution"). The name was sometimes given to children in the aftermath of the Ethiopian Revolution in the mid-1970s. The then Abiyot went to

2691-425: Is more than a mere loose alliance of independent states. The component states of a federation usually possess no powers in relation to foreign policy and so enjoy no independent status under international law . However, German Länder have that power, which is beginning to be exercised on a European level. Some federations are called asymmetric because some states have more autonomy than others. An example of such

2808-407: Is sometimes one with only a single, centralized, national tier of government. However, unitary states often also include one or more self-governing regions. The difference between a federation and this kind of unitary state is that in a unitary state the autonomous status of self-governing regions exists by the sufferance of the central government, and may be unilaterally revoked. While it is common for

2925-542: Is suggested as one possible de facto federation as it grants more self-government to its autonomous communities than are retained by the constituent entities of most federations. For the Spanish parliament to revoke the autonomy of regions such as Galicia , Catalonia or the Basque Country would be a political near-impossibility, though nothing bars it legally. The Spanish parliament has, however, suspended

3042-454: Is therefore not a de jure federation, although some academic observers conclude that after 50 years of institutional evolution since the Treaties of Rome it is becoming one. The European Union possesses attributes of a federal state. However, its central government is far weaker than that of most federations and the individual members are sovereign states under international law, so it

3159-473: Is usually characterized as an unprecedented form of supra-national union. The EU has responsibility for important areas such as trade, monetary union, agriculture, and fisheries. Nonetheless, EU member states retain the right to act independently in matters of foreign policy and defense, and also enjoy a near-monopoly over other major policy areas such as criminal justice and taxation. Since the Treaty of Lisbon ,

3276-558: Is usually limited to a permanent union of sovereign states for common action in relation to other states. The closest entity in the world to a confederation at this time is the European Union . While the word confederation was officially used when the Canadian federal system was established in 1867, the term refers only to the process and not the resulting state since Canadian provinces are not sovereign and do not claim to be. In

3393-773: The Crown Dependencies of the Isle of Man and the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands and the United Kingdom is very similar to a federate relation: the Islands enjoy independence from the United Kingdom, which, via The Crown, takes care of their foreign relations and defense – although the UK Parliament does have overall power to legislate for the dependencies. However,

3510-553: The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front . Following three years of protest and unrest, on 15 February 2018 the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn , announced his resignation – which included his resignation from the post of EPRDF chairman. With the EPRDF's large majority in Parliament, its EPRDF chairman was all but assured of becoming the next Prime Minister. The EPRDF chairman, on

3627-775: The Gospel at the Ethiopian Full Gospel Believers' Church . His wife Zinash Tayachew is also a Christian who ministers in her church as a gospel singer . While serving in the Ethiopian National Defense Force, Abiy received his first degree, a Bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the Microlink Information Technology College in Addis Ababa in 2009. Abiy holds a Master of Arts in transformational leadership earned from

1995 Constitution of Ethiopia - Misplaced Pages Continue

3744-831: The Institute for Peace and Security Studies , Addis Ababa University . He did his PhD work on the Agaro constituency with the PhD thesis entitled "Social Capital and its Role in Traditional Conflict Resolution in Ethiopia: The Case of Inter-Religious Conflict In Jimma Zone State" , supervised by Amr Abdallah ). In 2022, Alex de Waal described Abiy's PhD thesis as constituting an anecdote on an event in which an individual friendship between people of opposite sides augmented social capital and inspired

3861-649: The Iroquois Confederacy in pre-Columbian North America , could be described as federations or confederations . The Old Swiss Confederacy was an early example of formal non-unitary statehood. Several colonies and dominions in the New World consisted of autonomous provinces, transformed into federal states upon independence such as the United States , and various countries in Latin America (see Spanish American wars of independence ). Some of

3978-780: The Lamu Port and Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) project. The potential normalization of Ethiopia-Eritrea relations likewise opens the possibility for Ethiopia to resume using the Ports of Massawa and Asseb , which, prior to the Ethio-Eritrean conflict, were its main ports, which would be of particular benefit to the northern region of Tigray . All these developments would reduce Ethiopian reliance on Djibouti's port which, since 1998, has handled almost all of Ethiopia's maritime traffic. Upon taking office, Abiy stated his willingness to negotiate an end to

