CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO CIVICS AND ETHICAL

EDUCATION

1.1 Overview and definition of Civics and Ethical Education

Every society faces the challenge of educating succeeding generations of
young people for competent, responsible, effective and ethical citizenship.
Civic and Ethical education must go far beyond merely having students
memorize the structures and functions of government. It must be more
beyond knowledge–basic civic and ethical education and to be used this
knowledge as a foundation for developing the skills and forge new
attitudes, and life-long commitment that are conducive to living and
participating effectively in a society.

It has been recently recognized that education has a civic and ethical
mission: to prepare informed, rational, humane, ethical, responsible and
participating citizens in affairs of the nation and the society. This
prepares students for responsible and ethical citizenship for productive
employment and effective participation. It makes them involved in
activities that promote and demonstrate good citizenship, community
service, and personal responsibility.

The effective, responsible, and ethical participation requires of students

the acquisition of a body of knowledge, intellectual and participatory
skills and embark attitudinal change. Effective and responsible
participation is also furthered by development of certain sets of
dispositions or traits of character that enhance the individual’s capacity
to participate in the political and social systems and hence contribute
profoundly to the healthy functioning of the political system,
improvement and prosperity of society.

Progress, prosperity and democratic solidarity can only be realized if the

young generation is made aware of its own identity, and the identity and
the history of its own people and is also enabled to respect and to be
cognizant of the culture of hard work and basic civic and democratic
rights of citizens. Furthermore, the experience gained from the developed
countries presupposes that the citizen should be adequately armed with
the basic skills and funds of knowledge that are essentially required to
extricate his/her country out of the tentacles of poverty and
backwardness. This option is the only viable way to socialize and
internalize the youth of our country with the culture of civic and ethical
education.
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To date, our institutions of learning have not paid due attention to
produce citizens who are aware of the problems of the society and could
contribute their civic responsibility steeped in correct ethical conduct and
democratic culture.

At present, the ethical and moral problems and challenges that are
spreading like wild fire among the citizens and even among elites who
have shirked their public responsibility can be curtailed only through
concerted effort that may take a long period of time. But the task of
shaping the school youth along ethical values solidly rests upon the
education experts. The new generation should be grounded upon the good
values inherent in the society and should be given profound civic
knowledge on the organizational structure of government, and how it
works, ethics and morality, the constitution of the Ethiopian state
(FDRE), local and national policies, the human and democratic rights of
citizens and their responsibilities and so on. Therefore, it is necessary to
string them the initial work done in this field by defining clear objectives
and moving on towards their practical implementation.

1.2 Defining Civics and Ethics

Civic and ethical education is essentially about civic life and hence it is
about the public life of citizens concerned with affairs of the community
and nation. Hence civic life includes all aspects of societal life, and
others. Thus, civic education is aimed at laying favorable ground for the
prosperous civic life. To this end, student of all subject streams and
citizens at large should be well-informed, effective, ethical and responsible
citizens through civic and ethical education.

Etymologically the term civics comes from the Latin word “civis,” which
means citizens. And citizens are legal members of a nation. Therefore,
civic and ethical education is an education for citizenship. The primary
object of civic and ethical education is the citizen. But citizens must be
exposed to both domestic and international political, economic, social,
cultural… realities.

Definitions Civics and Ethics

1. Civics and ethical education is the study of the rights and
responsibilities of citizens accompanied by the necessary standards of
ethics and morality. Wherever you might reside, you are already a
member of a particular group(s). For example, you are a member of the
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family, a member of your village or “kebelle”, a member of your
administrative “Wereda” and zone, a member of your administrative
region, province, state, state and/or society at large. Besides, you may
also be a member of different kinds of civic organizations such as sport
clubs, “edirs”, pressure groups and/or interest groups and others. These
groups represent the interest of their members. Thus, in every of these
groups in which you are a member; there are benefits that you should
gain. You also have obligations or duties that you should fulfill.

The privileges or benefits that you are entitled to get are called your rights
while the obligations that you are required to fulfill are called your
responsibilities.

Essentially, a legal right has the following three elements.

1. Moral foundation and recognition: Rights are ethical or moral when
we deal with clams of individuals based on their real wills, and
therefore recognized by the community /society.
2. The goodness /wills/ common interest of society : a right must get
universal application and hence rendering a public service
3. Protection by the state: rights are legal when they are translated in to
law and legal protected by the state.

Therefore, a legal right is a claim of individual(s) that is recognized and

accepted by a society, and translated into law and protected by the state.
On the other hand, responsibilities are obligations that everyone is
required to fulfill. In other words, responsibility is the duty or obligation
of a person or a group to do something and not to do some thing.
Essentially, rights and responsibilities are inseparable. They are two sides
of a coin. That means, in demanding your rights, you have to fulfill your
responsibilities. You cannot make use of your rights by ignoring your
responsibilities.

Responsibility can be classified in to two categories. These are:

1. Individual responsibility: refers to the moral and legal obligation of
citizens to care for and take responsibility for themselves and
their activities.
2. Collective Responsibility: refers to the obligation shared by all
members of a group, community or nation to promote common
good.

For the group to be successful in attaining its objectives, members must

know and discharge their rights and responsibilities. Every member must

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know what to do and what not to do. Failure to know rights and
responsibilities may lead you to do what you are not expected to do. In
such situations, it may be very difficult or impossible for the group to
achieve its established objectives. In short, unless members of a group
know and discharge their rights and responsibilities, they cannot properly
operate within the group laws and regulations. This implies that if
citizens fail to know their rights and obligations, the society or/and
nation cannot achieve its established objectives; that is, the betterment
and prosperity of the society.

Citizens have rights and responsibilities that do not apply to non-citizens.

Some of the rights of citizens include the right to participate in the
decision–making process of government at various levels, the right to vote
and to be elected, equal opportunity to work and so on. The
responsibilities of citizens include, among others, loyalty for their state
and respect for the law of the land (Constitution of the state) and other
ordinary/specific laws.

2. Civic and ethical education is primarily an education in self –

government. Self–government implies active participation and
involvement in self – governance; not passive acquiescence in the actions
of others. Self–government implies also controlling one’s own actions,
behaviours etc. Governance is an act or manner of governing or
controlling. Such governance includes governance of labour unions,
business set–ups, schools, private organizations and associations,
governmental institutions, political parties, interest or/and pressure
groups etc. In short, it is the governance of civic and political
organizations and institutions.

The focus of civic and ethical education in lower grade levels is to prepare
students to take part in the ethical and legal governance of their
classroom, clubs, school property, games and sports, reading rooms, etc.
It begins with their classes, schools, and social groups and then, at
appropriate levels dealing with formal political and civic institutions and
processes. The classical political thinker, Aristotle, explicitly states that:
“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in
democracy, they will be attained when all persons alike take part in
government to the utmost.” The words of Aristotle reflect the view that the
ideals of democracy are most completely fulfilled when every member of
the political community actively shares and effectively participate in
government, i.e., when every individual become member in the sovereign
body politic.
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3. Civic and ethical education is development of active, effective and
responsible participation in citizenship. This is possible when students
learn about and appreciate their own rights, duties, obligations and
responsibilities as citizens and the immediate rules, laws and governance
structures within which one exercises citizenship. Participation in
citizenship is the basis of all other forms of participation in development.
Democracy underpins successful development and that successful
development is the outcome of popular self–government and
representative participation not only at the project level but more
importantly participation in citizenship. Effective participation in a
modern and complex world is unlikely to occur without a concerted effort
to create effective programmes of civic and ethical education.

Ethical and responsible participation in decision–making process is a key

indicator of a competent and responsible citizen. It is not any kind of
participation by any kind of citizen; rather, it is the participation of
informed and responsible, and ethical citizens. The participation should
be meaningful both in government and in their communities. That is why
you are required to acquire participatory skills and forge new attitudes in
civics and ethical education.

Ethics is a branch of philosophy and/or political science that studies

what constitutes good and bad human conduct, including related actions
and values. In other words, it deals with what is good and bad, with
moral duty and obligation. It is an area of study that is concerned with
the scarification of fragmental moral or ethical concepts, principles, and
the critical discussion of positions and perspectives.

It attempts to raise fundamental moral questions and to provide logical

and meaningful answers to them. It also attempts to determine precisely
what moral standards to follow so that our actions may be morally right
or good for most of us. Ethical actions spring from some standards.
However, ethical principles do not have uniform application throughout
the world. There is difference among people in selecting and applying
ethical standards.

To bear in mind again, it is experience that brings about these

differences. A youth for he lacks experience of the actions in life which
civics and ethical education dictates from and about, tends to be guided
by his feelings. Therefore, civic and ethical education is an education
aiming at filling this gap.

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1.3 The Significance and Goals of Civics and Ethical Education
The first and primary reason for civic and ethical education in a
constitutional democracy like that of Ethiopia is that the health of the
body politic requires the widest possible citizens’ participation
consistently according to the public interest and respecting the rights of
individuals as well. The aim of civic and ethical education is, therefore,
not just any kind of participation by any kind of citizen; it is the
participation of informed, responsible and ethical citizens, skilled in the
arts of deliberation of effective and responsible actions.

