ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to evaluate the accomplishments and failures of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in terms of the major promises it made upon coming to power in Ethiopia. EPRDF's move to make elections an important instrument for gaining legitimacy can be viewed as a positive development in a country whose history was bedevilled by the paucity of all-inclusive elections and representative politics. The chapter provides a brief overview of the organisation of state power at the federal and sub-national levels in post-1991 Ethiopia. Whereas the federal legislature is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives (HPR) and the House of Federation (HF), regional and sub-regional legislative assemblies, known as councils, are unicameral. The judicial system is organised into a three-tier hierarchy, namely first instance, high and supreme courts at both federal and regional levels. The chapter also focuses on EPRDF's economic policy and practice, the civil service, the media, civil society and political parties.
