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R e v ie w o f P u b li c
A d m in is tr a tio n a n d M a n a ge me n t
Research Article Homepage: www.arabianjbmr.com AGJ

STATUS, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF THE ETHIOPIAN

DEVELOPMENTAL STATE
ADDIS Ababa, Ethiopia
Lecturer, Department of Public Management, Kotebe Metropolitan University.
Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
This paper offers a critical review of the status, challenges and prospects of
democratic governance in Ethiopian developmental state. The review
attempts to identify some of ambiguities regarding developmental states, and
its implications on democratic governance so as to come up with conceptual
clarity. It also examines the key manifestations of successful developmental
states by comparing them with the actual reality in the Ethiopia and the
challenges and prospects of building democratic governance. On top of this,
both analytical and policy issues are discussed in reference to the issue under
inquiry. To this end, a simple desk review method has been utilized.
Accordingly, the review has identified the defining features of successful
developmental states vis a vis the Ethiopian scenario. It also stresses the
importance of taking seriously the autonomy and capacity of the bureaucracy
to meet the aspirations. Moreover, instead of the never ending debate on
democratic governance Vs development which is found to be a “false choice”
and a sequencing fallacy, future scholarship on this field, should be based on
a more rigorous conceptual clarity and harmony on how to install democratic
governance without compromising development. The review argues that in
order to properly make use of the constitutional, policy and legal prospects
in the Ethiopian development state, it is imperative to ending hiding behind
development and to striving for genuine reform characterized by
reconciliation and shared vision.
KEY WORDS: Bureaucracy, developmental State, democratic governance ,
and legitimacy

1. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays the terms "democratic governance" is being increasingly used in development and policy literature. Bad
governance is being increasingly regarded as one of the root causes of all evil within our societies. Major donors and
international financial institutions are basing their development assistance on the condition that reforms that ensure
"democratic governance" are carried out (UN, nd). On top of this, the concept of democratic governance has been highly
recognized as prerequisite for a successful nation building and socio-economic progress. The idea of democratic governance
has received increasing attention in Africa over the last three decades. The importance of the concept for African development
is related with two major issues. Firstly, it is related with the need to create the basic extra economic conditions that are
valuable for the growth of African Economy, like, effective public administration, independent and functioning judiciary,
transparent financial system and accountability. Secondly, the concept of good governance is related with the common
developmental challenges of Africa as accountability, rule of law, freedom of expression and association, legitimate and
inclusive governments(WB, 1994). Improving these can be considered as a very big move towards African renewal.
According to Government reports, Ethiopia has achieved encouraging development results, maintaining an economic
growth rate of 11 % over last consecutive years. The international community has also recognized the growth, though there
is no much agreement on the rate (statistics). It has also been reported that the country has come to enjoy the fastest
improvement in the Human Development Index among Least Developed Countries. The country has set for itself a
challenging goal of creating a Democratic Developmental state and building a green economy (UNDP, 2012) with ambition
of becoming a middle income state by 2025. Ethiopia has recently launched a set of comprehensive development plan, called
the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) I and II. The first phase of the plan, which lasted for five years from 2010/11 to

