Ethiopian Journal of Business and Social Sciences

The Implications of Ethiopian Exceptionalism to International Relations Theory: The Need for Alternative Perspectives

Yihenew Wubu Endalew — 2025-08-26

Lack of inclusiveness and bias against Africa and non-Western states in general has been a concern in international relations theory. Ethiopia is an exceptional state even by the African benchmarks, given its non-colonial history and salient features in its domestic setting and foreign affairs. Beyond mainstream theories, these exceptions pose a challenge for alternative theories that were developed to explain statehood and foreign policy differently from Western experience. However, the available literature on Ethiopian foreign policy is silent about the ramifications of Ethiopian saliency to international relations theory. Considering this shortfall, the main objective of this study is to explore the implications of Ethiopian exceptionalism for international relations theory. To achieve this objective, the study adopted a qualitative exploratory case study design in which secondary data is organized thematically for content and discourse analysis. Among other things, the study identified the non-colonial origin of the Ethiopian state, sharply contested state identity, the disparity between domestic capacity and foreign influence, and ideological and locational crossroads as main expressions of Ethiopian exceptionalism. The study concludes that Ethiopian exceptionalism, both in its historical origin and contemporary domestic and foreign affairs, requires domestically driven alternative interpretations that are founded on the salient features that are different from African and post-colonial states in other regions.

Impact of Small-Scale Irrigation on Rural Households' Food Security in Arba Minch Zuria Woreda, Southern Ethiopia

Asfaw Abadi Kidanu — 2025-09-05

Abstract

This study examined the impact of small-scale irrigation on food security in rural households in Arba Minch Zuria Woreda, southern Ethiopia. Primary data were collected from 379 sample households using the relevant probability sampling techniques. The Foster Greer Thorbecke index showed that 51.45% of the households were food insecure, 15.2% were food insecure, and 6.57% faced severe insecurity. A binary logit model illustrates that education, adult equivalence, and livestock holdings had significant positive effects, whereas age and dependency ratio had significant negative effects on irrigation participation. The endogenous switching regression model results revealed that the significant positive impact of irrigation increased users’ total daily calorie intake per adult equivalent by 2160.063 (121.95%) compared with that of non-users. Therefore, providing educational services, field training, and experience-sharing opportunities are essential for improving and sustaining its benefits.

Keywords: Foster Greer Thorbecke Index; Endogenous Switching Regression Model; Small-Scale Irrigation; Food Security; Ethiopia

