Past Event

The Institute of African Studies  presents

“The 2015 Ethiopian general election and the Opposition: The end of coalitions?”

with

Jean-Nicolas Bach, Sciences Po Bordeaux

The presentation will deal with the recent ambition of some former kinijit members (the successful coalition in the 2005 election) to recreate such a coalition in 2014, through merging two of the most important right-wing Ethiopian parties: the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, and the All-Ethiopia Unity Party. The merger eventually failed. From a dream to unite, instead both parties are now fragmented due to internal and external pressures. The presentation aims to trace the key moments (“moments forts”) of this failed project (2014-2015) and what it reveals concerning the current Ethiopian party system.

Jean-Nicolas Bach holds a PhD in political science from the University of Bordeaux (2011, Sciences Po Bordeaux). He his currently Associate Researcher in Les Afriques dans le Monde, Sciences Po Bordeaux, where he has been coordinating a program on contemporary political and security issues in the Horn of Africa (see lam.sciencespobordeaux.fr/fr/programme-recherche/observatoire-pluriannuel-des-enjeux-politiques-et-securitaires-dans-la-corne-de). He has been working on contemporary Ethiopia since 2007, conducting numerous fieldwork trips there. His current research aims at studying the Ethiopian state from the margins, particularly the view of marginalized political actors within the political field such as opposition militants. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton.

Poster: Bach