Chapter III

Federalism and Management of Diversity

3.1. Diversity and Institutional Options of
Managing Diversity

 Diversity here refers to ethnic-diversity

 What is ethnic group and ethnicity?
 What is nation?
 what is the difference between nation and ethnic group?
 Differentiate Nation and State?
 Nation-state?
Cont.….
 Ethnic group can be defined as “named human populations with
shared ancestry myths, histories and cultures, having an association
with a specific territory and a sense of solidarity”; ethnicity is the
sense of belonging to ethnic group
 Ethnic identity is mobilized by political agents to demand
greater concessions and share in power and authority. This is often
manifested in the form of ethnic movements. The focus and
aspiration of such movements may include a basic demand for the
recognition, autonomy within some form of a counter- majoritarian
settlement including a demand for ethnic territorial autonomy within
a federal frame.
 An ethnic movement, however, poses a serious challenge to the state
when it demands the creation of a state of its own.
 How an ethnic group turns into a nation and ethnicity gives rise to a
nationalist movement?
 What distinguishes nation from ethnic group?
Cont.…..

 The most important distinction between an ethnic group and

a nation lies in the fact that the nation harbors ‘political and
statist ideas’.
 The development of political and statist ideas within an
ethnic group transforms it into a nation.
 The moment an ethnic group starts to project an ambition to
establish an independent statehood, it ceases to be
considered as an ethnic group, and if an ethnic group seeks
some form of autonomy or self-government, it has also
transformed itself into a nation.
 What is nation state and its pitfalls?
Pitfalls of the nation state in Ethnically plural
society

 It is formed by force/coercive process

 Insists for assimilation /homogenization and advocates for centralized
authority and power
 Promotes titular/core-nations interests and values (language, culture,
history)
 Democratic deficit since majoritarian democracy does not work in
ethnically plural societies
Response to the challenges of ethnic diversity:

a). Political Divorce/Secession

 Separation/Secession seems to represent ‘a simpler and tidier
solution’ though there is no guarantee that it addresses the problem
of ethnic diversity effectively. Why?
b) The individual rights approach to challenges of diversity
 Constitutionally guarantee universal individual rights irrespective of
ethnic, gender, race and other group memberships
 International human rights instruments that attempt to address ethnic
related claims are informed by individualist philosophy. These
instruments do not promulgate the rights of ethnic groups but
the rights of “persons belonging to a minority” (ICCPR in article 27
which)
 What is problem with the individual rights approach of responses of
challenges of diversity? Or the neutrality of the state regarding
ethnic/cultural diversity?
Cont.…..
 The major criticism - in multi-ethnic states, the traditional civil and
political rights cannot adequately address questions that arise in relation
to ethnic and national groups such as Which language should be
recognized in the parliament? Courts? Should each ethnic or national
group have publicly funded education in its mother tongue? Should
political offices be distributed in accordance with a principle of national
or ethnic proportionality?
 The state can not be neutral at least in its choice of language for public
institutions. Thus, universal individual rights approach is a necessary but
not sufficient approach to deal with the challenges of ethnic diversity.
C) The principle of recognition
 Recognition is an institutional principle that mandates the state to
acknowledge the ethnic plurality that characterizes the society it seeks
to govern – accepting diversity as a ‘demographic fact’ and designing
institution that responds to ethnic demand
2. Federalism and Management of Diversity

 Being a compromise, the federal option lies mid–way between the

options of a state that promotes complete assimilation or the
dissolution of the state or the separation of some portion of that state
 Federalism as tool for conflict resolution – matters for peace
 Federalism embraces diversity as a virtue and an advantage that
deserves state protection and promotion
 Do you think federalism is successful in managing ethnic diversity
wherever there is ethnic pluralism?
Institutional Designs for Accommodation of
Diversity in Federal System