የጋሞ ዱቡሻ ዎጋ ሚና ግጭትን ከመከላከልና ዘላቂ ሰላም ከማፅናት አንጻር

ሰዒድ አህመድ — 2025-10-02

ሃገራችን ኢትዮጵያ የበርካታ ብዝሃ-ባህልና ብዝሃ-ልሳን ባለቤት ብቻ ሳትሆን የበርካታ ሀገርበቀል ዕሴቶች ባለቤትም ነች፡፡ እነዚህ ተቋማት ከጥንት ጀምሮ የህዝቦችን አንድነትንና ዘላቂ ሰላምን በማስፈን አይነተኛ ሚና እየተጫወቱ አሁን ድረስ ዘልቀዋል፡፡ ከነዚህ መሃከል የጋሞ ዱቡሻ አንዱ ሲሆን ይህ ጥናት የሚያተኩረው የጋሞ ዱቡሻ ዎጋ እንደ አገር በቀል ባህላዊ ተቋም ለዘላቂ ሰላም ግንባታ ያለው ፋይዳ ይመረምራል፡፡ ዱቡሻ የጋሞ ማህበረሰብ ቀዳማይ(ባይራ) የእምነትና የባህል ተቋም ሲሆን ጥልቅ ፍልስፍናና ንጽረተ ዓለም የሚታይበት ዘርፈ ብዙ ፋይዳዎች ያሉት ሲሆን በብዛት የሚታወቀው ዘላቂ ሰላምን ከራሱ አልፎ ለሌሎች እንደጥሩ ምሳሌ ተደርጎ የሚወሰድ በመሆኑ ነው፡፡ በዚህ ጥናት ጥራት ተኮር የጥናት ዘዴ የተጠቀመን ሲሆን ከሁሉ የጋሞ ደሬዎች መረጃ የተሰበሰበው በቁልፍ ቃለ መጠየቅ፣ በአትኩሮት የቡድን ወይይትና ምልከታ በማድረግ በሂደቱም ከሃምሳ ሰዎች መረጃ ለመሰብሰብ ተችሎ ግኙቱንም ከሌሎች መረጃዎች ጋር ተከልስፏል፡፡ የጥናቱ ዉጤት እንደሚያሳው የጋሞ ማህበረሰብ ዱቡሻ ከጥንት ጀምሮ ችግራቸውን በመፍታት ሰላም ያስጠበቀ ዘመን ተሻጋሪ ሲሆን ህብረተሰቡም አሁን ደረስ ሳየበረዝና ሳይከለስ የጋሞን አንድነት በማጠንከር ለዘላቂ ሰላም ግንባታ የሚጫወተው በመሆኑ ለሌሎች ህዝቦች በተለይም ለአገራችን ዘላቂ ሰላምን ከመገንባት አኳያ ያለው ፋይዳው የጎላ መሆኑን ለመረዳት ተችሏል፡፡ እንዲሁም ዱቡሻንና ሌሎች ተመሳሳይ የሀገርበቀል ተቋማትን ከዘመናውዊ ፍ/ቤት አሰራር ጋር በማቀናጀት መሰራት ቢቻል የህብረተሰቡን ጊዜና ገንዘብ ከመቆጠቡ ባሻገር ቁርሾን ከልብ በማውጥት የቀደመውን ማህበራዊ መስተጋብር በማደስ፤ ወቅታዊ ማህበረሰብ አቀፍ ቀውሶች በማስቀረት፣ ዘላቂ ሰላም እንዲኖር ዓይነተኛ ሚና ከመጫወት አልፎ አገር በቀል ባህላዊ ተቋማትና እሴቶች ለአገራዊ ሰላምና ብልጽግና ያላቸው ፋይዳ ከፍተኛ መሆኑን ዱቡሻ እንደ ማሳያነት ቀርቧል፡፡

ቁልፍ ቃላት፡- ዱቡሻ ዎጋ፤ አገር በቀል ዕሴት፤ ጋሞ፤ ኢትዮጵያ

Language and Media Barriers in Public Diplomacy Engagements of Ethiopia

Yihenew Wubu — 2025-10-02

International language and media are crucial for strategic communications that aim at influencing foreign audiences' attitude. Despite a recent resurgence of political, public, academic, and media interest in foreign policy issues, there has been no study investigating the impact of communication barriers on Ethiopia's public diplomacy objectives. This study sought to answer several questions: What changes and continuities in language use have occurred in modern Ethiopian diplomacy? How have the language practices of mainstream mass media affected public diplomacy? And how have language and media shortcomings hindered public diplomacy efforts amid recent foreign policy challenges? To explore these questions, the study employed the concepts of "soft power" and constructivist public diplomacy, utilizing qualitative research methods and an exploratory design due to the lack of prior research on this topic. Data were collected through literature reviews, document analysis, and media assessments, and analyzed both chronologically and thematically. The findings revealed that diplomatic practice in Ethiopia was multilingual during the imperial period but shifted to a unilingual approach during the Derg and EPRDF regimes. Additionally, the dominance of local languages in Ethiopian mass media, coupled with the absence of international media outlets, hampered strategic communications. This resulted in the localization of public diplomacy messages that were intended for an international audience. The study also highlighted the limitations of public diplomacy in addressing recent foreign policy challenges, which were exacerbated by the digital media divide, a fragmented domestic political and media landscape, lack of a unified national narrative on key national interests, and a reactive, crisis management-focused approach at the national level, which lacked a proactively articulated public diplomacy strategy.