No one’s civic potential can be fulfilled without forming and maintaining

an intention to pursue the common good; to protect individuals form
unconstitutional abuses by government and form attacks on their rights
from any source, public or private; to seek the broad knowledge and
wisdom that informs judgment of public affairs; and to develop the skill to
use that knowledge effectively. Such values, perspectives, knowledge, and
skill in civic matters make responsible and effective civic participation
possible.

The focus of civics and ethical education constitutes that development,

promotion, maintenance, and sustenance the health of the body politic.
What does body politic refers to? Some people tend to consider politics as
the concern of few individuals perhaps of the people who hold top political
positions in the government structure or public administration. Hence
they keep themselves always at a distance from political affairs at least
theoretically.

However, body politic involves a wider interpretation. Man by nature is a

political animal. This implies that no one can live out of politics even
those who do not want so. Still “personal is political”. Thus, all human
interactions, either consciously of unconsciously, would involve politics.
This includes the entire indoor interaction that exists between a husband
and a housewife.

Therefore, the body politic refers to the overall social structure,

institutions, norms, values, and the possible interactions, which people
would have in their daily life. In this regard the goal of civic and ethical
education is to keep the social system healthy.

In line with this, knowledge, skills, ethics and morality, forging new
attitudes, and of self-governance, and active civic participation, is the

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essence of civic and ethical education. Civic and ethical education in
democratic system has a pivotal role because, if liberty and equality, as is
thought by many, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be
attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost. This
is to say that all citizens should develop the desired frequency and
qualitative participation of citizenship. In this respect, there are four
fundamental goals of Civics and Ethical Education. These are:

1. Building civic competence of citizens: Civic competence is the capacity or

ability to participate effectively in the political as well as social systems. In
newly democratic or democratizing countries where people are just
beginning to learn the arts of self-government and even in countries
where there are developed democratic institutions, there are limits of civic
competence.

If citizens were required to be effective in participation, it would

presuppose a certain level of civic competence on the part of citizens. In
this regard, there are common forms of participation that characterize
competent citizens.

Focus:
Common forms of participation
 To follow information through mass media
 To discuss public issues.
 Voting
 To take part in civic and political organizations (joining interest
groups, pressure groups, political parties, non-governmental
institutions…)
 To participate in different assemblies and forums.
 To participate in large scale tasks… like campaigns.
 To collect petition and present complaints when necessary.
 To participate in peaceful demonstrations and holding public
opinions.
 To encourage and support journalists, human right activists
and organizations and senior citizens for their constructive and
responsible critics of government works, policies, etc.

2. Promoting the Culture of Civic Responsibility: Civic responsibility is the

reasoned commitment to fulfill the obligations of citizenship. Some of
these obligations or responsibilities among others, are listed in the box
below:

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  To respect others right.
 To Vote.
 To study issues.
 To limit government to its constitutional limits, i.e., to make
the constitution effective.
 To help one’s family, neighbors etc through voluntary service.
 To evaluate people’s representatives.
 To pay taxes.
 To give military service when necessary.
 To influence government policy.
 To improve quality of government functioning, etc.

3. Enhancing and sustaining the moral and ethical values and

virtues of our society.

4. To produce effective citizens: that is, citizens who have awareness, are
sensitive to societal needs, problems, and opportunities. Moreover, it is
also needed that know – how, skills and knowledge, the capacity for
intelligent action. In general, civic and ethical education is to enable
citizens to participate ethically, competently and responsibly in the
monitoring and influencing of public policies.

1.4 Sources of Civics and Ethics

Civic and Ethical studies by its nature in interdisciplinary. That is, a
particular subject that borrows its contents and methods form different
fields of studies. Therefore, the foundation of civic and ethical education
lays on theories, principles as well as findings of different fields. There are
three sources; the first two being very crucial sources.

1. Theoretical Sources

It includes the following fields of studies:

 Political Science and International Relations: It is the study of how

societies determine the way in which they will govern themselves. In
other words, it is the study of how societies make public policies
through their government. Hence, it focuses our attention to those who
have the authority to allocate values for the rest of the society. Put it
differently, this field of study helps citizens to be aware of the structure
and function of their government, i.e., system of governance and the
nature of the political system in their country. It also helps to keep
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 citizens informed about contemporary issues both domestically as well
as internationally. Political Science and International Relations also
exposes citizens to comparative political system s of many other states
so that they will be aware of various political systems, their similarities
and differences. Besides, political science helps citizens to know their
rights such as democratic rights, human rights, economic rights,
political rights etc and discharge their responsibilities.
 Philosophy: Ethics is one branch of philosophy that deals about what
constitutes good and bad human conduct, and related values and
actions. Thus, philosophy helps civic and ethical education to deal with
human behaviors, acts, decisions and moral values of individuals,
groups, and societies in general. Therefore, philosophy also has a
significant contribution to civic and ethical education to a quaint
people with different moral principles, codes, and practices.
 Law: This also helps citizens to know and appreciate their
constitutional rights and responsibilities, to distinguish what is legal
from illegal action or decision or behavior.
 Sociology: Since sociology is the study of society at large, civic and
ethical education borrows some of sociological and anthropological
facts.
 Economics: economic activities are basic aspects of life in every
society. So such activities are inseparable form political, social,
cultural and environmental conditions in a given society.
 History: helps citizens to acquire knowledge of the past activities so
that they will be motivated for the future advancement of their country.
 Geography: also helps citizens to understand the impact of geographic
setting of their country in relation to their region and the world at
large, i.e., they will be informed about the political, economic and
cultural… impacts of geographic location of their country and other
states.

Therefore, civic and ethical education is an interdisciplinary subject that

produces citizens of wide scope of knowledge.

2. Documentary Sources
These include:
_constitution
_Civil and criminal codes
_Commercial code etc

3. Social Sources: These include: Families, religious institutions, exemplary

citizens etc
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 CHAPTER TWO: THE ESSENCE OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT

2.1 Understanding the State

The word ‘state’, in a literal sense, is used in different ways. It refers to a
‘condition’ or to a ‘description’ of things; it also refers to anything that is
‘official’ in contrast to a thing that is under private ownership and control.
It may also become a synonym with the ’government’. But, it has a
technical expression implying a human association having four essential
elements – population, territory, government, and Sovereignty.

Focus
The state is a political association or entity that establishes sovereign
jurisdiction within a defined territorial borders and exercise authority
through a set of institutions overall the members of society. Put it
differently, the state is a political unit that has the highest (ultimate)
sovereignty and responsibility for the conduct of its own affairs internally
as well as externally being with in a defined territorial borders over the
members of a society through a set of institutions and organizations.

Among the institutions and organizations that are included with in state
are: Courts, police departments, legitimate regulatory agencies, executive
offices, and the military. Taken together, these specialized institutions
and organizations of the state have the monopoly over the legitimate use
of force within a given authority. Hence, the state is all the specialized
institutions and organizations in which power over a given geographic is
concentrated. Therefore, a state is distinctive feature of modern societies.

Focus
A Nation refers to a large group of people who are bound together, and
recognize a similarity among themselves, because of a common culture; in
particular, a common language seems important in certain nation hood.
In other words, nation refers to the cultural bonds that give a sense of
shared identity to a group of people who occupy and aspire to occupy the
same geographic territory. Therefore, a nation is a collective identify
shared by people living within certain frontiers as a result of their
common history (plus a good deal of mythology dramatizing the past),
expectation of remaining together in the future and, and usually a
common language that allows them to communicate more easily with one
another than with the inhabitants of neighboring nations who speak
different language.

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On the other hand, government is a body of organs such as the legislative
(the law-making), the executive (the law-enforcing), and the judiciary (law-
interpreting) that deals with the affairs of the whole country being the
administrative wing of country.

2.2 Origin and Development of State

The origin and development of state may subject to mystery predicating

that the state is originated and developed in many different ways. And,
hence, various theories presupposed different factors, which are
reconciled to a large extent that causes the state formation. For the sake
of convenience for this module, a holistic (comprehensive) approach that
is synthesized forms and factors are used here. This approach/theory is
known as evolutionary theory, which consists of all the major
compelling factors that have caused the origin and development of state.
Generally, according to this theory, two points have been emphasized.
These are:
A. The State not a make, but a growth; and
B. Not one but many factors have played their part in state
building.

Consequently, this theory dwells on the fact that the state is the result of
a very long process of evolution and hence there many factors that have
played pivotal role in their part in its origin and gradual development.
These are the following:

Kinship: Blood relationship is the first and foremost factor that led to the
creation of family as the first unit of collective life. The family became a
tribe and tribes eventually create society and society at length creates the
state. Hence, the state is the eventual extension of the family. This is
associated with what is known as Genetic theory, which is based on
sociological facts.

