ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the continuation of discussions from Chapter 2. By focusing on the political history of contemporary Ethiopia’s two particular regimes (the military regime and the TPLF-led EPRDF coalition), it shows the pervasive nature of the country’s political culture, which defined elite interactions in much of what is mostly considered as Ethiopia’s patrimonial and neo-patrimonial political periods. In doing so, the chapter shows the viciousness in the culture of elite interaction, which can be seen in different forms. In particular, how the EPRDF elite, formerly dominated by the TPLF, exploited the constitutional and institutional settings the coalition devised and relied on the parties’ political machines to prolong their hold on political power is discussed in great detail in the second part of the chapter.