4095-608: The Port Sudan . The Ethio-Djibouti agreement grants the Djiboutian government the option of taking stakes in state-owned Ethiopian firms in return, such as the Ethiopian Airlines and Ethio Telecom . This in turn was followed shortly thereafter by an announcement that Abiy and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta had reached an agreement for the construction of an Ethiopian logistics facility at Lamu Port as part of

4212-777: The Rwandan genocide , he was deployed as a member of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) in the country's capital, Kigali . In the Eritrean–Ethiopian War that occurred between 1998 and 2000, he led an intelligence team to discover positions of the Eritrean Defence Forces . Later on, Abiy was posted back to his home town of Beshasha, where he – as an officer of the Defense Forces – had to address

4329-600: The Somaliland region located in northern Somalia as part of a joint venture with DP World . In May 2018, Ethiopia signed an agreement with the government of Djibouti to take an equity stake in the Port of Djibouti , enabling Ethiopia to have a say in the port's development and the setting of port handling fees. Two days later a similar agreement was signed with the Sudanese government granting Ethiopia an ownership stake in

4446-1138: The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF)—a ruling party which dominated the ruling EPRDF coalition during a nearly thirty-year period marked by rapid development alongside increasing interethnic tension —as well as those loyal to significant allied groups such as the Oromo Liberation Army . Since 2019, Ethiopia has transformed into authoritarianism under Abiy's premiership, marked by severe human rights violations , media censorship , internet shutdown , civil conflicts and systematic persecution of thousands of ethnic Amharas , and southern Ethiopia region such as Amaro Koore , Konso and Gedeo Zones . Politically motivated purges also became common and many journalists and activists were arrested, by police for alleged breach of "constitutional laws". As of June 2022, 18 journalists were arrested in allegation of "inciting violence" while reporting for independent media outlets or YouTube channels. Abiy also believed to lead and organize Koree Nageenyaa ,

4563-647: The Tigray War . In July 2023, Abiy attended the 2023 Russia–Africa Summit in Saint Petersburg and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin . Since taking power Abiy has pursued a policy of expanding landlocked Ethiopia's access to ports in the Horn of Africa region. Shortly before his assumption of office it was announced that the Ethiopian government would take a 19% stake in Berbera Port in

4680-608: The Tigrinya language . As a speaker of Tigrinya in a security apparatus dominated by Tigrayans, he could move forward with his military career. After the fall of the Derg , he took formal military training from Assefa Brigade in West Wollega and was stationed there. Later on in 1993 he became a soldier in the now Ethiopian National Defense Force and worked mostly in the intelligence and communications departments. In 1995, after

4797-486: The United States Constitution having become effective on 4 March 1789, the United States is the oldest surviving federation, while the newest federation is Nepal , after its constitution went into effect on 20 September 2015. The component states are in some sense sovereign, insofar as certain powers are reserved to them that may not be exercised by the central government. However, a federation

1995 Constitution of Ethiopia - Misplaced Pages Continue

4914-574: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , and other international instruments adopted by Ethiopia. The document further guarantees that all Ethiopian languages will enjoy equal state recognition, although Amharic is specified as the working language of the federal government. Ethiopia has a tradition of highly personal and strongly centralized government,

5031-530: The border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea ". Abiy served as the third chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that governed Ethiopia for 28 years and the first person of Oromo descent to hold that position. Abiy is a member of the Ethiopian parliament , and was a member of the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), one of the then four coalition parties of

5148-594: The government of the Soviet Union . The Russian Federation has inherited a similar system. India , Pakistan , Nigeria and Malaysia (then Federation of Malaya ) became federations on or shortly before becoming independent from the British Empire . In some recent cases, federations have been instituted as a measure to handle ethnic conflict within a state, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina , and Iraq since 2005 as well as Somalia since 2012 . With

5265-559: The proclaimed Arab federations were confederations de facto . Abiy Ahmed Abiy Ahmed Ali ( Oromo : Abiyi Ahmed Alii ; Amharic : ዐብይ አሕመድ ዐሊ ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018 and the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve

5382-612: The working language of the Federal Government”. Some want this to be changed and say “Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia." Article 49: "the special interest of the State of Oromia in Addis Ababa ." Federation List of forms of government A federation (also called a federal state ) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under

