A critical assessment of institutions, roles and leverage in public policymaking : Ethiopia, 1974-2004

[摘要] This dissertation critically assesses and analyzes the institutional and political settings ofpublic policymaking in Ethiopia in a space of three decades, from circa 1974. Based on dataand/or information generated through a range of sources and instruments, it attempts touncover the prominent actors in public policymaking in Ethiopia far beyond the officialassertions that have formally been claimed in the statutory provisions. It appraises theinstitutions, their roles and leverage in the policymaking process, and the extent to which theprofound institutional and political changes that have transpired over the past thirty yearsimpacted on public policymaking, and with what effect. It examines the emergence andascendance of a couple of closely linked institutions, namely the ruling party and the topechelon of the executive leadership, and the disproportionate influence they have ongovernment, non-government institutions and overall public policymaking.The supremacy of the executive and its claims on policymaking had been pervasiveduring Haileselassie's years, with absolute executive powers vested in the monarchy and theperson of the emperor. The combined forces of party and executive leadership and theiroverwhelming dominance in public policymaking are relatively new conventions, phenomenaand constructs which featured prominently in the aftermath of 1974. Ideology (Marxism-Leninism and revolutionary democracy) has since been a critical element guiding and as wellas justifying policy elites' claims on the choice of public policies and the institutional andstructural mechanisms of implementing them. Wedged between staggering financial,managerial and organizational capacity, on the one hand, and an inhospitable politicoadministrativeand legal milieu on the other, the civil society, a network of civil societyinstitutions and the public over three decades appeared to have remained at the peripheral endin the continuum of public policymaking.The most formidable challenges that the Ethiopian public policymaking process has overthe past thirty years experienced can therefore be thematically crystallized into three issues.Firstly, the emergence and consolidation of party and executive leadership (policy elites) hasbeen the dominant phenomena over the last thirty years, with the ruling party institutionsinvariably overlapping with the formally constituted policymaking government structures.Secondly, not only ideology played a critical role in the choice of public policies andinstitutional instruments for implementing them, but also provided policy elites with thelatitude to justify their claims on policy actions, although ideological values served topreclude the non-state players from making legitimate claims on policymaking. Lastly, the expansion of the powers of the party and the executive seemed to have taken place without acorresponding development of extra-bureaucratic institutions (i.e. elections and functioninglegislatures) and civil societal associations, and which in turn boils down to the exclusion ofthe bulk of the Ethiopian public from playing its legitimate role in the policymaking process.The public policymaking process in Ethiopia has, therefore, witnessed imbalances at twolevels: first, between the executive and the legislature, and second, between policy elites (theparty-fused-with-executive structures/institutions), on the one hand, and ordinary citizens andcivil society organizations (CSOs) representing various interests, on the other. At both levelsthe party and the executive exact enormous power leverage. On the other hand, the ordinarycitizens are highly disorganized, and tied up with attending to daily survival needs. Hence,they have little time to become fully and actively involved in holding government institutionsaccountable and responsive, articulating policy demands to policymaking institutions aside.The legislatures appear to have become a façade of legitimacy for party and executivedecisions and are detached from the society. `Finally, the dissertation puts forward proposals for more opportunities to giveEthiopian citizens of all walks of life a chance to influence policies and implementationoutcomes. It suggests a range of options for greater and genuine public participation in thepolicymaking process, which would result in as much representative policy-making asenhancing the quality of services provided by policies and actual control of decisions bycitizens. It also indicates Ethiopian academics' charge in the new endeavor to launchindependent think-tank and policy study institutions to foster professionalizing policymakingin Ethiopia.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University