Religion. Religion emerged out of the way of life of the people living in
the families and tribes. It assumed the form of social practices associated
with worshipping some objects of nature of some mystical forces. When
the bond of kinship became weak, the bond of religion strengthened the
relation.

Social contract/ Agreement: This theory was based in large on the

notion that the authority of the ruler is based on some kind of agreement
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between ruler and his subjects. It regarded people as the source of
authority. In other words, men had originally created the state by means
of a social contract (agreement) to which each individual had
consented. Three of the best known and most influential social contract
theorists were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean–Jacques Rousseau.

Force (Physical Force): - Another of actor is that the state is the

consequence of the forcible subjugation through long continued war-fare
among primitive groups; i.e. it is the result of wars and conflicts that have
been endemic in the history of human beings. History tells us that full of
tribal wars in which force decided the issue. The victors become the
masters and the conquered had to accept the religion and servitude of
their lords. The coercive force exercised by the leader eventually
developed in to political organization. This is known as force theory.

Economics: According to this factor, difference in occupation and in

wealth created social economic exploitation and the domination of one
class by another for purposes economic exploitation was an important
factor in the rise of state. Therefore, the state arose as a matter of
necessity when society was divided in to hostile classes, each having its
own interest. This theory takes into consideration one factor – the fact of
class contradictions. According to this theory, there was no state in the
most primitive stage of social life as there were no contending classes. The
origin of state, therefore, should be in the fact of class antagonisms. With
the invention of agriculture and creation of private property, the
dominant class came into being by virtue of being the owner of the means
of production. It required some authority to protect its interest that lay in
the exploitation and oppression of the class having no ownership of the
means of production but depending upon the sale of its labors power.

Primitive society that had no private property and no class had no state
either. Naturally, there were certain social functions, but men chosen by
all members of society, which had the right to dismiss these people at any
time and to appoint others, performed them. In those primitive times
relation between people were regulated by public opinion. The further
development of the productive forces led to the disintegration of primitive
society private property appeared, accompanied by classes such as slaves
and slave owners. It becomes necessary to protect private property, the
rule and security of its owners, and this brought the state in to being.
Therefore, the state is the produce of class society. Thus, state is not
something introduced into society for the outside, but is a product of
society’s internal development.
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The essence of this argument is that the state had not always existed and
it may not always exist also. It had come into being with the rise of class
contradictions, so it will wither away with the end of class antagonisms.

Political Consciousness: - The need of the people for their security of

their persons and property created the need for defense against external
attack and for social moral and intellectual development all these things
led to the emergence of political power (state) and the conscious
adaptation of political institution to meet certain definite ends or
purposes of a society.

2.3 Essential Elements of the State

The state is essentially characterized by the following four attributes:
population, defined territory, government, sovereignty and Recognition.
While the first two elements (population and territory) are taken as its
‘physical’ elements, the next two (government and sovereignty) are
regarded as its ‘spiritual’ or ‘metaphysical’ elements. Now, Let see and
examine these elements.

1. Population: Since state is a human association, the first essential

element that constitutes it is the people who are residing (living) within a
certain defined area. No minimum number is required to constitute the
population of a state. How much people constitute state? No exact answer
can be given to such a question. We have states with a population of
about 1.3. Billion as China and few thousand-population number like
San Marino. In this direction, we may appreciate the view of Aristotle that
the population of a state should neither be so large that administration
may be a problem nor so small that the people may not lead a life of peace
and stability.

Another question that arises at this stage is whether the population of a

state should be homogenous or not. It is good that the population of a
state is homogenous, because it makes the task of national integration
easy. But it is not necessary. Most of the states have a population marked
by diversity in respects of race, religion, language, culture etc. It signifies
the situation of ‘Unity in diversity’. Hence, a state is a human
institution created by people to serve some of their particular needs.

2. Defined Territory: There can be no state without a territory of its own.

Territory is second most essential attribute of modern statehood, i.e.
definite portions of the earth’s surface marked off from the portions

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occupied by population of other states. However, the state should have
more or less generally recognized limits, even if some of its boundaries are
undefined or disputed.

3. Government: Government is the soul and brain of the state. It

implements the will of the community. It protects the people against
conditions of insecurity. If state is regarded as the first condition of a
civilized life, it is due to the existence of a government that maintains law
and order and makes ‘good life’ possible. The government is the
machinery that terminates the condition of anarchy. Government is the
administrative wing of the state.

4. Sovereignty: is power over the people of an area unrestrained (unfettered)

by laws originating outside the area or independence completely free of
direct external control. It means the state is the final and ultimate source
of all laws with its territorial jurisdiction.

As already pointed out, sovereignty is the attribute of a state. It is a

creation of modern times. It is that highest power of the state that
distinguishes it from all other associations of human beings. It has two
aspects –internal and external.

i. Internal sovereignty: refers to a state’s government-not that of any

other states–deciding how it will manage its domestic affairs,
problems, and formulate its own laws and rules. In other words, it
means that inside the state there can be no other authority that may
claim equality with it.
ii. External sovereignty: In the external sphere, it implies that the country
should be free from foreign control of any kind and its right to define
its interests and decides what its objectives are to be, the priorities
among these objectives. It is, however, a different matter that a state
willingly accepts some intentional obligations in the form of
membership of the League of Nations or of the United Nations. The
existence of sovereign authority appears in the form of law. It is for
this reason that the law of the state is binding on all and its
violation is visited with suitable punishment.

It is universally admitted that a sovereign state is legally competent to

issue any command, which is binding on all citizens and their
association. Thus, sovereignty implies that the territory and population in
question must form no part of a wider political unit, nor must the

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territory contain any portion/s, which, while forming geographically a
part of it, are not a part of it, politically.

5. Recognition: for a political unit to be accepted as a state with an

“international personality” of its own, it must be recognized as such by a
significant portion of the international community. It follows that a state,
has five essential elements. As such, a proper definition of this term
should include its physical and spiritual elements. It is also required that
all the four elements should be studied in the order given above.
Therefore, the most appropriate definition of the state is that state is a
community of persons more or less numerous, permanently occupying a
definite portion of territory, independent or nearly so of external control,
and possessing an organized government to which the great body of
inhabitants render habitual obedience.

2.4 Forms of State Structure

The classification about the forms of state is related with structure and
distribution of state power. In history, commonly practiced forms of state
are unitary and federal forms of state. Confederations are also other
arrangements of states.

2.4.1 Unitary Form of State Structure

Unitarism is a form of state structure that is characterized by
centralization of power and indivisible sovereignty. The national
government is legally supreme over sub-national territorial bodies or
units. In other words, a unitary state is one in which no other
governmental body but the central government has any areas of public
that are exclusively under control. In a unitary state, sub national bodies
may be potentially over ruled by the central government in any political
decision they make.

In unitary government, there is only one source of authority whatever

local territorial units exist. Local units are merely agencies of the central
government established for its convenience in local administration. They
owe their legal existence to it (their power is increased or diminished or
their legal existence ended). Eg. Britain, the Netherlands, Romania,
Poland etc.

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 A. Essential Features of Unitary State
Distinctive/principal/ features of a unitary form of state structure include
the following:
i. Supremacy of the Central Legislature (Parliament) : There is only
one (unicameral) kind of legislature, which is invariably (always)
absolutely supreme. It is the only body that enacts and monitors the
law. Other bodies (sub-national bodies to implement the laws) are
made by the central legislature/parliament.
ii. Absence of Subsidiary Sovereign Bodies: Sovereignty is vested in the
national /central government and hence sub national bodies are not
sovereign because sovereignty in unitary form of state structure is
indivisible. But subsidiary legislatures can exist when represented by
the central government. However it can be ruined by the central
government at any time.
iii. Re-Centralization of Power at the Will of the National/Central
Government Unilaterally: This is to mean that power that may have
been decentralized to sub-national bodies can be re-centralized at the
will of the central government unilaterally.
iv. Unchecked Centralization of Power at the Center i.e. Sub national
bodies (regional, provincial and local bodies) can be reshaped,
reorganized and even abolished at will of the central government.
In the modern world, there are factors that inhibit centralized law
making processes. These are: -
a) Complexity of political, economic, and social conditions within the
confines of the state and at the international level.
b) Increased population size, and territory (internal demarcation)
c) Topography of the country
d) Population settlement
e) People's history, language, culture and psychological Make-up
etc.

A majority of states in the world are unitary systems. But there are great
differences among these unitary states in the institutions and procedures
through which their central government interact with their territorial
subunits. Unitary government does not necessarily mean highly
centralized government. Sub-national units can be granted some kind of
autonomy by national government, which has the legal authority to take
it back at any time it wishes. The degree of local autonomy varies from
state to state; for example: in Britain (United Kingdom) the statutes of
parliament (laws made by the parliament) have created local governments
so that local people may manage their local affairs. The actions of local
16
councils are not interfered unless they overstep the legal boundary. In
France, on the other hand, council of departments and communes are
subject to constant detailed supervision by central authority.

