Drawing on nine case studies, this book offers a comparative ethnography of the contested powers that shape democratization in Ethiopia. Focusing on the competitive 2005 elections, the authors analyze how customary leaders, political parties and state officials confronted each other during election time.

CONTENTS List of Maps, Photographs, Tables and Charts ...vii Notes on Contributors ...ix List of Acronyms ...xi Introduction Traditional Authorities and Multi-Party Elections in Ethiopia ... 1 Kjetil Tronvoll & Tobias Hagmann Chapter 1 Electoral Politics in the Nuer Cultural Context ...31 Dereje Feyissa Chapter 2 Fishing for Votes in the Somali Region: Clan Elders, Bureaucrats and Party Politics in the 2005 Elections ...61 Tobias Hagmann Chapter 3 Family Connections: Inherited Status and Parliamentary Elections in Dawro, Southern Ethiopia ...89 Data Dea Barata Chapter 4 A Revival of Tradition? Th e Power of Clans and Social Strata in the Wolayta Elections ...111 Lovise Aalen Chapter 5 Cynicism and Hope: Urban Youth and Relations of Power During the 2005 Ethiopian Elections ...137 Daniel Mains Chapter 6 Islam and Politics: The EPRDF, the 2005 Elections and Muslim Institutions in Bale ...165 Terje Ostebo Chapter 7 'We Say they are Neftenya; They Say we are OLF': A Post-Election Assessment of Ethnicity, Politics and Age-Sets in Oromiya ...193 Charles Schaefer Chapter 8 Customary Institutions in Contemporary Politics in Borana Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia ...221 Marco Bassi Chapter 9 Th e 2005 Elections in Maale: A Reassertion of Traditional Authority or the Extension of a Nascent Public Sphere? ...251 Donald L. Donham Epilogue The 'New' Ethiopia: Changing Discourses of Democracy ...269 Kjetil Tronvoll Index ...289