nexus between ethnic federalism and creating national identity vis-à-visnation building in contemporary ethiopia

The current regime of ethiopia (eprdf) implemented ethnic federalism and reshaped the statealong ethnic lines as soon as it assumes political power in 1991. as an exception to the general pattern inafrica the ethiopian government, though not explicitly, encourages political parties to organize besideethnic lines, and champions an ethicized federal state with a secession option, it is a worthy case study.this desk study, used secondary sources of data got from numerous literatures, aims to identify the nexusbetween ethnic federalism in creating national identity in relation with nation building. although theconstitution embodies a doctrine of balance between unity and diversity to build one economic andpolitical community by rectifying” past injustices”, politicization of ethnicity under the context of ethnicfederalism has encouraged ethnic cleavages by forming distinctiveness and differences which is abacklash against nation building and shared aspirations. therefore, there is the need for visionary thinkingoutside the box of past injustices so that the anti thesis for these injustices is not taken too far to the extentof derailing shared identity and shared aspirations. ethnic federalism may lead the country into never-endingethnic wars and eventually to disintegration. thus, ethnic conflicts prevailing in ethiopia may becaused by such technicality problems and the ethnic federal arrangement in ethiopia needs an urgentreconsideration before the case moves to the worst scenario.