Despite the difference on the nature of center-local units relations in

general terms, Unitarism does not mean under-participation of the people
in the governance of their country. But there are possibilities of the
people to take part in the government through:

 Electing delegates (representatives) to parliament.

 Referendum
 Initiative of proposals
 Recall- the right of the people to take back or cancel decision
that is contrary to the interests of the people and also the right
to remove delegates from office.

B. Systems of Administrative Organizations in Unitary State

There are two types of territorial administrative organizations.

i. Administrative Region (Regional Administration): recognized as Centralized

Unitarism. The rationale for internal territorial division of
administrative regions can be done either from historical and
people's identity, or from the nature of politics, or for administrative
efficiency or for socio-economic development. The principle of
administrative region is realized by two major principles. i) National
Territorial Administrative Principle-the division is based on
ethnic identities... like language, culture etc. and ii) Administrative
Principle-whether the country is multinational or uninational, the
division of the territory is based on natural topography, people's
history and settlement and relations with socio-economic
development.
ii. Autonomous Region (Regional Autonomy) recognized as Decentralized
Unitarism. Such kind of internal territorial division seem federal
system (quasi-federal structured). But, the local parliament (council)
functions under the supervision of the central government and
constitution. The local people elect the members of the local
parliament, but in some countries judges are appointed by central
government. Both principles and practices of unitary government
administrative arrangements can be exercised simultaneously. The
case of Ethiopia (during Dergue Era) and Britain are examples of
situations existence of the two types of internal administrative
17
 arrangements, administrative regions and autonomous regions.

Potential Advantages and Disadvantages of Unitary form of State

Potential Advantages (merits): -
 The organization is relatively simple
 Conflict of jurisdiction is avoided
 Duplication of civil servants and services are comparatively rare
because powers and functions are centralized at the center
/National government.
 Uniformity of law, policy and administration can be maintained
throughout the whole state.
 It is advantageous to a country with relatively small area and
homogenous population. But it is not good in a country with widely
different economic and social interests and with widely different
standards of political conduct.
Potential Disadvantages (demerits): -
 Overburdens the national legislature with numerous local matters.
In fast changing world, the central authority cannot cope with and
maintain pace with the issues prevailing.
 Leaves distant authorities and may lack adequate knowledge of local
conditions to the determination of policies and the regulation of
matters, which may concern only the localities affected. Hence, it is
relatively less responsible to local needs and interests.
 Tends to be less responsive to local initiatives and interests in public
affairs and impairs the vitality of local government.
 It restrains the self-governance and self –determination of sub
national bodies /units.
 It facilitates the development of central bureaucracy.

2.4.2 Federalism: (Federal Form Of State Structure)

Federal form of state structure (federal state) is the form of state where by
power is formally (constitutionally) divided between the federal /National/
central government and Sub-National (Regional/or provincial)
government, each of which is locally supreme in its own sphere. In
federal state, the legislative authority is divided between a central or
federal government and sub national government.

It is a direct opposite of unitary government. It provides for an actual

division of powers between two or more nearly independent governments
each of which exercises control within its scope of authority, over the
18
same people. Generally federalism is a political union of different political
units (a creation against particularism and centralism).

Federalism is the basis of the political organization of several states of

today. It may vary from place to place and from time to time. The
indispensable quality of the federal state is a distribution of the powers of
government between the federal authority and the federating units. The
federal type of constitution has been adopted and is being adopted by a
number of nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America as a response to
their often widely diversified linguistic, territorial and political traditions,
e.g. Ethiopia, Nigeria, India, Brazil, USA, Canada, Australia, Germany etc.

A. Essential /Principal Features of Federal Form of State

i. The existence of Dual Polities: two relatively autonomous levels of
Government i.e. Both the federal /central government and sub
national (regional) state levels possess a range of powers and
functions that others cannot encroach.
ii. Written constitution: A federal state has a written (codified)
constitution. The written constitution stipulates formal
(constitutional) division of authority between the federal /central
government and sub national governments. The responsibilities and
powers of each level of government are defined in a codified or
written constitution. Therefore, the relationship between the federal
state and sub national regional states is conducted within a formal
legal framework.
iii. Supremacy of federal Government and Constitution : In most
states, the federal government and constitution is superior and
supreme over the sub national government and constitution in
conducting key issues and activities of the country. Federal
Authority and Federal units have constitution of their own. Though
federal units have their own local constitutions, they are
accountable to the federal constitution. The federal constitution
contains articles that stipulate (specify) about power sharing
(distribution), rights and duties of the federal authority and units
etc.
iv. Equal Power shared by the Federal Authority and Federal Units
(Decentralized Federalism). This does not mean they have equal
power in one affair, rather the reserve powers (power applied when
required but reserve until then) and federal powers are seen equally.
v. Absence of Re-centralization of Powers and Authority by the
central/federal government at its will or unilaterally.
19
 vi. Absence of amending the constitution or some of its provisions
by federal government unilaterally. Hence, it needs the consent or
agreement of the sub national/regional governments for amending
the federal constitution.
vii. Constitutional Arbiter. The formal provisions of the constitution
are interpreted by a supreme court (the judiciary) at the federal
level, which there by arbitrates in case of conflict (disputes) between
federal and regional government. In determining, the respective
fields of jurisdiction of each level, the judiciary in a federal level
(system) is able to determine. However, in Ethiopia, it is the House
of Federation (HF) that is lodged with the highest power of
interpreting the FDRE constitution.
viii. Linking institutions: In order to foster or develop cooperation,
partnership and understandings between the federal and regional
(sub national) governments, the regional (sub national) governments
must be given representation through a bi-cameral legislature.

B. Rationales for preferring Federal orders to a Unitary State

The following are among the major ones.

20
1. One of the chief reasons for advocating federal system is that, unlike
unitary systems, they give regional and local interests a
constitutionally guaranteed political voice. The states or provinces
exercise a range of autonomous powers and enjoy some measure of
representation in central government through the federal legislature.
Sub-units may thus check central authorities and prevent undue
action contrary to the will of minorities.
2. Federal orders may increase the opportunities for citizen
participation in public decision–making; through deliberation and
offices in both sub-unit and central bodies that ensure character
formation through political participation among more citizens.
3. Local and regional governments are usually closer to the people
and sensitive to their needs. This ensures that government responds
not merely to the overall interest of society, but also to the specific
needs of particular comminutes. Thus, federations may facilitate
efficient preference maximization more generally, as formalized in the
literature of economic and fiscal federalism.
4. Federal arrangements may promote mobility and hence territorial
clustering of individuals with similar preferences, and allow sub-unit
autonomy to experiment and compete for individuals who are free to
move where their preferences are best met. Such mobility towards sub-
unity with like-minded individuals adds to the benefit of local authority
over the provision of public services.
5. Local decisions prevent decision-making from becoming
overloaded in the central government and, thus, avoid inefficiency
and bureaucracy and bureaucratic chaos.

C. Processes of Federalism
Two processes of federalism may be identified.

i. ‘Holding Together’ Federations (Federalism by Disaggregation):

They develop from unitary state, as government’s response to alleviate
threats of secession by territorially clustered minorities. Such
federations often grant some sub-units particular domains of
sovereignty, for instances, over language and cultural rights in an
asymmetric federation, while maintaining broad scope of action for
central government and majorettes. Examples include Ethiopia, India,
Belgium, Canada and Spain.
ii. ‘Coming Together Federations’ (Federalism by Aggregation) :
Independent states may come together by ceding or pooling sovereign
powers in certain domain for the sake of goods otherwise unattainable,
21
 such federations are typically arranged to constrain the center and
prevent majorities form overriding a sub–unit. Examples include the
present USA, Switzerland, and Australia.

D. Power Distribution in Federal Form of State

The power distribution in federal form of state is categorized in Exclusive
power, concurrent power and Reserved powers (residuary powers to
federal authority and federating units). How do these power distributions
are practiced? Let see the practice of excusive and concurrent power
distribution in Ethiopia.

1. Exclusive Power. Exclusive powers refer to powers not shared powers,

only exercised by federal authority or federal units. Let's take the
Ethiopian federal practice as an example. The following are excusive
powers by the federal authority to: enact laws and constitutional laws
and follows its application; keep the country's constitutional system;
Foreign Affairs; Defense; Printing and circulating of money.

2. Concurrent powers. This refers to the powers exercised commonly by

federal authority and federal units.
 Social sectors (like education, health, labor and social affairs,
culture and information, civil service)
 Planning
 Transport and communication Internal security
 Internal security
 Agriculture, Industry, Trade, Tourism
 Finance
 Justice ---etc

Potential Advantages and Disadvantage of Federalism

Advantages (merits)
 It is essential to large states
 Combines national unity and local autonomy and the rights of self-
government. In modern political theory and practice, the federal idea
is normally linked with democratic institution and the protection of
the individual and minority groups.
 Maintains balance between centrifugal (unifying) and centripetal
(integrating) forces in a sate.
 It stimulates interest in government by leaving the determination of
local policy in the hands of local officers and assemblies who are
22
 responsible to local electorate.
 It relives the central legislature and authorities from the necessity of
devoting time and energy to the solution of local problems.
Potential Disadvantages:
 There is duplication of activities and services, which results in
expense. It is not always easy to deal with a specific situation.
 The division of power between the federal units may lead to conflicts
of jurisdiction between national and local officials or a sort of 'no
Man's Land" in which neither authority takes decisive action.