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2014/15, has come to a conclusion, leading to the kick-off of the second phase as of 2015/16 budget year (FEDRE, 2016).
The idea of developmental state calls for such coordinated development plans that identify the development priorities of the
country and the respective roles of each sector, so as to achieve the national goals.The interest in constructing a developmental
state while also deepening democratic governance, as stimulating as it is to those who value a democratic developmental state,
is not without its challenges. Indeed, it poses a set of challenges. It evokes the question as to whether pressing the democratic
governance agenda impedes or facilitates development. The issues of whether there is a relationship of priority, or primacy,
between development and democracy are raised. These issues raise difficult questions and long debate among development
scholars. These same questions are raised in different forms in different contexts and they lead to smaller, local, and context-
specific issues that need to be raised and discussed (Marwala , 2006).Hence, there has to be continuous rhetoric and discourse
among the academic community and practitioners in the field so as to attain the expected level of conceptual clarity. To this
end, the author strongly believes that, this review will serve to provoke thoughts and to stimulate discussions. In line with
this, the objective are to come up with conceptual clarity of developmental state; contrast the characteristics of successful
developmetal states with the Ethiopian experience; and to discuss the challenges and prospects of democratic governance in
Ethiopia.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
By way of comprehensive desk review, the paper attempts to point out the status, challenges and prospects of democratic
governance under the Ethiopian developmental state model, examining national legal, strategic and policy documents (such
as the Growth and Transformation Plan I and II and different programs), and various publications and prior studies in the area.
Hence, the reviewer looked in to literature on developmental state in general and the Ethiopian state in particular.
3. DISCUSSION AND FINDING
Conceptualizing developmental state
The conception of a developmental state is not utterly new to the literature in politics, development studies and
economics. While the term has been used to refer to state-led economic planning as experienced in the countries of East Asia
and some other countries who won the label since the 1970s, serious attempt at conceptualizing it is said to have begun with
the work of Chalmers Johnson in the 1980s (Johnson, 1991). In the context of Ethiopia, the term is increasingly being used
and becoming the center of political discourses. A developmental state is a state where government is closely involved in the
macro- and micro-economic planning in order to grow the economy. It has generally been observed that successful
developmental states are able to advance their economies much faster than regulatory states that use regulations to manage
the economy. As an example, it took the USA approximately 50 years to double its economy while it took China, which is a
developmental state, approximately 10 years to double its economy (Marwala, 2006). A developmental state is often defined
in terms of its ideological orientation (i.e. promoting the ideal and agenda of developmentalism) and its institutional
arrangements (i.e., its institutional capacity to formulate and implement its policies and programs) whereby the state has to
build efficient and effective institutions to achieve its developmental goals. Standard descriptions also maintain that a
developmental state is a state with instincts to resist external demands (e.g. Multinational corporations) and internal resistance
(from groups twisted on transient political gains or short–term profits, i.e., local political and business elites) (UNECA, 2011).
An economic report on Africa holds that a developmental state is “one that has the capacity to deploy its authority,
credibility and legitimacy in a binding manner to design and implement development policies and programs for promoting
transformation and growth, as well as for expanding human capabilities” (AU, 2011). Ideally, therefore a developmental
state needs to be a persuasive state with the competence to mobilize people and resources around its development plan. In
other words a democratic developmental state requires shared vision and national consensus as preconditions for success.
Peter Evans refers to it as a state with institutional design meant to advance transformative role of the state “rather than
constraining the state,” a state with the capacity to formulate and implement its development goals in an authoritative and
binding fashion (Evans, 1995) resulting in improved economic performance.The developmental state is also seen as
autonomous/independent state, with a decidedly interventionist bent on seeking to monitor and control the economy. In this
sense, it can even be viewed as a model of capitalism that nonetheless differs from a minimalist state or other species of
interventionist states such as the regulatory state and the welfare state UNDP, 2012). The late prime minister of FDRE,
Zenawi, contrasted developmental state with weak states (that easily bow to the pressure mounted on them by the business or
political elite) or predatory states (that tends to be extractive and exploitative of public resources for private purposes).
(Zenawi, nd). A developmental state is, therefore, a state that is and seeks to be a strong player in the economy of a nation
with a view to enhancing economic development. It is a state “that promotes macroeconomic stability and establishes an
institutional framework that provides law and order, effective administration of justice and peaceful resolution of
conflicts.”(Mkandawire, nd, 59).
Characteristics of a developmental state (in ethiopian context)
In order to understand the concept of a developmental state, it is recommended to highlight some of the characteristics
of the model in successful developmental states of South and East Asian states. By doing so the article will conceptualize the

