Samuel Andreas Admasie
scarce. Resource management is the function of the
BOOK REVIEW
SAMUEL ANDREAS ADMAS IE
ETHIOPIA: THE LAST TWO FRONTIERS
BY JOHNMARKAKIS
Oxford: James Currey, 2011,384 pages
ISBN: 978-1-84701-033-9
For Marxian readers of Ethiopian state and society, Professor John
Markakis is a pioneering and authoritative scholar par excellence. Going
back to the classic Marxian account of the Ethiopian social formation
presented in Ethiopia: Anatomy of a Traditional Polity (1974), Markakis
has produced a number of outstanding works on the subject. It is thus
with great excitement that we welcome his latest contribution to the field,
with what may be characterized as a synthesis of his remarkable
scholarship on Ethiopia.
With time Markakis's analytical focus has, in line with the general
scholarly trend, progressively shifted from classes to regions and
nations/nationalities. In his early works, most notably in Anatomy of a
Traditional Polity and Class and Revolution in Ethiopia (1978),
Markakis' analysis was firmly placed within the Marxian fold; while
allowing for the importance of regional and national inequalities, these
problems were rooted in the economic base and arose out of unequal
agrarian relations. As the multinational opposition was crushed by the
post-revolutionary military regime and as the republic it instituted slowly
'succumbed to movements organized along regional and national lines,
Markakis, like many fellow scholars, became increasingly interested in
the national question. Markakis scholarship however, unlike many of
those colleagues who came to focus on identity politics, retained the
Marxian curiosity for inquiry along the lines of political economy:
[A] settlement [to the civil war of the 1980's] would
have to address the root cause of the conflict, which is
the problem of managing and distributing equitably
social and economic resources that have always been
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state, and the pattern of distribution among regions,
ethnic groups and social classes is basically
determined by their access to the state.(l989: 16)
In his latest work, Markakis has modified his approach slightly.
Applying a center/periphery approach, Markakis sets out to analyze the
continuous process of state formation and consolidation in Ethiopia.
Markakis grounds his analysis in the separation of broad
national/regional categories defined by hierarchical political relations -
the center possessing a monopoly of power and a hegemonic position
within the state (2011: 7). Center-periphery relations, viewed in this
manner, translate political inequalities into cultural and economic
inequalities. Thus Markakis earlier focus on socio-economic roots of
political processes has been reversed and political relations have been
given preeminence over socio-economic'. Markakis briefly allows for
class variables and points out that there is an elite class not only in the
center but in the peripheries too, that to some extent wields leverage over
state power, and that there is "a world of difference . .. between the
peasant class in the historical Abyssinian center and the ruling elite of the
same nationality" (ibid: 8). Nevertheless, Markakis insists that the elites
of the center and the periphery are qualitatively different and that they do
not constitute one class, but are divided into a ruling class in the center
and an auxiliary and subordinate elite in the periphery. The problem that
the existence of cross-cutting classes present to the national/regional
categories is thus dispelled, albeit rather unconvincingly. For despite the
reservations, the national/regional units are treated as black boxes whose
elites and masses seem to go together. In this way Markakis follows in
the footpath of other non-Marxian political analyst that take ethnicity
(whether in its primordialist or constructivist sense) as the basic building
blocks of political life in Ethiopia without taking seriously the structural
socio-economic divisions within and across these fractured blocks (see
for example Merera 2003).
What then are the centers and peripheries of the Ethiopian social
formation? In a nutshell, Markakis locates the centers to the traditional
Abyssinian highlands of what are today's Amhara and Tigray regions.
1
For a Marxian version of center-periphery relations defmed by socio-economic criteria,
see Wallerstein 2004.
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The peripheries constitute the emerging regions and the lowlands, while
in between them lies the semi-peripheries of the highlands in today's
Oromia and SNNP regions. It is within these categories Markakis traces
the process of state formation and consolidation. In the main body of the
work he does this in two ways.
First, the reader is treated to a panoramic tour of the highlands and
lowlands of Ethiopia, before we descend on a number of selected
nationalities of the periphery. The discussion covers a number of
geographic, demographic, socio-cultural and economic aspects, and
allows the reader to appreciate the complexities and diversities involved.
