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Ethiopia underwent a transformation in its political landscape in 1991, in which ethnicity has been formally institutionalized. Although the Ethiopian Experiment´ of ethnicity has been in place for nearly two decades, it is still under varying degrees of academic and political controversies. While some criticize formal ethnicism as a threat to national integrity, others are concerned to incompatibilities between the rhetoric and the practice. This book, by complementing theoretical frameworks to empirical evidences, provides comprehensive insight into the national discourse on ethnic politics and local realities taking the Guji-Gedeo relationship in south Ethiopia as a case point. Because of its interdisciplinary nature the book can be used as a reference by scholars in the field of political science, anthropology and history.

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Asebe Regassa graduated from University of Troms› (Norway) in Mphil in Indigenous Studies in 2007. Currently he is a PhD candidate in African Studies at Bayreuth University, Germany. Asebe´s PhD project is on ´The Politics of Participatory Development in Ethiopia´.

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