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agenda to the reality in Ethiopia. Developmental states generally put strong emphasis on technical education and the
development of numeracy and computer skills within the population. This technically oriented education is strategically used
to capacitate government structures particularly the bureaucracy. What emerges out of this strategy is that the political and
bureaucratic layers are populated by educated people who have sufficient tools of analysis to be able to take leadership
initiatives, based on sound scientific basis (Marwala, 2006).In Ethiopia, review of policy and strategic documents shows
sufficient evidence substantiating the critical role of education in the overall development endeavors. The Education and
Training Policy (ETP) gives a definition of education that is strongly rooted in the purpose and role it plays in the human life
in general. Similarly, the HEP sets objectives for higher education that include “promote and enhance research focusing on
knowledge and technology transfer consistent with the country's priority needs” (FDRE, 2009). This objective not only
emphasizes the importance of technology transfer, it also implies the identification of priority areas for the country. Similarly
adequate policy focus has been given for TVET providers and related institutions which are said to be strengthened to become
“centers for technology capabilities’ accumulation and transfer” (Ibid, 55). However, the ever increasing number of graduate
unemployment and the deteriorating quality of education is becoming a cause of concern in the country.
The other characteristic of a developmental state is the essentiality of development‐orientated political leadership bound
together by a powerful economic and political ideology focused on development (Mark, 2003). Circumstances which give
rise to a development‐oriented political leadership can be quite diverse. According to Waldner, this leadership grows out of a
political context characterized by absence of pressure which gives these leaders scope to provide institutions conducive to
economic development (walder, 1999). Other analysts suggest that a development‐oriented leadership evolves from of a clear
consensus within the governing elites, both administrative and political, over the scope and direction of development (Linda,
2000). The final factor is the interests of political survival and legitimacy push political elites towards a developmental
orientation (Robert, 1990).However, given the relatively polarized politics and the heterogeneity (multicultural society) of
Ethiopia where the quest for right of nations, nationalities and people is the center of political discourse, giving rise to
development-oriented political leadership with lesser pressures is quite difficult. The experience of East Asian countries also
suggests clear consensus and shared vision with different elites as an instrument to build development oriented leadership. It
is also claimed that the leaders in East Asian developmental states were relatively uncorrupted and non‐predatory, but looking
at the reality in Ethiopia, part of the political leadership is being accused of rent seeking and predatory bandit behavior which
is a bottle neck to create development oriented leadership.
Compared to other developing regions the autonomy, capability and effectiveness of the permanent executive in the East
Asian developmental states are terrific. This is traced back to the presence of bureaucracy in the Weberian tradition which
prioritizes meritocratic recruitment, provides promotion incentives, shows rationality and guarantees high levels of prestige
and legitimacy to bureaucratic officials (Meynes and Musamba, 2010). Moreover, the bureaucracy was able to exhibit such
uncommon levels of autonomy and effectiveness when they were obviously free from unproductive interference from the
political leadership. As a result, decision‐makers and technocrats were able to effectively formulate economic policy, and
employ innovation in public service delivery (Alice, 1989).As the developmental state has subscribed to the view that state
should play an active role in promoting economic development, this requires autonomous, capable and effective bureaucracy.
Nonetheless, the Ethiopian public sector lucks these key manifestations of a developmental bureaucracy. There are also
evidences of recruitment and promotion based on political patronage in some key public agencies. In words of Mebratu (2015):
“……the civil service in Ethiopia today is actually being re- politicized. Thus, understanding of Ethiopian efforts to
adopt reforms—in the context of developmental paradigm—provides key perspectives and experiences to end hiding behind
development if there is actual need to transform civil service institutions and save them from being simple cogwheels that
conclusively carry out the wishes of politicians.”A production‐oriented private sector has been at the center of the rapid
building of a successful developmental state in East Asia. Based on long‐term institutionalized alliances among political
power, financial and industrial capital, these state‐private sector partnerships were crafted on the principle of reciprocity, such
as connecting subsidies to performance, and acted as an incentive for productivity (Robert, 2000). Nonetheless, the reality on
the ground witnesses that, the larger segment of Ethiopian business has short term investments that are seeking for short term
fortunes and “hot money”. This makes short term profit, a significant factor in the investment decision making process.
The other characteristic of developmental state is the existence of performance oriented governance. Developmental
states are found to enjoy support because they are associated with promoting rapid economic growth and providing economic
benefits to both the ruling elites and the general public. Developmental states generally believe that they will attain state
legitimacy through delivery of services to citizens rather than through the ballot (Marwala (2006). In Ethiopia, state legitimacy
is achieved through the ballot however the main shortcoming is that the society has not reached an equilibrium stage where
the feedback mechanism between voting pattern and service delivering reinforce each other. Moreover, there has been
criticism on the Ethiopian government related with election frauds and laws that narrowed the political arena. Critiques often
also accuse the regime (till recently) for having room only to weak, fragile and puppet political oppositions.
Generally, developmental states tend to manifest the following traits: economic nationalism, focus on foreign technology
transfer, large government bureaucracy, corporatism (alliance between state, labor, and industry), skepticism about