5499-563: The "F" word in the EU context should feel free to refer to it as a quasi-federal or federal-like system. Nevertheless, for the purposes of the analysis here, the EU has the necessary attributes of a federal system. It is striking that while many scholars of the EU continue to resist analyzing it as a federation, most contemporary students of federalism view the EU as a federal system. ( See, for instance, Bednar, Filippov et al., McKay, Kelemen, Defigueido and Weingast ) A more nuanced view has been given by

5616-476: The "federal nature of Spain's government (a trend that almost no one denies)." Each autonomous community is governed by a Statute of Autonomy ( Estatuto de Autonomía ) under the Spanish Constitution of 1978 . Although South Africa bears some elements of a federal system, such as the allocation of certain powers to provinces, some nevertheless argue that it is functionally a unitary state. On

5733-677: The 1970s. Moreover, although nominally called a federal state, the country's structure already has a number of confederational traits . At present, there is a growing movement to transform the existing federal state into a looser confederation with two or three constitutive states and/or two special regions. A confederation is most likely to feature three differences when contrasted with a federation: (1) No real direct powers: many confederal decisions are externalized by member-state legislation; (2) Decisions on day-to-day-matters are not taken by simple majority but by special majorities or even by consensus or unanimity (veto for every member); (3) Changes of

5850-567: The Addis Ababa Master Plan at the heart of the land-grabbing plans was stopped in 2016, the disputes continued for some time resulting in injuries and deaths. It was this fight against land-grabbing, that finally boosted Abiy Ahmed's political career, brought him into the spotlight and allowed him to climb the political ladder. In October 2015, Abiy became the Ethiopian Minister of Science and Technology (MoST) ,

5967-549: The Deputy Prime Minister and ADP leader, Shiferaw Shigute as Chairman of SEPDM and Debretsion Gebremichael as the Leader of TPLF. Despite being the overwhelming favorite by the majority of Ethiopians, Abiy Ahmed faced major opposition from TPLF and SEPDM members during the leadership discussions. On 27 March 2018, a few hours before the beginning of the leadership elections, Demeke Mekonnen, who had been seen as

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6084-446: The EPRDF, until its rule ceased in 2019 and he formed his own party, the Prosperity Party . In June 2020, Abiy and the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) postponed parliamentary elections because of the COVID-19 pandemic . The postponement was criticised, especially from the opposition, and raised questions about the delay's constitutional legitimacy. An election was eventually held in 2021. The African Union described

6201-404: The Ethio-Eritrean conflict. In June 2018, it was announced that the government had agreed to hand over the disputed border town of Badme to Eritrea, thereby complying with the terms of the 2000 Algiers Agreement to bring an end to the state of tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia that had persisted despite the end of hostilities during the Ethiopia-Eritrea War . Ethiopia had until then rejected

6318-478: The German Constitutional Court. Here the EU is defined as 'an association of sovereign national states ( Staatenverbund )'. With this view, the European Union resembles more of a confederation . Constitutionally, the power vested in the special administrative regions of the People's Republic is granted from the Central People's Government , through a decision by the National People's Congress . However, there have been certain largely informal grants of power to

6435-579: The Member States' right to leave the Union is codified, and the Union operates with more qualified majority voting (rather than unanimity) in many areas. By the signature of this Treaty, the participating Parties give proof of their determination to create the first supranational institution and that thus they are laying the true foundation of an organized Europe. This Europe remains open to all nations. We profoundly hope that other nations will join us in our common endeavor. Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism. Those uncomfortable using

6552-431: The NGOs Human Rights Watch , Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International , Abiy's government has since mid 2019 been arresting Ethiopian journalists and closing media outlets (except for ESAT-TV). From the international media outlets, his government has suspended the press license of Reuters 's correspondent, and issued a warning letter to the correspondents of both BBC and Deutsche Welle for what

6669-461: The New World federations failed; the Federal Republic of Central America broke up into independent states less than 20 years after its founding. Others, such as Argentina , have shifted between federal, confederal , and unitary systems, before settling into federalism. Brazil became a federation only after the fall of the monarchy , and Venezuela became a federation after the Federal War . Australia and Canada are also federations. Germany

