ABSTRACT
The politicization of ethnicity and the instrumentalization of inter-ethnic competition have long plagued political developments and contributed to conflict, insecurity, and electoral stand-offs in various countries of the Horn of Africa and elsewhere. Often acclaimed as a means to manage diversity, to calm inter-ethnic rivalry, to counter state failure of centralization, and to bring social, economic, and political justice to the people, decentralization and constitutional reforms have been promoted by various actors from international organizations and donors to national governments in Africa. This chapter aims at discussing and comparing political action and constitutional choices in contemporary Ethiopia and Kenya. It looks at the socio-political conditions that led to these specific decentralized governance schemes and their performance in ‘managing diversity’, as well as at changes and continuities of citizenship rights build in the cultural doctrines, and their effects on peace-building and political development as a whole.