2.4.3 Confederations
Confederations are voluntary associations of independent states. It is an
association of states, which rests upon the common agreement of its
members expressed in an elaborate document. Confederations are formed
for common advantage without affecting internal freedom, structure,
lawmaking and enforcing process, external relations of the state
confederating. It differs from an alliance, in that it has fixed central organ
through which the common wills of its members may be expressed. It also
differs from the League (Union) in a greater variety of directives designed
to achieve. These objectives include external security, promotion of
cultural unity, and operation of postal service.

Historically confederations are often provided to be first of second step

toward the establishment of a national state usually as federal union. The
federal form of state in Switzerland, Germany and USA was preceded by
confederations. The common wealth of nations, which was formed in
1972, is an example of confederation born as a result of the
decentralization and eventual disintegration of empire, UK and former
British colonies. In contemporary world, there are modern forms of
confederations, but such arrangements are different from the older ones.
The modern arrangements are established around common defense
(NATO) Economic alliance (Common Market of East and Southern
Africa-COMESA, European Economic Community EEC, Economic
community of Western African States-ECOWAS), neighborhood alliance
(OAU, Association of south East Asia Nations-ASEAN, Organization of
American States-OAS), Politico-religious alliance (Arab league),
community of nations (UNO).

3.2. Understanding Government

23
A key part of the state, and such a key part that it is often simply referred
to “the state”, is the government of state. Below are some prominent
definitions of government.
 Government is the central agency or complex totality of interrelated
organizations exercising over all control over a society of a territorially
delimited sub divisions of a society. As such, government is the most
essential component and administrative wing of the state.
 Government refers to some particular set of institutions and organs
that make laws (the legislative body), implements public policies
(executive body) and law interpreting body (the judiciary body). As
such, a government is a group of people within the state who have the
ultimate authority to act on behalf of the state
 Government refers to the institutional processes through which
collective and usually binding laws and decisions are made through its
various branches of organs.

Government is defined as the rule or control a country. It is a body, which

administers a country and main organization dealing with affairs of the
whole country. Government is one of the most essential components and
also an administrator at viewing of the state. The term government is
often used to two related but distinct senses. Sometimes, it refers to a
particular set of institutions, i.e. a series of accepted and regular
procedures for performing those functions, procedures that persist over
time. Both senses are incorporated in the definition of government. Thus
government is the body of the people and institutions that make, enforce
and interpret laws.

Government is undoubtedly one of humanity’s oldest and most nearly

universal institutions. Humanity’s desire for in all societies to establish
the same kind of government indeed one of the most striking facts about
actual governments past and present is enormous variety. Governments
vary in complexity from backward to advance and in treatment of their
peoples. Evidently, then different societies require different kinds of
government to satisfy their special needs.

3.2.1 Differences between government and other organizations

Government as a political and a distractive body and because of its
distinctive qualities, it differs from other organizations. The main point
that clearly distinguishes government from other set-ups is discussed
below.

24
 a) Comprehensive Authority: - Rules made by any social organization
other than government are intended to apply to members of that
organization. On the other hand, the rules of the government apply
and are intended to apply to all members of society. Governmental
authority is acknowledged (recognized) power to make binding
decisions and issue obligatory commands.
b) Involuntary Membership: Membership in most social organization
is voluntary based on conscious choices. Membership in a nation is
largely involuntary, i.e. most people initially become citizens of a
nation and subject to its rules with out and deliberate choice or
conscious act.
c) Authoritative Roles: Rules made by some private organizations
often conflict with those made by other private organizations in most
societies, there is no clearly defined and generally accepted
hierarchy among organizations. Therefore, there is no automatic way
to determine which organization rules should prevail and which
should be over ridden in situations of conflict. However, the rules of
government are quite another matter for in every nation
governmental rules are generally recognized as authoritative, i.e.
they are generally considered to be more binding upon all members
of society than the rules of all other organizations.
d) Legitimate Monopoly of over whelming Force: all members of any
society do not always obey all government rules. All organizations
impose sanctions on rule breakers but government differs from other
organizations in the kind of sanctions, it is authorized to impose.
Government impose all sanctions and can also impose two
additional sanctions forbidden to private organizations as well i.e.
send law breakers to prison and take their lives.

3.2.2 The Purposes and Functions of Government

In a modern state, government functions have greatly expounded with the
emergence of government as the most active force vehicle in political,
social, and economic development. Accordingly, the major purposes and
functions of government include the following.

a. Self-preservation: Any government must keep its state from internal

and external threats. That is, order, predictability, internal security
and external defense are among the major functions whether it is
democratic or authoritarian
b. Management of Conflict (Supervision and Resolution of Conflict) :
Governments usually develop and consolidate institutions and
25
 procedures for the management of conflict. It is obvious that conflict is
inevitable and inescapable characterizing human beings. Therefore,
building and effectively applying the institutions for resolving and
managing conflict is an indispensable function for developing and
consolidating peace, security and stability and tranquility.
c. Regulation the Economy: Government plays the role of regulating the
economy like regulation of policies such as agriculture, industry,
transportation, taxes, tariffs, etc. Moreover, governments usually play
role on controlling the distribution of resources in their societies.
Hence, it is the government that determines which resources are to be
publicly controlled and which are to be in private hands.
d. Protection of Political, Human, Social and Economic Rights of its
Citizens, especially those rights enshrined in the constitution of state.
e. Provision of necessary Goods and/or services to the public :
Governments, especially in developing countries like Ethiopia, usually
participate in providing necessary goods and services to its citizens.
Such goods and services include: provision of education, health care,
development of public works, conservation of natural resources,
developing water supply, electricity, telecommunication, etc to the
public.

3.2.3. Major Organs of Government

In today’s modern world, the government is composed of three major
organs or distinct branches.

1. The Legislative Body

The legislative body is responsible for the formulation of laws and
decisions and other documents. Above all, assemblies provides a link
between government and the people, a channel of communication that
both support government and help to uphold the regime, and for
government to respond to public demands and anxieties. The principal
functions of the legislative are the following:

A. Statue making: Every legislative has the power to make statues.

The concept of statues making is more accurate to describe what the
legislature actually does the law making.
B. Representation: Assemblies /Parliaments play an important
representative role in providing a link between government and the
people. Thus, the people (the governed) are usually represented in
the legislative branch of government.
26
 C. Control of Administration: The legislative body plays pivotal role in
supervising the executive who is supposed to administer by
implementing the laws and decisions passed by the legislative. That
is, the legislative body plays great role in scrutinizing and over
sighting meaning that assemblies /the legislative body has the
power to be scrutinizing body, to check and balance the executive
body and to deliver responsible or accountable government.
D. Constitutional making/ Amending: The legislative body of the
government can play or have the function of constitutional
making/amending. But, how to undertake the constitutional
making /amending may vary from country to country having various
state structures. For example, in a federal form of state structure,
the constitutional amending or modification is usually carried by a
joint agreement between the federal and regional /state government
by following a certain set of procedures.
E. Electoral and deposing functions : The legislative body plays the
function of electing the Prime minister in a parliamentary form of
government. In addition they also play voting on motion of “no
confidence” to reelect and defeat the incumbent prime minister, etc.
Added to this is that, in a presidential system, the legislative body
plays the role of removal the president by the principle of
impeachment.
F. Financial functions: The legislative body holds the “power of the
purse”, i.e., to determine the nature and amount of taxes and
appropriations. It also plays the role budget approval presented by,
for example each ministry. And government can legally spend only
funds appropriated or approved by it. Therefore, it has the
executives and others.
G. Investigative functions: Most often, legislatives through
established “selective committees” are engaged in digging up
information it desires on maters not covered by its “legal standing
committee.” For example, in Ethiopia, the legislative body (the
parliament) plays this role by establishing “commission of inquiry” to
investigate to any information and evidences. In this regard, a
“commission of Inquiry” played, for example, to investigate and
digging out the causes, the profile and the consequences of the
Gambela conflict that had happened in 1996 E.C.

2. The Executive Body

In its broadest sense, the executive branch of government is a branch of
government responsible for the implementation of the laws, rules,
27
policies, and decisions made by the legislature. The executive branch of
government extends from the head of government and head of the state to
the members of enforcement agencies.

Focus:
Political Executive Vs Bureaucratic Executives.
Political executives refer to all or almost all of officials elected politicians,
ministers, in parliamentary system, drawn from the parliament and
accountable to the parliament. Whereas, bureaucratic executives are
those office people appointed and professional civil servants whose job is
offer advice and administer policy, subject to the requirements of political
neutrality and legal to their ministers.