6786-427: The Oromo community, as well as other Ethiopian communities. This came after several years of unrest in Ethiopia. But despite this favourable rating for Abiy Ahmed and Lemma Megersa, young people from the Oromia region called for immediate action without delays to bring fundamental change and freedom to Oromia Region and Ethiopia – otherwise more unrest was to be expected. According to Abiy himself, people are asking for

6903-554: The Oromo dissident and public intellectual Jawar Mohammed , as well as their respectively affiliated US-based ESAT and OMN satellite television networks. Shortly thereafter, Abiy took the "unprecedented and previously unimaginable" step of meeting Andargachew, who twenty-four hours previously had been on death row, at his office; a move even critics of the ruling party termed "bold and remarkable". Abiy had previously met former Oromo Liberation Front leaders including founder Lencho Letta , who had committed to peaceful participation in

7020-849: The TPLF executive committee denounced the decisions to hand over Badme and privatize SOEs as "fundamentally flawed", saying that the ruling coalition suffered from a fundamental leadership deficit. In 2018, to expand the free press in Ethiopia , Abiy invited exiled media outlets to return. One of the media outlets invited to return was ESAT (which had called for the genocide of Ethiopian Tigrayans ). However, since assuming office in April 2018, Abiy himself had, as of March 2019, only given one press conference, on 25 August 2018 and around five months after he assumed office, where he answered questions from journalists. As of 21 March  2019, he has not given another press conference where he has not refused to answer questions from journalists (rather than reading prepared statements). According to

7137-531: The Tenth Amendment contained in the Bill of Rights and the Eleventh Amendment. However, later amendments, particularly the Fourteenth Amendment, gave the federal government considerable authority over states. Federal government within this structure are the government ministries and departments and agencies to which the ministers of government are assigned. There are 26 federations in the world, with 6 each in Asia and Europe , 5 in Africa , 4 in North America , 3 in South America and 2 in Oceania . Some of

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7254-445: The United Kingdom, because, in a devolved state, the central government can revoke the independence of the subunits (the Scottish Parliament , the Welsh Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly in the case of the United Kingdom) without changing the constitution. In some cases, such as the autonomous communities of Spain , devolution has led to federation in all but name, or "federation without federalism". The relation between

7371-436: The additional pardon of 304 prisoners (289 of which had been sentenced on terrorism-related charges) on 15 June. The pace of reforms has revealed fissures within the ruling coalition, with hardliners in the military and the hitherto dominant TPLF said to be "seething" at the end of the state of emergency and the release of political prisoners. An editorial on the previously pro-government website Tigrai Online arguing for

7488-510: The argument; for example Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed conflated the term "boundary" and "border". Article 40(3): "land is a common property of the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia and shall not be subject to sale or to other means of exchange". Article 45: "the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia shall have a parliamentarian form of government”. Some want presidential form of government." Article 5: "all Ethiopian languages shall enjoy equal state recognition. 2. Amharic shall be

7605-428: The autonomy of Catalonia in response to the Catalan declaration of independence , in the lead-up to the 2017 Catalan election . Additionally, some autonomies such as Navarre or the Basque Country have full control over taxation and spending, transferring a payment to the central government for the common services (military, foreign relations, macroeconomic policy). For example, scholar Enrique Guillén López discusses

7722-415: The autonomy of a self-governing region, it may be politically difficult for it to do so in practice. The self-governing regions of some unitary states also often enjoy greater autonomy than those of some federations. For these reasons, it is sometimes argued that some modern unitary states are de facto federations. De facto federations, or quasi-federations, are often termed " regional states ". Spain

7839-463: The business school at Greenwich University , London, in collaboration with the International Leadership Institute , Addis Ababa, in 2011. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from the Leadstar College of Management and Leadership in Addis Ababa in partnership with Ashland University in 2013. Abiy, who had started his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) work as a regular student, submitted his PhD thesis in 2016, and defended it in 2017 at

7956-409: The case of Switzerland , while the country is still known officially as the Swiss Confederation, this is now a misnomer since the Swiss cantons lost their sovereign status in 1848. In Belgium, however, the opposite movement is underway. Belgium was founded as a centralized state, after the French model, but has gradually been reformed into a federal state by consecutive constitutional reforms since

8073-453: The central government's constitutional authority to ensure "peace and good government" or to implement obligations contracted under an international treaty. The governmental or constitutional structure found in a federation is considered to be federalist , or to be an example of federalism . It can be considered in comparison with the unitary state . France and Japan , for example, have been unitary for many centuries. The Austrian Empire

