ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 discusses contemporary literature on authoritarian survival and examines what the central arguments in select works have to say with respect to understanding authoritarian resilience or survival in the case of Ethiopia. In so doing, the chapter points out that, although some of the literature’s contribution to our understanding of the topic is immense, more research is needed to fully comprehend cases from sub-Saharan African states in general, and anomalous cases such as Ethiopia in particular. Moreover, the chapter also analyses the literature on the institutional design of ethnic federalism as a choice for devising a system of government. Then it presents and analyses scholarly debates on whether ethnic federalism might promote or hamper the implementation and/or safeguarding of important national agendas for a given state that adopts it. In this regard, the chapter discusses the compatibility of an ethnically constituted federal setting on questions related to managing ethnic conflict, promoting national unity, pushing for democratization, and spurring economic development.