Major /Principal powers and functions of the executive body.

A. Enforcement functions: The core/the chief function of executive
body is to enforce (implement) all laws, rules, decisions made by the
legislative body and the judiciary body (court’s decision).
B. Formulation and execution of administrative policy : The
executive body boldly exercise formulation of regulation (sub-
legislative power and issues law of rules) and allocates funds to
various public activities.
C. Control of Military forces: The executive branch has the power to
determine how and where troops, the military, warplanes and ships
may be used in period of conflict and peace.
D. Control of foreign relations: The executive branch is charged with
conducting of foreign relations with other states. Besides, the chief
executive also grants or withholds recognition to the governments of
foreign state. In addition, the chief executive, ambassadors and
other Foreign Service officers.
E. Policy–making leadership: The political executive is looked to, in
particular, to develop coherent economic and social programmes
and policies that meet the needs of society.
F. Popular leadership: The popularity of the political executive more
than any other part of political system, is crucial to the character
and stability of the regime (gov’t) as a whole. At a policy level, it is
the ability of the executive to mobilize support that ensures the
compliance and cooperation of the general public.
G. Bureaucratic leadership: The task of overseeing the
implementation of policy means that the political executive has
major bureaucratic and administrative responsibilities. In this
28
 sense, the chief executive, ministries, and secretaries constitute a
“top management” charged with twining the machinery of
government.
H. Crisis leadership: A crucial power that the political executive has
over the assembly/ parliament is its ability to take swift and decisive
action when crises break out in either domestic or international
polities is invariably the executive that responds, by virtue of its
hierarchical structure and the scope it provides for personal
leadership.

3. The Judiciary Body

The Judiciary body is a branch of government to decide legal disputes.
The primary chief function of a judiciary body is to undertake
adjudication.

Major functions of Judiciary body

A. Adjudication: The courts see and examine various cases and gives
decision(s) on the cases presented.
B. Formulating case law: Case law is developed where judges must
decide how a law, whether common or statute, should apply in a
particular case. This kind of law is often referred to as judge-made
law because the interpretation is made by the judge in each case
and becomes binding on all other courts.
C. Protection of individual rights : The judiciary body has great role
in protecting the constitutionally guaranteed rights of individuals
mainly through the process of due process of law. For example the
judiciary plays a great role in the protection against unreasonable or
arbitrary laws and procedures by the government and its
institutions at any level.

3.2.3 Forms of Government

1. Monarchy: It is the oldest form of government in which the ruling
power invested in a single person who weak crown. In its widest sense,
“any government in which the supreme and final authority is in the

29
 hands of a single person is a monarchy. There are two types of
monarchy.
i. Traditional monarchy: The king or the queen maintain his/her
position by claim of legitimate blood decent than their appeal as
popular leaders. For example. Hohenzollerns in Germany,
Hapsburgs in Austro-Hungary, Romania, in Russia, Solomonic in
Ethiopia…etc.
ii. Constitutional Monarchy: The king or the queen is ceremonial
head of the state, an indispensable figure in all great official
occasions and a symbol of national unity and authority of the
state but lacking real power e.g. Britain, Japan …etc.
2. Dictatorship (monocracy): The existence of dictatorship has its proof
in the position of a person who holds extra constitutional powers and
identifies himself with the state. He is the head of the state, of the
government, of the party kind of opposition to his power invites
mutilation. It means absolute rule of a single person who occupies his
position hymens of force and as such is not accountable to any popular
institution.
3. Oligarchy/Aristocracy: It is a rule by few. Many of the classical
conditions of oligarchic rule were found until recently in those part of
Asia in which governing elites were recruited exclusively from a ruling
caste a hereditary social groupings set apart from the rest of society by
religion, kinship, economic status, prestige and language. In
contemporary world, in some counties that have not experienced the
full impact of industrialization, governing elites are still often recruited
from a ruling class (a stratum of society that monopolizes the main
social and economic function in the system). Such elites exercise their
power in the interest of the ruling class.
4. Constitutional Government: It is defined by the existence of a
constitution that effectively controls the exercise of political power. The
two major constitutional governments are:
i. The presidential system: It is based on the doctrine of
separation of powers, which is practiced in USA, Argentina,
Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico…etc.
ii. Parliamentary system: It is based on the fusion of powers
(legislative and executive), which is practiced in western European
nations, Scandinavian countries, Japan, India, Ethiopia etc.

3.2.4 Systems of government

In the modern world, there are various systems of government. The two
most systems of government are: Parliamentary system of government;
30
and Presidential system of government. Being identified the two most
systems of government, we shall look at these two system of government
to some extent in detail.

1. Parliamentary System of Government

A Parliamentary system/form of government refers to the form of

government in which the government governs in and through the
parliament/ Assembly, there by fusing the legislative and executive
branch of government. In other words, it refers to a system of
government, which vests the political leadership in a legislative body (the
parliament) which, in turn, selects the executive body (the cabinet +
Prime minister) entirely or largely from its membership, e.g. Britain,
Canada, Germany, Italy, Australia, Israel, India, Ethiopia etc.

The Principal Features of a Parliamentary System of Government

a) Government is formed as a result of parliament/ assembly elections,
based on the strength of party or a cooperative coalition party’s
representation; therefore, there is no separately elected political
executive.
b) A parliament of representatives is elected by the citizens of the state .
In federal state structure like Ethiopia, the citizens directly elect
representatives both to the Federal parliament, and regional
parliament.
c) The executive power of the government (both political executives like
the Prime Minster and ministers at a federal and at Regional level) is
lodged with group of people who are elected and even approved by
the parliament to conduct of the affairs of the state.
d) Most or all members of the cabinet (council of ministers) are usually
members of the parliament/ Assembly. And usually, the party or a
cooperative coalition of parties that have majority seat or control
that take on executive responsibilities in addition to their legislative
chores.
e) The cabinet (council of ministers) retains executive power only as
long as it has the “confidence” of the parliament; that is, only as
long as majority vote in the parliament may unseat a cabinet. This is
referred to as the “Government falling”.
f) The government can, in most cases, dissolve the parliament,
meaning that electoral terms are usually flexible within a maximum
limit. As such, just as the parliament holds the cabinet (council of
ministers) in jeopardy, the reader of the cabinet (usually the PM) has
31
 the right to have the parliament disbanded, with the consent of the
majority members of the parliament.
g) As the head of the government is the Prime Minister, there is a
separate head of the state, i.e., the constitutional monarch or non-
executive president. In Ethiopia case, the head of the state is the
president, who is non-political executive who cannot be a member of
any political party. He/she is the figurehead of the state.
h) The PM (Prime Minister), who is the head of the government, retains
office only as long as he/she can command majority support in
parliament. If an issue is made the basis for a vote of “no
confidence” in the legislative and results in a vote for of no
confidence, the PM must resign because the parliament has the
ultimate power; the ability to remove; and
i) Electoral Terms of the PM is not fixed.

Presidential System of Government

Presidential system of government is a form of government, which is
chiefly characterized by separations of powers between the legislative and
executive branches of government. Eg USA, Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica
etc.

The features of a presidential system of government

A. Real authority of the president: i.e. the leadership of the executive is
in the hands of the president who is elected by the people for a fixed
period as of four years in the United States. The procedure of decision
may be either direct or indirect and the constitution may also specify
as either direct or indirect and the constitution may also specify as to
the number of tenures a person may hold (as of two term in the US).
He may nominate his ministers as his advisers. The body of the
ministers is called the cabinet. The president may change the portfolios
of his ministers as per his will, or may dismiss any one of them in case
he loses the confidence of the “boss”. He formulates national policy,
orders mobilization of troops, declares state of emergency and takes all
necessary steps for the enforcement of law and maintenance of order in
the country. In short, he governs like the real ruler of the country.
B. Separation of legislative from the executive: The president and his
ministers cannot be the members of the legislature. In case the
president appoints a member of legislature as his minister, he has to
level his legislature membership. It is for this reason that the president
and his ministers do not take part in the deliberations of the
32
 legislature. The president may go to the legislature either for delivering
an important address, or he may send “messages” that may be
accepted by the legislature. Even his ministers may attend a session of
the legislature and may also take part in the discussion, but they have
no right to vote. Moreover, the executive and the legislative organs of
government are separately elected and work independently and
separately.
C. It is based on the strict application of the principle of separation
of powers between the legislative and executive organs of
government. Each of the executive and legislative are vested with
arrange of independent constitutional powers.

Focus
Separation of powers presupposes that each of the branches of
government (the legislative and the executive) should be entrusted to
separate organs of government respectively. It presupposes the
fragmentation of government in such a way as to defend liberty and keep
tyranny at bay.
The parliament, the presidency, and the Supreme Court are separate
institutions in the sense that there are no overlapping functions and
powers permitted but nevertheless, possess the ability to constrain one
another’s powers. This is called check-and-balance. In this regard, for
example Congress (parliament) in USA has the ability to make law. But,
when necessary the president can veto it, but the congress can, in turn,
override the veto with 2/3 majorities in both Houses (the Senate and the
People’s Representatives).

