ABSTRACT
Contrary to our expectation of an authoritarian state with a low local government score, Ethiopia has fulfilled all the formal requirements for representative SNGs; but the heavy-handed use of dominance as a strategy of manipulation of SNGs has, together with a gradual development of the regime in a more authoritarian direction during the last decade, challenged the boundary between what we define as decentralised autocracy and a totalitarian system. The establishment of fine-grained structures of local government has entailed a dramatic increase in the presence of administrative officials at the local level who are predominantly ruling party cadres that are actively used for mobilising in pre-election periods, for surveying the population and intimidating any kind of opposition. It has also entailed a massive upsurge in the number of the local population participating in local affairs. The introduction of SNGs in Ethiopia has clearly contributed to a strengthening of the regime in power and has practically closed the space for contestation from opposition parties. Instead of securing cooperation and providing co-optation of opposition parties, representative SNGs have assured cohesion within the ruling party and in society as a whole.
