ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with two concerns in the conceptualisation of the state in Ethiopia. One is the difficulty of locating its place. There is a long tradition of viewing the state in Ethiopia as exceptional in African studies. The exceptionalism thesis generally focuses on Ethiopia’s long history of statehood and the absence of colonial experience. This chapter challenges the exceptionalism thesis and argues that Ethiopia represents one sociocultural and political formation in a diverse continent. The second concern is the problem of locating the historical and conceptual specificity of the Ethiopian state. The chapter discusses and problematizes some of the dominant perspectives on the conceptualisation of the Ethiopian state in light of the theoretical perspective of this book and establishes the broad context for an ethnographic study of the state in Ethiopia.
