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Ambiguous elections: the influence of non-electoral politics in Ethiopian democratisation*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Kjetil Tronvoll
Kjetil Tronvoll*
Affiliation:
Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo, PO Box 6706St. Olavs plass, 0130 Oslo, Norway
*
Email: kjetil.tronvoll@nchr.uio.no
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Abstract

The ‘non-electoral context’ of elections is often overlooked in democratisation studies, in order not to obscure an otherwise clear model or theory of transition. A key challenge for research on democratisation processes is to balance electoral ‘formalities’ with contextual factors, qualitative perceptions and non-electoral issues, in order to reach a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of democratic transitions. This article advocates a multilayered approach to – or a ‘thick description’ of – elections, as this will capture the diversity of real life experiences and expose alternative power discourses competing with the electoralist one in influencing the path of democratisation. In so doing, it casts light on the crucial impact of the Eritrean–Ethiopian war on Ethiopia's 2005 election, in addition to other qualitative and contextual factors, which lead to the conclusion that the advancement of democracy through multiparty elections in Ethiopia under the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has failed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , September 2009 , pp. 449 - 474
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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Footnotes

*

I wish to thank Tobias Hagman and Staffan Lindberg for useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper, and the two anonymous readers of JMAS for insightful comments on the present version. Work on this paper was made possible by research grant no. 165669/V10 from the Norwegian Research Council. Possible errors and wrong interpretations made in the article are my responsibility alone.

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