8190-417: The central union government would devolve most powers to the new island governments, each led by a president. Certain forms of political and constitutional dispute are common to federations. One issue is that the exact division of power and responsibility between federal and regional governments is often a source of controversy. Often, as is the case with the United States , such conflicts are resolved through

8307-449: The co-founders of the Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency (INSA), where he worked in different positions. For two years, he was acting director of INSA due to the director's leave of absence . In this capacity, he was board member of several government agencies working on information and communications, like Ethio telecom and Ethiopian Television . He attained the rank of Lieutenant colonel before deciding in 2010 to leave

8424-595: The constitution lists the members states of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and enshrines the right of Nations, Nationalities and Peoples to establish their own States. Opponents objected about the Article come from Article 39, which stated that States should be divided into geographical lines (river, lakes etc) or economic class (pastoralists, farmers etc) rather than ethnolinguistic implications. Some Ethiopian government officials confused

8541-589: The constitution was drafted by the TPLF / EPRDF coalition in closed door and enacted overnight. The Constitutional Commission of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) had worked with Regional Affairs Coordination Department for two years (1993 and 1994). The constitution organized public discussion from the grassroot kebele level to national level, involving many experts for advice while drafting. It also organized symposiums and forums of which

8658-484: The constitution, usually a treaty, require unanimity. Over time these terms acquired distinct connotations leading to the present difference in definition. An example of this is the United States under the Articles of Confederation . The Articles established a national government under what today would be defined as a federal system (albeit with a comparatively weaker federal government). However, Canadians, designed with

8775-437: The degree of government control over the economy, the move was seen as a pragmatic measure aimed at improving the country's dwindling foreign-exchange reserves , which by the end of the 2017 fiscal year were equal in value to less than two months worth of imports, as well as easing its growing sovereign debt load. In June 2018, Abiy announced the government's intention to establish an Ethiopian stock exchange in tandem with

8892-637: The director-general of a new and in 2011 founded Government Research Institute called Science and Technology Information Center (STIC) . The following year, Abiy became an executive member of ODP. The same year he was elected to the House of Peoples' Representatives for a second term, this time for his home woreda of Gomma . Starting from 2015, Abiy became one of the central figures in the violent fight against illegal land grabbing activities in Oromia Region and especially around Addis Ababa . Although

9009-616: The election as an improvement compared to the 2015 election and positive overall, urging the government to continue the commitment to democracy. During 2020, ethnic and political tensions grew, and in early November, the attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Northern Command, was the start of the Tigray War between the combined forces of the ENDF and the Eritrean army against forces loyal to

9126-461: The entire jurisdiction is relatively homogeneous, and each constituent state resembles a miniature version of the whole; this is known as 'congruent federalism'. On the other hand, incongruent federalism exists where different states or regions possess distinct ethnic groups. The ability of a federal government to create national institutions that can mediate differences that arise because of linguistic, ethnic, religious, or other regional differences

9243-542: The federal and the unitary state during its history. Some present-day states of the Brazilian federation retain borders set during the Portuguese colonization (before the very existence of the Brazilian state), whereas the latest state, Tocantins , was created by the 1988 Constitution for chiefly administrative reasons. Seven of the top eight largest countries by area are governed as federations. A unitary state

9360-802: The federation because of rising racial tension. In some cases, internal conflict may lead a federation to collapse entirely, as occurred the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland , the Gran Colombia , the United Provinces of Central America , and the West Indies Federation . The federal government is the common government of a national or supranational federation. A federal government may have distinct powers at various levels authorized or delegated to it by its member states. The structure of federal governments varies. Based on

9477-418: The flag and subsequent laws by rejecting it. The Ethiopian government also failed to enforce its own constitutional laws in this regard. Article 3(3) authorized over the members of Federation to use their respective flags and emblems, which was opposed by pro-unitary groups. Few individuals opened debates through media about the flag and emblems of Ethiopia and gave guidance for the government. Article 47 of

9594-528: The front-runners to become the Leader of the ruling coalition and eventually Prime Minister of Ethiopia . Despite being the clear favorite for the general public, Lemma Megersa was not a member of the national parliament, a requirement to become Prime Minister as required by the Ethiopian constitution. Therefore, Lemma Megersa was excluded from the leadership race. On 22 February 2018, Lemma Megersa's party, ODP, called for an emergency executive committee meeting and replaced him as Chairman of ODP with Abiy Ahmed, who