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neoliberalism and the ‘Washington Consensus’, prioritization of economic growth over political reform, legitimacy and
performance, and emphasis on technical education. Some of the 20th century developmental states have used the above
mentioned traits to transform their economies, to be globally competitive, to achieve remarkable economic growth rates, to
reduce poverty and inequality in their societies, to create jobs, and to advance human capabilities (UNDP, 2012).
Democratic governance in a developmental state
By governance we mean the manner in which power is exercised by governments in the management of a country's
social and economic resources. “Good” governance is the exercise of power by various levels of government that is effective,
honest, equitable, transparent and accountable (Johanson, 1991). Democratic governance has 8 major characteristics
(Johnason, 1991). It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient,
equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken
into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to the
present and future needs of society.

Characteristics of Good governance1

3.3.1 Challenges of democratic governance in ethiopia
The challenges of good governance in a developmental state are many and varied. Creating an inclusive responsive state
with efficient and effective institutions and accountable and transparent government that is based on rule of low while making
the government the leader of the economy is not something one can do without a challenge. Accordingly, the summary of the
most critical challenges of building democratic governance in the Ethiopian development state are listed here under.
a) Harmonizing the ethno- linguistic based federal system and the quest of nations, nationalities and peoples with the
need to install shared vision and reconciliation which is one of the preconditions in building democratic developmental state;
b) Overcoming the historical legacy of feudalism, authoritarianism and inequality;
c) Forming a capable state with an efficient bureaucracy, meritocratic public service system, and stemming the staff
turnover, the lack of skill, etc) (Mebratu, 2015);
d) Dismantling and fighting corruption and rent seeking behavior which is deep-rooting the current system;
e) Living under a constitutional democracy with the heavy burden of protecting and enforcing human rights by
harmonizing the relation between collective and individual, civil/political and economic/socio- cultural, rights and widening
the political arena;
f) Confronting the external elements that have the role of makers and breakers of developmental state (Asayehegn, nd).
These challenges need to be met as the country seek to build a democratic developmental state in contexts such as that of
Ethiopia. They remain to be challenges in spite of the fact that, owing to the collapse of the ‘Washington Consensus’ and
the emergence of new global players, their toll might not be that large (UNDP, 2012).
g) The challenges of democratically mobilizing people and resources for the developmentalist project and winning
popular trust.
Moreover, institutional capacity building of the public sector should be stressed here. Currently public institutions are
strongly influenced by the ruling elite. From the point of view of equal representation, the higher positions in many
governmental departments are assigned according to an ethnic-based quota system. Willingly or unwillingly the bureaucrats
are expected to operate in conformance with their ethnic affiliation rather than in pursuit of the goals of their organization.
Because of this, instead of transparency, the desire to fulfill the wishes of the political agenda introduces the temptation for
corruption that has become endemic in the functioning of the Ethiopian bureaucracy. Therefore, if the Ethiopian government

