This special issue is organized on the most pressing issues that face Ethiopia today as it tries to transition from years of turbulent political experimentation and adventurism to sustainable futures of unity, peace, democracy and development. Each article comes from a knowledgeable academic or public intellectual devoted to apply reality-based analysis and offer policy options for a united, peaceful and democratic Ethiopia. Each paper is intended to be a pithy discourse that offers a critical analysis of a thematic problem and offer a road map for all Ethiopians to unleash their potential by redirecting their social and political energy away from mutually destructive nihilistic tendencies of the past decades and toward a future that promises harmony and progressive engagements for collective uplift. Taking advantage of a window of opportunity afforded by the current administration to offer a rare chance for rational choices, this special issue hopes to make a constructive contribution to buttress the positive momentum. It is intended to bring to bear intellectual and analytic skills within the diaspora in the U.S. and elsewhere to help educate and inform long term institutional and policy options to transform Ethiopia into a peaceful and progressive modern state.

Essays

1. ኢትዮጵያዊነት ምንድ ነው? ዶ/ር ኀይሌ ላሬቦ

2. Individual and Collective Rights Conflict or Harmony? Dr. Alemante Gebreselassie

3. Political Conjectures about the Transition from Authoritarianism to Democracy and Tasks for Constructing Integrative Federalism in Contemporary Ethiopia. Dr. Paulos Milkias

4. Federalism: Application for Ethiopia. Dr. Theodore M. Vestal

5. Kifle Hagers vs. Killils, Citizen vs. Subject: The Case for Restoring the 1974 Non-Tribal Provincial Administrative Areas in Ethiopia. Dr. Assefa Mehretu

6. The Nature and Challenges of Ethnicity: The Case of Ethiopia. Dr. Messay Kebede

7. Human Rights in Ethiopia: Looking Back and Moving Forward. Dr. Almaz Zewde

8. National Reconciliation Commission for Ethiopia. Dr. Lulsegged Abebe and Dr. Berhanu Mengistu

9. Good Governance with Checks and Balances in Ethiopia. Dr. Getachew Begashaw

10. Regional Integration for Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa. Dr. Daniel Kendie

11. The Role of the Ethiopian Diaspora in Ethiopia. Dr. Solomon Getahun

12. A State-Private Partnership Model of Development for a Post-EPRDF Ethiopia. Dr. Berhanu Abegaz

13. Transforming Agriculture to Combat Food Insecurity, and Absolute Poverty in Ethiopia: Challenge and Opportunities for the Future. Dr. Sisay Asefa

14. Prospects and Challenges for Developing Securities Markets in Ethiopia: An Analytical Review. Dr. Asrat Tessema

Commentaries

15. Ethiopia in Transition. By Tekalign Gedamu

16. Ethiopia in Transition or Ethiopia at Crossroads? By Dr. Teshome Abebe

Dossier

Emperor Haile Selassie’s Last Visit to the White House: Memorandum of Conversation with President Richard Nixon

Africa’s Cultural Ambassador, African knowledge broker, and Continental Bridge Builder are just few of the names Elias Wondimu was called in his life in the United States. After careful examination of the American media landscape and book market, an exiled journalist from Ethiopia, Wondimu discovered that stories and subjects from Africa or its residents in the diaspora are tagged negatively, ignoring the positive, subtleties and nuances that define them. As a solution, he started a media company—TSEHAI Publishers, which gives socially responsible publications and fill the void that exists in the market place. Wondimu often says that he doesn’t have a five years plan but of fifty, that aims to empower the next generation; so that they become the change that we want to see in the world.