 1) Recognition
 2) Self-rule
 3) Shared-rule
 4) Mechanisms to protect rights of dispersed/intra-state Minorities
 Recognition
 The institutional principle of recognition basically relates to the state’s
self– definition - how the state views itself; whether the state considers
itself as a nation-state or as a state with multi-ethnic character
 The way the state defines itself informs to a large extent the policy that it
follows when dealing with ethnic claims
 The act of recognition can find expression in the preamble to a
Constitution, can be embedded in the constitution’s design, especially in
language related section(s) of the constitution and in state symbols such as
flags, anthems, public holidays and even the name of the state itself
 Preamble informs, to a great extent, the institutional choices that a state
has to make in the body of the constitution.
 Symbolic codes of a state include the name of the state itself, the public
holidays it celebrates, the flag(s) used in public buildings, official emblems
and the like. The argument has been that symbolic codes of a multi-ethnic
state should reflect the multi-ethnic character of the state.
Cont.….
Language Policy
 Language policy often correlates with visions of uniformity or visions of
diversity
 Multi-ethnic states adopted a policy modeled on the individualistic approach to
the whole issue of language rights while others opted for the territorial model
of language planning
The individualistic model
 Under the personality approach, individuals are entitled to use their mother
tongue in every part of the country with few territorial restrictions
 Minorities, where their numbers justify, were allowed to have their children
educated in their mother tongue.
The territorial model
 Other states have responded to the language problem by adopting the
territorial model of language planning. Under such systems, the official
language would be that of the majority of the locality.
 This model of language policy has the effect of promoting unilingualism; and
have the risks of developing isolated communities and scores low in the
promotion of inter-group solidarity.
Cont.….

 What are the manifestation of recognition of diversity in Ethiopian

federation? Mention the relevant provisions from the FDRE
Constitution, and give practical example.
2) Self rule
 Self rule is an institutional principle that federalism provides which is
also known as ‘autonomy’ or ‘self government.
 Self rule finds practical expression through territorial configurations,
division of power, financial autonomy
Two types of Federalism: implication for territorial autonomy
 Territorial or administrative federalism—Mononational Federations
 Ethnic model of federalism - ethnic model federalism can be further
divided as ethnic federation and ethno-territorial federation
Cont.…
 Ethnic federations explicitly provides each of the major ethno-
national group with their homeland ensuring self-government and
ethnicity is the defining feature of the system while ethno-territorial
federation combine both the ethno-national and the territorial
features
 Ethno-territorial federation are those in which one or more
territorially concentrated ethnic groups are accommodated via the
provision of subunit homeland, but the numeriacaaly dominate ethnic
group (core nation) is carved up (cracked)among multiple subunits.
 Eg. English Speaking Canadians which is divided into nine provinces,
Castilian Spainsh exsis in fourteen autonomous communities, Hindi
speaking people of India are divided into nine provinces etc.
Cont….

What are the main manifestations of self-rule in Ethiopian Federation?

Discuss the relevant provisions of the FDRE Constitution that guarantee
self-rule?
Why Ethiopian federalism is often described as ethnic based federation?
What is its pitfalls from the perspective of ensuring ethnic self-rule?
3) Shared Rule

 Shared-rule serves double purpose: protecting the autonomy of

constitute units by participating in and influence central legislative and
policy formations; and vehicle for dealing with shared objectives and
functions,
 Institutions of shared-rule provide the glue to hold the federation
together. Power sharing arrangements at the central level generally has
the effect of promoting the “we feeling”/national unity
 Shared rule can be concertized in different institutions of federal
government such as federal legislature, the executive, the judiciary.
 Institutions of shared rule as a device that promotes the co-management
of society includes intergovernmental relations, resource redistributive
schemes/intergovernmental fiscal transfer, political parties.
4) Mechanisms for the Protection of the
rights of Intra-sub state minorities

 There is often a fear that minorities face strong discrimination from

regional authorities than they usually encounter from central
government. This especially becomes visible in the areas of language
policy and education.
 Securing the rights of minorities which are created by autonomy
arrangements is very crucial for the long term success of any federal
arrangement.
 There are three mutually interdependent mechanism to protect
intra-state minorities
1) Bill of Rights as a device to protect minorities
 Judicially enforceable bill of right are often regarded instrumental in
protecting intra-substate minorities. These is the case Canada and
Belgium
 In a clear exception to the rule of territoriality, in this federation
individual inhabitants have the right to communicate in their own
language with a public authority, and the local governments upon a
request offer primary education in the language of the minority group.
2) Non-territorial autonomy
 This form of autonomy recognizes their different culture and identity,
and allows individuals to exercise jurisdiction over culture, language,
education and the media
 It is argued that such an arrangement of self rule responds to the
concerns of minorities that are ‘too dispersed or few in numbers’ to
exercise territorial autonomy
 Cont.…
3) Representation of minorities
 Some multi-ethnic federations, the position of intra-substate minorities is
enhanced by a system that allows them to be represented in the
subnational decision-making bodies
 What are the types of intra-substate minorities in Ethiopian federation?
What are the mechanisms used to protect the rights of intra-substate
minorities in Ethiopia? Discuss the different types of mechanisms used to
protect the rights of intra-substate minorities?