1
-Adopted from UNDP, 2012

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desires to use the state as a very important medium to tackle the chronic developmental problems (beyond empty promises
and short term political advantages to sustain power), it needs to improve the capability of its public administration sector
and keep the permanent executive/ the bureaucracy’s politically neutral.
3.3.2 Prospects of democratic governance in ethiopia
The sharp focus of the Ethiopian government on economic development and the clarity of goals (eradication of poverty
and becoming a middle-income country by 2025) manifest the ideological orientation of the government towards
developmentalsim. Though the capacity of institutions (capacity of the executive, availability and strength of the central
planning, the quality of public enterprises to control the commanding heights, availability of national consensus and shared
vision, etc-is a point to be further explored), Ethiopia declared its self as a democratic developmental state. Hence this clear
prescription of the governments’ stand and commitment can be considered as a prospect. The current Ethiopian state has also
set its vision on building a democratic state, a system of good governance and social justice based on the blessing and full
participation of citizens. This commitment is clearly expressed in the countries higher level policies and national strategic
plans. For instance, the vision of the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), is: “to become a country where democratic rule,
good governance and social justice reign, upon the involvement and free will of its peoples, and once extricating itself from
poverty to reach the level of middle-income economy as of 2020- 2023” (FEDRE, 2010). Similarly on the same document
under the vision of the economic sector sub heading, building an economy which has a modern and productive agricultural
sector with enhanced technology and an industrial sector that plays a leading role in the economy, sustaining economic
development and securing social justice and increasing per capital income of the citizens so as to reach the level of those in
middle-income countries are noted as visions (Ibid).Besides ideological orientation and national polices and strategies the
constitution (the supreme low of the land) itself can be seen as a prospect to build democratic governance. To directly quote
the preamble of FDE constitution:
“We, the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia: Strongly committed, in full and free exercise of our right to
self-determination, to building a political community founded on the rule of law and capable of ensuring a lasting peace,
guaranteeing a democratic order, and advancing our economic and social development; Firmly convinced that the fulfillment
of this objective requires full respect of individual and people’s fundamental freedoms and rights, to live together on the basis
of equality and without any sexual, religious or cultural discrimination;….” (FEDRE, 1995, Preamble)
The explicit recognition of the whole range of human rights set in international human rights conventions in what
constitutes one-third of the corpus of the constitution shows the country’s commitment, at least in principle, to democratic
values. Therefore, form this, it possible to deduce that there is a fertile constitutional, policy and strategic ground to sow
democratic governance. Hence what matters now is proper implementation!
4. CONCLUSION
In this desk review, an attempt is made to explore the issues, the challenges, and the prospects of democratic governance
in a developmental state by reflecting on the case of Ethiopia. Now a days it is common to witness a never ending debate on
democratic governance and development which is found to be a “false choice” and a sequencing fallacy. It was also noted
that Ethiopia has declared itself as a developmental state thereby bringing more emphasis to its developmentalist ideology.
However, when we compare the characteristics of successful developmental states in East Asia with the reality in Ethiopia,
much should be done specially on autonomy and implementation capacity of the bureaucracy and the dispute b/n shared vision
(national consensus) and the quest for nations, nationalities and people’s self-determination. Moreover, the explicit
ideological orientation, policy and strategic commitments and constitutional guardianship of democratic governance (though
the implementation is often questioned) are the important prospects to install democratic governance without compromising
development.
REFERENCES
K. Bagchi .2000. “The Past and the Future of Developmental State,” Journal of World Systems Research, 11(2) (2000), p.
398
Desta, Asayehgn .2010. Emerging Challenges in Democratic Developmental State: The Case of Ethiopian Growth and
Transformation (date and publication information not found)
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE). 2010. Growth and Transformation Plan I, Ministry of Finance and
Economic Development, Addis Ababa
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE). 1994. The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
(FDRE), Preamble
Isabelle Johnson. 1991. Re-defining the Concept of Governance, Canadian International development agency, July 1991
Mebratu D.K (date not found): Ending Hiding behind Development: Challenges of Civil Service Political Neutrality and Its
Effects on Developmental Bureaucracy in Ethiopia; Paper presented on the first national public administer conference
organized by Ambo University and CCRDA: Addis; Ababa Ethiopia
Meles Zenawi, “African Development: Dead Ends New Beginnings (Preliminary Draft)” (ND, NP).

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UN (date not found??) What is good governance?: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific
UNDP. 2012. Democratization in a Developmental state: The Case of Ethiopia; Vol .I Developmental brief).
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