ABSTRACT
While Ethiopia’s historic policies around Islam exemplify the patterns of securitization embedded in the security culture of ‘siege mentalities’, this chapter examines such characteristics in contemporary Ethiopia by looking at the implications of historical factors, domestic developments, regional and global post-9/11 contexts, and the ‘Arab Spring’ since 2011. This chapter integrates a theoretical approach with policy frameworks and institutional practices in an effort to draw a clear picture of the topic at hand. In the context of securitization theory, securitization is primarily a phenomenon of ‘speech acts’ where the utterance by itself transfers the issue from the realm of normal politics to that of a security matter that necessitates the use of extraordinary measures. Here, success is measured in terms of audiences’ acceptance of the issue as a security threat that allows the relevant actors to take extraordinary measures against the issue at hand. In this chapter, it is argued that the Copenhagen’s approach (CHS hereafter) understanding of securitization requires a political culture specific to democratic systems as it relies on the general public for the success of securitization as a process. The result of this study reveals that securitization of Islam in Ethiopia is not only a phenomenon of speech acts, but has also brought about legislative changes and institutional practices that negatively affect the lives and interactions of Ethiopian Muslims. Contrary to CHS theory, the findings of this chapter show that the role of audiences in the securitization process is irrelevant in the Ethiopian context. Thus, it argues that in a political culture that is not wholly democratic, the extent of securitization has to be measured based on extraordinary approaches rather than on a mere acceptance by the general public.