Second, in several chapters yet more detailed, the political development
in the center, semi-periphery and the select peripheries are mapped
throughout three consecutive regimes. This is a tour-de-force and the real
strength of the book. In addition to the well-known main features of
recent Ethiopian political history as well as little known incidents and
conflicts, almost every political group let that has emerged in Ethiopia for
the last 40 years is discussed in a meticulous manner. Markakis can here
rely on a depth of knowledge unsurpassed, and the result is impressive.
The story told is one where the peripheries have been ravaged by
conflict, .marginalization and poverty and remain outside of real
incorporation with the state. It is also a story where the center
consistently has, as in previous times, sought to destroy and repress
independent political movements, and more recently, to control and co-
opt them. This story repeats itself with regards to a host of organizations
claiming to represent an equally large number of constituencies - all co-
opted or marginalized. The current federal configuration is thus,
according to Markakis, rendered moot.
In this discussion, Markakis repeatedly showcases his deep
knowledge of, and sharp eye for, matters that evade not only most
scholars, but also many actual actors on the Ethiopian political scene. So
he notes the curious contradiction of a seemingly united contemporary
opposition block that differs in the most fundamental manner on the main
political issues of today; land and federalism. When discussing both
these issues, Markakis, on the contrary, does so with a thorough
knowledge of the heavy historical weight and importance it carries and
the respect and sincerity it demands, and comes to the conclusion that the
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Samuel Andreas Admasie
federal system, albeit wanting, is a step in the right direction, and he
urges caution on the land question.
Markakis makes two main conclusions. First, that the center will
have to renounce its monopoly on power and allow for more
democratized relations between nations, nationalities and peoples of
Ethiopia and second, that the lowlands are yet to be integrated in a free
manner giving their populations real agency, or where not deemed
possible - as in the case of the Somali region - be allowed to secede.
These are fair points, albeit not as groundbreaking as the depth of the
research contained in the volume. Few scholars would disagree that the
dire situation in the lowlands is unsustainable in the long run, and that
state presence, resources as well as popular agency will be required to
resolve it. Likewise, few scholars would deny that federalism, to take
deep popular roots, will need to go beyond the controlled federalism of
today.
We find only one problem in this excellent volume, and it relates to
the point raised above. For while the issues raised are of real importance,
it is striking that no notice is made of the dangers of failing to
democratize economic life and to incorporate marginalized, upcoming
and fledgling classes. Allowing for a more and true multinational state
may be crucially needed for peaceful progress to prevail, but this will
surely not only be a matter of democratic relations between nations and
nationalities, but also between classes. Similarly, while the proper and
democratic incorporation of the lowlands into the Ethiopian polity and
economy is eventually a necessity, so it must be necessary that the lower
classes acquire a real say in economic as well as political matters. In
addition to this, the role of the privileged urban class - increasingly
strong and increasingly multinational in character - must surely be of
relevance and importance. Whether - as in Marxian theory - this class is
cast as a bourgeoisie or - as in liberal theory - as a stabilizing "middle
class," it remains, to both strands of thought, the sine qua non of liberal
democracy. Surely then, such a groundbreaking phenomenon as the
emergence of this precise class demands to be taken into serious
consideration.
Markakis unfortunately does not seriously attempt to open the black
box of ethnicity and allow for the contradictions that flourish within the
national/regional units. In this way, this present volume is lacking some
of the clarity and sharpness that made his earlier analysis so fresh,
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groundbreaking and relevant, not only to academia but to political life
itself in Ethiopia. Although Professor Markakis' latest book is
extraordinarily well researched and written, we cannot but regret that this
aspect has gone lost. Within the current spectacular economic
transformation taking place, new and truly multinational classes are
emerging, and, to some extent, reflecting this multinational political
organization is again becoming predominant. This is most certainly set to
strain the plausibility of ethno-centric modes of analysis.
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REFERENCES
Markakis, J. (1974) Anatomy of a Traditional Polity. London & New
York: Oxford University Press.
Markakis, J. & Nega Ayele (1978) Class and Revolution in Ethiopia.
Nottingham: Spokesman Books.
Markakis, J. (1989) 'Nationalities and the State in Ethiopia: An
Interpretation', Working Paper Series No. 63. The Hague: Institute
of Social Studies.
Markakis, J. (2011) Ethiopia: The Last Two Frontiers. Oxford: James
Currey.
Merera Gudina (2003) Competing Ethnic Nationalisms and the Quest for
Democracy, 1960-2000. Addis Ababa: Chamber Printing House.
Wallerstein, I. (2004) World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction. Durham:
Duke University Press.
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