Seizing Power through Development. The EPRD's Quest for a Developmental Coalition

A Political Settlement Analysis for post-1991 Ethiopia

Master's Thesis , 2020 , 159 Pages , Grade: 1,2

Politics - Region: Africa

This thesis is conducting an in-depth analysis of the links between political power, institutional evolution and economic growth in Ethiopia since the fall of the Derg regime in 1991.

A contemporary critique of the global political economy must not be caught in a liberal perspective on the origins of economic development. Liberal theorists, amongst others, have perceived rapid economic development to be contingent on the support by the legal-institutional structure which characterises capitalist societies in the Global North. The central pillars of this structure are legally protected private property rights, the rule of law and a state monopoly on violence. Liberal strands of development theory have attributed the failure of many societies in the Global South to catch up with Northern levels of welfare to the absence or insufficiency of these institutions.

In the most recent decades this perspective has been promulgated most prominently by the New Institutional Economics (NIE). Its analysis, which found its way into policy under the catchword of good governance, claims that the takeoff of capitalism in the Global South is impeded by high levels of corruption, legal insecurity and the capture of state institutions by vested interests.

Scholars who stand in the tradition of Marxism and Keynesianism have been disputing this causality for its supposed disregard of the socio-historical conditions which evoked the entrenchment of capitalist interests in societies of the Global North. Marx had highlighted that the transition to capitalism – and indeed all forms of economic growth, redistribute economic surplus unequally between different social forces. He therefore claimed that the entrenchment of capitalist modes of production was an outcome of social power struggles, in which the dominant group enforced its interests on less powerful groups. Institutions functioned to consolidate, materialise and perpetuate this relation of power. Abandoning the teleology of Marx, some post-Marxist scholars have adapted this perspective on institutions; they claim that institutions are an outcome of power struggles and thus reflect historical distributions of power rather than to be a means to transform the distribution of power in itself.

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• 1 Introduction
  • 1.1 Opening the Discussion: Conceptualising the Link Between Capitalism and It’s Institutions
  • 1.2 The Structure of this Thesis: Political Settlements of Mustaq Khan and The Case of Ethiopia
• 2 State of the Art
  • 2.1.1 Between Market and State: Early Theories of Development Economics
  • 2.1.2 State-dependent Development: the Cases of the Fast-growing East Countries
  • 2.2 A Political Turn in Development Theory: Early Contributions of Adrian Leftwich
  • 2.3.1 From Institutions to Development: a Framework by North, Wallis and Weingast
  • 2.3.2 Institutions as Development Traps: a Framework by Acemoğlu and Robinson
  • 2.4 From Development to Institutions: the Political Settlement Theory by Mustaq Khan
• 3 Methodology: Process Tracing by Beach and Pedersen
• 4 Political Settlements and Institutional Change: the Case of Ethiopia
  • 4.1.1 Ground in the Mill of Modernisation: Authoritarian Reform and the Politicisation of Ethiopian Ethnicities
  • 4.1.2 Growing Beyond Ones Limits: Forging the EPRDF Coalition
  • 4.2.1 Perceptual Organisation: Building the Democratic Authoritarian State
  • 4.2.2 Joggling Political Demands: Liberalisation and State-led Peasant Economy
  • 4.3 Reshuffling the Deck: the Ethio-Eritrean War and the Rise of the Developmental State Paradigm
  • 4.4.1 My Neighbour, the Developmental State: Intimate State-Society Relations and Technological Diffusion
  • 4.4.2 A Thin Ice for Authoritarian Expansion: the Sudden Rise of Horizontal Factions
  • 4.4.3 Enlightened Authoritarianism: Developing Rural Economies
  • 4.4.4 Industrialising Ethiopia: Between Forgotten Leaders and Spoiled Newcomers
  • 4.5 Development Without the People: Collapse of the Developmental State?
• 5 Discussion and Concluding Remarks: Political Settlements, Economic Policy and Agency of the Global South
  • 5.1 Theories of Economic Development: Evidence from Ethiopia
  • 5.2 Political Settlement Theory of Mustaq Khan: Possible Implications for Ethiopian Policy Makers
  • 5.3 Implications for Theory? – Some Preliminary Suggestions

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This thesis aims to enrich the debate about the link between capitalism and its institutions by providing empirical evidence for the contested claims of political scientists and shedding light on the role of agency of Southern states in the competitive global world order.

• The relationship between capitalism and its institutions
• The role of political settlements in shaping institutional performance and economic growth
• The impact of power struggles and different configurations of power on development trajectories
• The effectiveness of heterodox development policies in the context of the Global South
• The role of informal institutions and their influence on formal institutions and economic outcomes

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

Chapter two presents a review of the literature on economic development, examining different theories and frameworks that have emerged over the past decades. The chapter starts with early theories of development economics, focusing on the debate between market-led and state-led development, and examines the rise of the developmental state paradigm.

Chapter three introduces the methodology used in this thesis: process tracing. The chapter discusses the ontology of process tracing and its suitability for investigating the causal mechanisms linking political power, institutional change, and economic growth.

Chapter four presents an empirical analysis of the Ethiopian political settlement, focusing on the relationship between political power, institutional evolution, and economic growth since the fall of the Derg regime in 1991. The chapter examines the different ruling coalitions that have emerged in Ethiopia and the economic policies they adopted, highlighting the role of informal institutions and power dynamics.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

This thesis focuses on the key concepts of political settlements, institutional change, and economic development in the Global South. The analysis highlights the role of power struggles, informal institutions, and the interaction between political actors and organizations in shaping development outcomes. The case of Ethiopia serves as an empirical illustration of these concepts, drawing on specific examples such as the EPRDF’s political settlement, the Ethiopian development plans, and the role of foreign direct investment in agriculture and manufacturing.

• College: University of Frankfurt (Main) (Institut für Politikwissenschaft)
• Grade: 1,2
• Author: Oliver Reimer (Author)
• Publication Year: 2020
• Pages: 159
• Catalog Number: V962543
• ISBN (eBook): 9783346323347
• ISBN (Book): 9783346323354
• Language: English
• Tags: PoliticalEconomy, Ethiopia, Development, Growth, Stability, Violence, Conflict, MustaqKhan, TPLF, EPRDF, Africa, SubsaharanAfrica, DouglasNorth, NIE, NewInstitutionalEconomics, DevelopmentCoalition, Coalitions