State Formation in Somalia

The Royal United Services Institute published on 10 June 2022 an analysis titled "Ballots, Bullets and Building Blocks: State Formation in Somalia" by Michael Jones. 

The author concluded that the recent election and change of leadership has shifted Somalia from acute to chronic crisis, but in doing so it has at least helped strengthen the normative tissue necessary for reform.  

Ethiopia: Self-determination for More Southwestern States?

 Ethiopia Insight posted on 22 September 2020 a commentary titled "Respecting Self-determination Could Prove Good Governance Model for Ethiopia's Southern Nations" by Kulle Kursha, Hawassa University.

In 2019, the Sidama people voted for autonomy from the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples' Regional State (SNNPRS) and in 2020 became Sidama National Regional State, Ethiopia's tenth state.  Eleven more ethnic groups in SNNPRS have now requested similar status.  The author argues that reorganizing SNNPRS into multiple regional states would be a positive step irrespective of their small size.

Ethiopia: Is Tigray Heading towards Self-determination?

 Ethiopia Insight posted on 22 August 2020 a commentary titled "'Exit' Imminent as Abiy Neglects the Tigrayan 'Voice'" by Abraham Assefa.  

The author argues the policies of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his scapegoating of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front are driving Tigray Region towards "exit" or self-determination.  

Politics in Ethiopia

Ethiopia Insight posted on 18 March 2020 a commentary titled "A New Dominant Party Delays Democratization" by Rebecca Zerihun.

The author argues that long-standing discontent in Ethiopia has always centered on the right to self-rule at the local level. The questionable implementation of Ethiopian federalism under the EPRDF has led to a misdiagnosis of this root problem. The author continues that the nationally-based Prosperity Party could potentially undermine any prospect of Ethiopian democratization because it signifies little if any change from the way the EPRDF functioned.

Federalism in the History of South Sudanese Political Thought

The Rift Valley Institute published in 2014 a paper titled "Federalism in the History of South Sudanese Political Thought" by Douglas Johnson.  He points out that federalism has a long pedigree in Sudanese political history, signifying different things at different times.  The paper explains how the idea evolved in the colonial era as part of the southern search for political identity.  He discusses attitudes towards federalism and the ways it was presented from before Sudan's independence in 1956, up to South Sudan's independence today.