9711-550: The government described as "violation of the rules of media broadcasting". In June 2018, the ruling coalition announced its intention to pursue the large-scale privatisation of state-owned enterprises and the liberalization of several key economic sectors long considered off-limits, marking a landmark shift in the country's state-oriented development model. State monopolies in the telecommunications, aviation, electricity, and logistics sectors are to be ended and those industries opened up to private sector competition. Shares in

9828-727: The initiator of the European Community system, wrote that a transnational Community like the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community lay midway between an association of States where they retained complete independence and a federation leading to a fusion of States in a super-state . The Founding Fathers of the European Union wrote the Europe Declaration (Charter of the Community) at

9945-482: The international boundary commission's ruling awarding Badme to Eritrea, resulting in a frozen conflict (popularly termed a policy of "no war, but no peace") between the two states. During the national celebration on 20 June 2018, the president of Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki , accepted the peace initiative put forward by Abiy and suggested that he would send a delegation to Addis Ababa. On 26 June 2018, Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh Mohammed visited Addis Ababa in

10062-793: The islands are neither an incorporated part of the United Kingdom nor are they considered to be independent or associated states. The islands do not have a monarch, per se ; rather in the Isle of Man the British Monarch is, ex officio , Lord of Mann , and in the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, the British Monarch rules as the Duke of Normandy . Dependent territories , such as the British overseas territories , are vested with varying degrees of power; some enjoy considerable independence from

10179-403: The judicial system, which delimits the powers of federal and local governments. The relationship between federal and local courts varies from nation to nation and can be a controversial and complex issue in itself. Another common issue in federal systems is the conflict between regional and national interests, or between the interests and aspirations of different ethnic groups. In some federations

10296-557: The local primary school and later continued his studies at secondary schools in Agaro town. Abiy, according to several personal reports, was always very interested in his own education and later in his life also encouraged others to learn and to improve. Abiy married Zinash Tayachew, an Amhara woman from Gondar , while both were serving in the Ethiopian National Defense Force . They are the parents of three daughters and one adopted son. Abiy speaks Oromo, Amharic, Tigrinya and English. He

10413-456: The loss of life and property. Abiy, as an elected member of parliament took a proactive role in working with several religious institutions and elders to bring about reconciliation in the zone. He helped set up a forum entitled "Religious Forum for Peace" , an outcome of the need to devise a sustainable resolution mechanism to restore peaceful Muslim-Christian community interaction in the region. In 2014, during his time in parliament, Abiy became

10530-431: The main draft provisions were discussed and debated Ethiopians. One of interesting feature of the discussion was the discussion conducted by article by article. After the discussion, participants voted for or against to each provision of the constitution, compiled the results at kebele , district , zone , region or national level. It deals with the rights of the nations, nationalities, and peoples of Ethiopia, including

10647-450: The maintenance of the state of emergency gave voice to this sentiment, saying that Abiy was "doing too much too fast". Another article critical of the release of political prisoners suggested that Ethiopia's criminal justice system had become a revolving door and that Abiy's administration had quite inexplicably been rushing to pardon and release thousands of prisoners, among them many deadly criminals and dangerous arsonists. On 13 June 2018,

10764-466: The major opponent to Abiy Ahmed, dropped out of the race. Many observers saw this as an endorsement of Abiy Ahmed. Demeke was then approved as deputy prime minister for another term. Following Demeke's exit, Abiy Ahmed received a presumably unanimous vote from both the ADP and ODP executive members, with 18 additional votes in a secret ballot coming from elsewhere. By midnight, Abiy Ahmed was declared chairman of

10881-473: The military and his post as deputy director of INSA (Information Network Security Agency) to become a politician. Abiy started his political career as a member of the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP). The ODP has been the ruling party in Oromia Region since 1991 and also one of four coalition parties of the ruling coalition in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). He became

10998-617: The necessary legislation, ending the state of emergency. In his first briefing to the House of Peoples' Representatives in June 2018, Abiy countered criticism of his government's release of convicted "terrorists" which according to the opposition is just a name the EPRDF gives you if you are a part or even meet the "opposition". He argued that policies that sanctioned arbitrary detention and torture themselves constituted extra-constitutional acts of terror aimed at suppressing opposition. This followed