D. The roles of head of state and head of government (the chief

executive) are combined in the offices of the president. As such,
the executive authority is vested in or concentrated in the hands of the
president; the cabinet and ministers being merely advisors and
responsible to the president.
E. Electoral terms of the president are fixed: That is, the president is
supposed to be lead and govern the state for four years in one term for
example, in USA. And, he/she can be reelected for the second term
(having four years). But, he/she cannot be elected for more than two
terms (having 8 years totally).
F. The president can neither “dissolve” the legislative nor be
dismissed by the Congress /Assembly except possibly through
impeachment. The process of impeachment is provided to remove the
president in case he held quality of violating the Oath of office. The
president is under an oath that he will defend and protect the
33
 constitution of the state. In case he does otherwise, the process of
impeachment may be cause to remove him from office. Usually the
power of impeachment is given to the legislative

CHAPTER FOUR: CONSTITUTION, DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN

RIGHTS

4.1 Understanding Constitution and Constitutionalism

4.1.1 Definitions of Constitution
In very simple terms, the constitution of state may be defined as a body of
rules and regulations, written as well as unwritten whereby the
government is organized and it functioned. It is another matter that in
order to meet the requirements of a democratic order, a constitution
embodies some more principles specifying relationship between the
individual and their state in the form of a specific character of their
fundamental rights and obligations. Thus, a constitution “may be said to
be a collection of principles according to which the powers of the
government, the rights of the governed and the relations between the two
are adjusted”. In other words, constitution can be described as a
framework of political society organized through and by law, in which law
has established permanent institutions with recognized functions and
definite rights…. By all means, constitution is a legal document known by

34
different names like ‘rules of the state’ ‘instrument of government’,
‘fundamental law of the land’, basic statute of the polity, corner stone of a
nation-state and the like.

Some Definitional Statements of Constitution

 A Constitution is a body of those written or unwritten fundamental
laws which regulate the rights of the magistrates and the privileges
of the subjects.
 It specifies the arrangement and distribution of the sovereign power
in the community, or the form of government.
 It is the law of the state, containing the principles up on which
government is founded, regulating the division of the sovereign
power, and directing to what persons each of these powers is to be
confined and the manner in which it is to be exercised.
 It is a body of juridical rules which determine the supreme organs of
the state, which prescribes their mode of creation, their mutual
relations, their sphere of actions, and finally, the fundamental place
of each of them in their relation to the state.
 It is a written instrument by which the fundamental power of
government are established, limited, defined, and by which those
powers are distributed among several departments for their more
safe and useful exercise for the benefit of the body politic.
 The constitution of the state is also that body of rules and laws,
written or unwritten, which determines the organization of
government, the distribution of powers to the various organs of
government; and the general principles on which these powers are to
be exercised.

Some Definitional Statements of Constitutionalism

 Constitutionalism is the doctrine that government should be faithful

to their constitution because, the rules and laws so provided are all
that can protect citizens’ rights from arbitrary actions and decisions
of the government.
 Constitutionalism is also the belief that constitution of the state is
the best arrangement of things and activities in a society. Again it is
a state of being subjects to limitations and that operates in
accordance with the general rules and laws rather than arbitrarily.

4.1.2 Principles of constitution

35
Most constitutions in general and the FDRE Constitution in particular
have the following principles:

A. The principle of full respect of the fundamental human and

democratic rights of the citizens at individual and collective
levels.
B. Principles of living together, i.e. the principle of peaceful co-
existence on the basis of equality and without any ethnic, cultural,
political, religions, gender, social status or any other form of
discrimination.
C. Principle of popular sovereignty, i.e. all sovereign power resides in
the hands of the people, and this sovereignty can be expressed
through their representatives elected in accordance with the
constitution and through their direct democratic participations.
D. Supremacy of the constitution, i.e. this principle sound the
constitution of the state as the supreme law of the land, and as such
any law, customary practice or a decision of an organ of state or
public official which contravenes the constitution shall be of no
effect….
E. Separation of state and religion (secularism): By virtue of FDRE
Constitution, state and religion are separate, and there shall be no
state religion. The constitution also asserts as the state shall not to
interfere in the religious matters and vice versa.

4.1.3 Major Purposes and Functions of Constitution of State

Generally speaking, the main purpose of a constitution of state is limiting
the powers and authorities of government; ensuring and safeguarding the
rights and liberties of citizens. A Constitution of state is, as well, a
framework or blueprint for government. A Constitution of state among
other things, determines the form of, government and state to be unitary
or federal; and specify the powers and functions at both federal and
regional levels. As it have mentioned above, the major functions of
constitution is limiting the powers of the governors, i.e. preventing the
danger of absolutism and safeguarding the rights of citizens. This is to
say constitution of state:
 Determines the structures and functions of a government
 Outlines the rights and duties of citizens and their relations with
their state and government
 It constrains the common purpose of citizens in a society
36
  Being the supreme law of the state, it is the source of all other
specific laws.

Generally, the constitution of state has the following purposes and

functions:

1. Constitution of state as a framework for government : As a

framework, the constitution of state is a plan for organizing the
operation of government. That is it effectively guides the functions and
powers of a government executive, legislative and the judiciary bodies.
It defines the very structures or bodies of government. It also defines
the responsibilities and tasks of these structures of government.
Therefore, all actions and decisions are to be undertaken according to
the principles of constitution. Thus, Constitution of state serves as a
framework for government.
2. Constitution of state provides government stability: In allocating
duties, powers and functions among the various organs and
institutions of government, constitution of state acts as “Organizational
Charters”, “Definitional Guides” or Institutional Blueprints”. As such
constitutions formalize and regulate relationships between political
bodies, and provide a mechanism(s) through which any potential
combustible conflicts can be adjudicated and resolved. Constitution of
state provides the vital functions of introducing a measure of stability,
order, and predictability of government.
3. Constitution of state limits the power of government: A country
having a constitution may not necessarily mean having constitutionally
limited government. There is a difference between having a constitution
and constitutionally limited government officials that are abided by the
constitution. In this case, the constitution determines the specific
functions and authorities of these officials.
4. There is a constitutional limit on the extent of official’s power .
There should be no decisions or actions that will be undertaken
arbitrarily and spontaneously, but every decision, act or behavior will
be entertained according to rules and laws that originate from the
supreme law of the land, the constitution. A constitutional government
is neither powerful nor too weak. If a government is excessively
powerful, i.e. if it has unlimited powers, it tends to abuse the rights
and freedoms of citizens. If on the other hand, a government is too
weak, it can’t protect citizens. Therefore, constitutions shall grant
government enough powers to effectively and consistently undertake
their functions and responsibilities, but at the same time it put limits

37
 on their powers to make sure that they are not in a position to
endanger the rights and freedoms of citizens.
5. Constitution of state protects individual and collective rights and
freedoms of their citizens.
6. Constitution of state as the supreme (the highest) law of the
country, i.e., it is the source of all laws with regard to different affairs
and issues. No specific law will be if it contradicts the constitution. All
laws are derived from the constitution, b/c of this, the constitution of
state is said to be “the law behind the other law”, and hence, it is the
“the Mother of all laws” of the country.
7. Constitution of State as the Vehicle for Empowering States:
Constitutions of states mark out the existence of states, and makes
claims (validity; green light as the legitimate/legal right to rule or
govern) concerning their sphere (Jurisdiction) of independent authority.
In this regard, for example, the creation of new state is invariably
accompanied by making, adopting, and consolidating of constitution.
The pivotal need for empowerment also applies to Subnational
/regional bodies. In federal state structure or systems, for example,
constituent provinces (what we call in Ethiopia Regional States) or
federating units have their constitution in order to guarantee their
sphere of authority (ies) relative to that of National /Central/ or federal
government.

Definition of Legitimacy
Legitimacy is the right to rule or the validity power to govern. A legitimate
system of government is one based on authority; that is, those subject to
its rule recognize its right to make collective decision or to rule. However,
authority creates its own power solong as people accept that the
authority-figure has the right to make decision.

The process of legitimating regimes has two dimensions. These are:

i. The existence of constitution of state is almost prerequisite for a
state’s membership of the international community and for its
recognition by other states in the current modern world; and
ii. More importantly, the ability to use constitution of state to build
legitimacy with in a state through the promotion and effective
consolidation of respect and compliance amongst the domestic
population. This is possible because constitution of state both
symbolizes and disseminates the values of the regime.
8. Constitution of State as the Weapon for Legitimizing Regimes:
Constitution of states is also indispensable for building legitimacy for
regimes.
38
9. Constitution of State as Blue Prints for establishing Values and
Goals: Constitutions of states invariably embody a boarder set of
political values, ideas and goals. It, therefore, seeks to invest for
unifying political values. As such, the fundamental aims (objectives)
and principles are described or accomplished explicitly in preambles to
constitutional documents, which often function as statements of
national ideals and values. In the Ethiopian context, you look at the
preamble of the FDRE Constitution

4.1.4 Kinds (Classification) of Constitution Of State

Constitution of in different political systems differ from one another in
terms of their principles on the distribution of political power, on the
structural separation of authority among branches of government, and on
the limitations they set on government authority.

