The Fifth International Conference on Federalism
Next month, from 13th to 16th December, Ethiopia will be hosting the Fifth International Conference on Federalism. This is the latest in a series of conferences organized by the Forum of Federations. Earlier meetings were held in Canada in 1999, Switzerland in 2002, Belgium in 2005 and India in 2007. Ethiopia joined the Forum of Federations in 2006. The other members are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria and Switzerland, though there are over twenty countries in the world which have federal constitutions. The Forum currently works in several countries in Africa including Nigeria, South Africa and Sudan as well as Ethiopia. The meeting in New Delhi three years ago attracted over a thousand delegates from some 116 countries. Attendees included Presidents and Heads of Government and of international organizations, ministers and officials as well as leading practitioners and scholars of federalism. Next month's conference in Addis Ababa will attract similar attendance.
The theme of this Conference in Addis Ababa will be “Equality and Unity in Diversity for Development”, reflecting the need for sustainable development in federal, federalizing or decentralizing states in Africa and other non-Western regions of the world. Sustainable development requires equality and unity in diversity, and these are qualities necessary for the emergence and building up of social peace and democracy. Within the broad theme, the topics of the conference have been chosen to reflect the interests of Ethiopia as well as to those countries interested in federalism in all its aspects: the Federalism and the Democratization Process; the Impacts of Regionalization and Globalization on Federations; Unity in Diversity through Federalism; Federalism and Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution; Fiscal Federalism and Equitable Development.
Three years ago, in New Delhi, Prime Minister Meles told delegates to the fourth Conference on Federalism that Ethiopia had come to New Delhi to learn from India with its vibrant and successful traditions of democracy and academic research on federalism, to learn from other federations, and to make Ethiopia's own modest contributions in sharing experiences. With over eighty ethnic and linguistic groups, Ethiopia, the Prime Minister emphasized, was rich in diversity and it was perhaps natural that its new democracy had been a federation, as “perhaps the best means of accommodating diversity in the context of a democratic polity”. The Prime Minister noted that federalism in Ethiopia had had the benefit of all late comers in being able to benefit from the experiences generated by older federations, but he also underlined the unique elements of Ethiopia's federal elements, including “the explicit identification of ethnic and linguistic groups as the basis for state structuring and the full recognition of the right of the constituent parts of the federation to secede from it if they so wish by our constitution.”
Past conferences have contributed significantly to the growing implementation of a “community of practice” on federalism. This meeting, however, will be the first to be held in Africa and it will offer the unique chance to provide African perspectives in the discussions on the achievements and challenges of federalism. Ethiopia, of course, is one of the few African countries which have opted for a federal democratic system, after the overthrow of the military dictatorship in 1991. Unusually, it also chose ethnicity as the underlying principle with members of the federation moulded by “settlement patterns, language, identity and consent of the people concerned,” as expressed in the formulation of the preamble of the Constitution “We the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia”. Minorities are specially acknowledged in the federal Parliament or provided with self-governed administrative units at local level, underlining nationality rights as a major element of the Constitution. As a result, the conference will be able to provide a forum for the sharing of national experiences and learning from regional examples within Ethiopia, as well as creating a national consensus among the country's nations, nationalities and peoples. As part of the national activities in advance of the conference, the Secretariat of the Conference has organized a series of discussions throughout the country, in Gambella, Jijiga, Harar, Dire Dawa, Adama, Hawassa, Bahr Dar and other towns, on the question of “What does Federalism mean to me?”, discussing how federalism has changed communities, and raising public awareness of the Conference.