11115-600: The one million displaced Oromo people displaced from the Somali Region from the 2017 unrest. As head of the ODP Secretariat from October 2017, Abiy facilitated the formation of a new alliance between the Oromo and Amhara groups, which together constitute two-thirds of the Ethiopian population. In early 2018, many political observers considered Abiy and Lemma Megersa as the most popular politicians within

11232-465: The opposition groups inside and outside Ethiopia. Following his speech, his popularity and support across the country reached a historical high and some political observers argued that Abiy was overwhelmingly more popular than the ruling party coalition, the EPRDF. Since taking office in April 2018, Abiy's government has presided over the release of thousands of political prisoners from Ethiopian jails and

11349-447: The other hand, if federation is defined as the constitutional entrenchment of the powers of subcentral units (provinces, etc.) that is not unilaterally changeable or revocable by the central authority, South Africa does qualify, formally, as a federal state. The European Union (EU) is a sui generis political union or confederation (the assemblage of societies or an association of two or more states into one state). Robert Schuman ,

11466-472: The other hand, is one of the heads of the four parties that make up the ruling coalition: Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM) and Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Hailemariam's resignation triggered the first ever contested leadership election among EPRDF coalition members to replace him. A lot of political observers made Lemma Megersa (the ODP chairman) and Abiy Ahmed

11583-461: The political process, upon their arrival at Bole International Airport . On 30 May 2018, it was announced the ruling party would amend the country's "draconian" anti-terrorism law, widely perceived as a tool of political repression. On 1 June 2018, Abiy announced the government would seek to end the state of emergency two months in advance of the expiration its six-month tenure, citing an improved domestic situation. On 4 June 2018, Parliament approved

11700-527: The presence of plagiarism on every page of Chapter 2 of the thesis. Abiy published a related short research article on de-escalation strategies in the Horn of Africa in a special journal issue dedicated to countering violent extremism . At the age of 14, in early 1991, he joined the armed struggle against the Marxist–Leninist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam after the death of his oldest brother. He

11817-629: The privatization of state-owned enterprises. As of 2015, Ethiopia was the largest country in the world, in terms of both population and gross domestic product, without a stock exchange. In May 2018, Abiy visited Saudi Arabia, receiving guarantees for the release of Ethiopian prisoners including billionaire entrepreneur Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi , who was detained following the 2017 Saudi Arabian purge . In June 2018, he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo and, separately, brokered

11934-571: The provinces, to handle economic affairs and implement national policies, resulting in a system some have termed federalism " with Chinese characteristics ". Constitutionally a unitary state , the political system in Myanmar bears many elements of federalism. Each administrative division has its own cabinets and chief ministers, making it more like a federation rather than a unitary state. The French overseas collectivity Wallis and Futuna maintains some quasi-federation attributes. The territory

12051-562: The provision that "Every Nation, Nationality and People in Ethiopia has an unconditional right to self-determination, including the right to secession". Article 3(1) says "The Ethiopian flag shall consist of green at the top, yellow in the middle and red at the bottom, and shall have a national emblem at the center". Accordingly, the Flag and Emblem Proclamation No. 16/1996, Proclamation No. 48/1996 (Amendment) and Flag Proclamation No. 654/2009 enacted. Opponent of Article 3 defined different logo of

12168-460: The rapid opening of the country's political landscape. In May 2018 alone the Oromo region pardoned over 7,600 prisoners. On 29 May Ginbot 7 leader Andargachew Tsege , facing the death penalty on terrorism charges, was released after being pardoned by President Mulatu Teshome , along with 575 other detainees. That same day, charges were dropped against Andargachew's colleague Berhanu Nega and

12285-430: The resolution of a local violent conflict in Jimma Zone . De Waal saw the thesis as "perhaps enough for an undergraduate paper", but not deep enough to cover social capital, background literature on armed conflict and resolution , or literature on "identity, nationalism and conflict". In 2023, de Waal and colleagues recommended that Addis Ababa University re-examine Abiy's PhD thesis for plagiarism, based on their claim of

