Laying the Past to Rest

Book excerpt: The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), founded as a small guerrilla movement in 1974, became the leading party in the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). After decades of civil war, the EPRDF defeated the government in 1991, and has been the dominant party in Ethiopia ever since. Its political agenda of federalism, revolutionary democracy and a developmental state has been unique and controversial. Drawing on his own experience as a senior member of the TPLF/EPRDF leadership, and his unparalleled access to internal documentation, Mulugeta Gebrehiwot Berhe identifies the organizational, political and sociocultural factors that contributed to victory in the revolutionary war, particularly the Front's capacity for intellectual leadership. Charting its challenges and limitations, he analyses how the EPRDF managed the complex transition from a liberation movement into an established government. Finally, he evaluates the fate of the organization's revolutionary goals over its subsequent quarter-century in power, assessing the strengths and weaknesses the party has bequeathed to the country. Laying the Past to Rest is a comprehensive and balanced analysis of the genesis, successes and failings of the EPRDF's state-building project in contemporary Ethiopia, from a uniquely authoritative observer.