ABSTRACT
After the political change that took place in 1991, greater emphasis by the incoming EPRDF-led coalition administration was given to the promotion of group (ethnic) rights, which has guided incumbent political elites’ choices for the types of institutional designs desired and implemented in Ethiopia since then. Hence, the federal government’s policies and regulations were formulated and enacted with the goals of empowering ethnic groups and ethnic political organizations that represent them given more leeway than those promoting individual rights and with national unity agendas. With this in mind, this theoretical chapter indicates that elites that are behind the making of such institutional choices have effectively manipulated them in ways that were convenient for the political tactics that ensured the survival of the authoritarian incumbent. The chapter concludes that the rights promotion agenda has failed to deliver on its promises. Moreover, the ways in which institutional frameworks were utilized to promote group rights have also led to the suppression of minority and individual rights across most member regions of the ethnically formed federation of Ethiopia. In addition, the chapter also presents a brief discussion concerning group and individual rights with respect to the comparative politics literature’s debate on the topic.