12402-491: The right to sign binding treaties. Basically, a modern federal government, within the limits defined by its constitution, has the power to make laws for the whole country, unlike local governments. As originally written, the United States Constitution was created to limit the federal government from exerting power over the states by enumerating only specific powers. It was further limited by the addition of

12519-589: The ruling coalition in Ethiopia, the EPRDF, and was considered as the Prime Minister Designate of Ethiopia by receiving 108 votes while Shiferaw Shigute received 58 and Debretsion Gebremichael received 2 votes. On 2 April 2018, Abiy Ahmed was elected as Prime Minister of Ethiopia by the House of Representatives and sworn in. On 2 April 2018, Abiy was confirmed and sworn in by the Ethiopian parliament as Prime Minister of Ethiopia . During his acceptance speech, he promised political reform; to promote

12636-461: The sources. The New York Times , in a 2018 interview with Abiy, stated that his mother "was Amhara and Orthodox Christian" and "converted to Islam when she married" and The Guardian in 2019 described Tezeta as Amhara. The Ethiopian Reporter stated in 2019 that Tezeta was "a converted Christian". In a 2021 Oromia Broadcasting Network interview redistributed on YouTube , Abiy stated that his parents were both Oromo, and asserted that "no one

12753-410: The sovereign state, which only takes care of their foreign relations and defense. However, they are neither considered to be part of it nor recognized as sovereign or associated states. The distinction between a federation and a unitary state is often quite ambiguous. A unitary state may closely resemble a federation in structure and, while a central government may possess the theoretical right to revoke

12870-581: The state-owned firms in those sectors, including Ethiopian Airlines , Africa's largest and most profitable, are to be offered for purchase to both domestic and foreign investors, although the government will continue to hold a majority share in these firms, thereby retaining control of the commanding heights of the economy . State-owned enterprises in sectors deemed less critical, including railway operators, sugar, industrial parks, hotels and various manufacturing firms, may be fully privatised. Aside from representing an ideological shift with respect to views on

12987-607: The time of the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 18 April 1951 saying that Europe should be organized on a transnational foundation. They envisaged a structure quite different from a federation called the European Political Community . The EU is a three-pillar structure of the original supranational European Economic Community and the nuclear energy cooperation and non-proliferation treaty, Euratom , plus two largely intergovernmental pillars dealing with External Affairs and Justice and Home Affairs. The EU

13104-457: The unity of Ethiopia and unity among the peoples of Ethiopia; to reach out to the Eritrean government to resolve the ongoing Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict after the Eritrean–Ethiopian War and to also reach out to the political opposition inside and outside of Ethiopia. His acceptance speech sparked optimism and received an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the Ethiopian public including

13221-471: Was a child soldier, affiliated to the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), which at that time was a tiny organization of only around 200 fighters part of the large coalition army of the EPRDF which had over 100,000 fighters that resulted in the regime's fall later that year. As there were only so few OPDO fighters in an army with its core of about 90,000 Tigrayans , Abiy quickly had to learn

13338-427: Was a member of parliament. Some observers saw that as a strategic move by the ODP to retain its leadership role within the coalition and to promote Abiy Ahmed to become prime minister. On 1 March 2018, the 180 EPRDF executive committee members started their meeting to elect the leader of the party. Each of the four parties sent in 45 members. The contest for the leadership was among Abiy Ahmed of ODP, Demeke Mekonnen ,

13455-574: Was a unitary state with crown lands , after the transformation into the Austria-Hungary monarchy the remaining crown lands of so-called Cisleithania became federated as Länder of the Republic of Austria through the implementation of its constitution . Germany , with its 16 states, or Länder , and Nigeria , with its 36 states and federal capital territory , are examples of federations. Federations are often multi-ethnic and cover

13572-499: Was the German Empire (1871–1918). A federacy is a unitary state that incorporates one or more self-governing autonomous areas . It is distinguished from a federation in that the constitutional structure of the state is still unitary, but incorporates federalist principles. Some federacies, notably Åland , were established through international treaty . A federation differs from a devolved state , such as Indonesia and

13689-510: Was the case with the United States and Switzerland. However, as the histories of countries and nations vary, the federalist system of a state can be quite different from these models. Australia, for instance, is unique in that it came into existence as a nation by the democratic vote of the citizens of each state, who voted "yes" in referendums to adopt the Australian Constitution . Brazil, on the other hand, has experienced both

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