Constitutions of different countries also differ from each other in their

form, content and patterns of political arrangements and these
constitutional variations among nations may have been caused due to
different historical backgrounds, social traditions and political practices
and contents of the underlying principles and procedures. Accordingly we
can have the following classifications:

1. Written Vs Unwritten Constitution of State

This classification is based on the forms of the constitution, i.e.in view of
breadth of written provisions.

A. Written Constitution: is one in which a key constitutional provisions

are collected together within a single legal document, popularly known as
“the constitution”, and most constitutions of the world are written
constitution, and this kind of constitution is one which has deliberately
formulated or enacted.

Some benefits of written constitution among others:

 It is full of clarity and definitions because key provisions are written.
 It has the quality of stability ,i.e. is less subject to popular passions.
39
 The rights and liberties of the people are secured since all important
points are reduced to writing. Hence, authoritarianism is kept at by,
 It has educational value, in that it highlights the central values and
over all goals (objectives) and principles of political systems,
 It constrains the power of all organs of government.

B. Unwritten Constitution: It refers to a set of rules, regulations,

declarations and laws passed by either a parliament or other competent
bodies at different times. The absence of codified constitution of the state
implies, most importantly, that the legislative body enjoys
unchallengeable authority. Therefore, it has the right to make or unmake
any law on any issues whatsoever.

Some merits of unwritten constitution are:

 It has the quality of elasticity/adaptability to changing

situations/circumstances.
 It is dynamic in that, it prevents the chance of popular
upheaval/uprisings.

2. Rigid Vs Flexible Constitution of State

This kind of classification is on the basis of the complexity with which
provisions of constitution can be changed or on the basis of the amending
process.

A. Rigid Constitution of State: is a constitution that does not adapt itself to

changing circumstances immediately or quickly. In a constitution,
amending procedures may be more or less complex or difficult.
For instance, in Australia Denmark, Ireland and Spain, popular
referendums are used to obtain the public approval for
constitutional amendments or ratify once endorsed by
legislature. For instance, in Australia, Denmark, Ireland and
Spain, popular referendums are used to obtain the public
approval for constitutional amendments or ratify once endorsed
by legislature. For instance, in USA, 2/3 rd majority in Houses,
Congress and Senate, constitutional amendment must be
ratified by ¾th of the federating states. In the case of Ethiopia,
any proposal for constitutional amendment, if supported by a
2/3rd majority vote in the HPR, or by a 2/3rd majority vote in
40
the HF or when 1/3rd of councils of the member states of the
federation, by a majority vote 9n each council have supported, it
shall be submitted for the discussion ad decision to the general
public and to those whom the constitution concerns.
Accordingly the FDRE Constitution can be amended only in the
following manner:

When all state councils, by a majority vote, approves the

proposed amendment;
 When the HPR, by a 2/3rd majority vote, approves the
proposed amendment; and
 When the HF, by a 2/3rd majority vote approves the
proposed amendment

B. Flexible Constitution of State: is a constitution that adapts easily

and immediately to changing circumstance. In this case, the
legislature has the unchallengeable and unconstrained power to
make laws on any issues and affairs. For instance, the UK and
Israel are known by this kind of constitution. In the end it can
be concluded that the rigid-flexible distinction has no necessary
connection with the distinction between written an unwritten
constitution of state. What matters is the extent to which the
legal constitution adjusts to political reality. Nevertheless,
understandably, unwritten constitution is flexible because there
is formal legislative procedure for making a change.

3. Effective Vs Nominal Constitution of State

On the basis of the degree to which constitution of state

observed in practice, or on the basis of the relationship between
constitutional rules and laws and principles, on the one hand,
and the practice of the government (the workings) of the
constitution, on the other hand, we can have effective, and
Nominal Constitution of State.

A. An Effective Constitution of State: is one that fulfils two criteria:

41
 a) In major respects, at least, the practical affairs of
government corresponds to the provisions of the
constitution; and
b) The above occurs because the constitution has the capacity
through whatever means, to limit government behaviour and
activities.

Therefore, an effective constitution of state requires not merely

the existence of constitutional rules and laws but also the
capacity of those rules and laws to constrain or limit government
behaviour and activities, and establish Constitutionalism.

B. Nominal /Facade/ Fictious/ Constitution of State: This is a

constitution of state that shows the texts, principles, rules and
laws that may accurately describe the government behaviour but
fail to limit government behaviour and activities in practice.
Therefore, a Nominal Constitution of state is not observed in
practice but in form. Hence, it can be said it is a paper value.
This implies the lack or absence of constitutionalism.

4. Federal Vs Unitary Constitution

One of the fundamental functions of constitutions is designating

political power. Constitutions either concentrate powers at the
centre or distribute it among the different branches and levels of
government. Such a constitution is called unitary and federal
constitution respectively. In federal constitutions, the power and
responsibilities of the federal and that of states or regional
governments are specifically assigned. Under the umbrella of the
federal constitution, the regional governments exercise
independent authority I their respective regions.

On the other hand, in unitary constitutions, all state powers are

concentrated in the hands of the central government. And the
central government can establish/abolish the lower levels of
government; determine their term, composition, and their
powers and responsibilities. In short, in the unitary systems,
local government do not have constitutional guarantee for their
42
existence. Powers and responsibilities are delegated to them by
the central government.

4.1.5 Distinguishing Features of Constitution

1. Generality: constitution states only general principles. It builds

substantial foundation and basis and general frame work of the
law and government. All other laws provide the details of the law
and government. All other laws provide the details of the subject
which they treat. In other words, constitutional law announces
principles while other laws apply or implement what the
constitution announces their respective spheres of fields.

Of course, the degree of generality of laws may depend on other

factors like hierarchy of laws. But constitution is always the
most general in the sense, short and brief. The general set up of
the government and its functions in all spheres\, including
political, economic, legal, etc is by the constitution. The
generality is very important because it give the constitution a
feature of elasticity through interpretation thereby to
accommodate various questions.

2. Permanence: constitution is made for an undefined and

expanding future. It is meant to endure through a long lapse of
ages. It is made to be stable, i.e., not to be worked upon by the
temper of the times or to rise or fall with the occasional events.
On the contrary, other laws are tentative, occasional and in the
nature of temporary existence.

When you adopt a constitution, you try to look to see the

problems that existed in the past and the likely ones in the
future. This gives it stability. For example, the US constitution
was adopted in 1789with only 26 amendments since then. Yet,
there have indeed been many changes in the subsidiary laws.
Even then, it should always be remembered, permanence is
relative.

43
On the other hand, one can ask why this doesn’t hold true of
other countries, say, Ethiopia, why its subsidiary laws have lived
longer than the constitution. This is attributable to the fact that,
firstly, what constitution has do with regulating exercise of
political power, the supremacy aspect. And as such, the different
regimes had to get constitutions of their own reflecting their
supremacy. In contrast, the civil code governing the private
matters has remained more or less substantially permanent
except in some areas like ownership of land. The other reason
why our constitutions did not stay long at the different eras is
that the people did not participate in the making of the
constitutions directly or indirectly that they have remained
contrary to it.

3. Primacy and supremacy: Constitution is primary, being the

command of the sovereign (the people). All other laws are
secondary or derivate being commands of representatives of the
sovereign. Because, after all, the direct will of the people
outrights the will of any other single individual.

4.1.6 Origin and Development of Constitution: Ethiopian Focus

The origins of constitutional ideas in human society could be

linked with the need to limit the political authority and power of
government. To this end, there were various attempts to check
the powers of rulers at different times. The evolution
constitutional practices can therefore, be traced to historical
periods during which different patterns of rule emerged. For
instance, the idea of constitutional democracy obtained greater
importance in ancient Greece. The Greeks exercised democracy
as a system of government and introduced the political
traditions of citizen’s participation in political decisions. The
type of democracy in ancient Greece was direct democracy. Here,
the citizens elect public officials (rulers) and the power of these
rulers was restricted so that no abuse of power would be made.
Among other things, the experience of living the powers of rulers
and that of the government is associated with the signing of
44
Magna Carta (Great Charter) by king John of England in
(1215). After Magna Charta, the absolute power of the English
kings was limited in favor of the power of the parliament. It was
the parliament that forced the king to be a constitutional
monarch with restricted power. Later, the emergence of the
ideas of popular sovereignty, limited government, and separation
of powers influenced the development of constitutional rule.
Philosophers such as J. Locke, J. J. Rousseau and Charles
Montesquieu underscored the need to establish governmental
power in accordance to certain laws and rules that would
enhance citizen’s rights, liberties and freedoms. And the need for
popular representation obtained increasing acceptance over the
years. The coming in to effect of the American Constitution in
1783, which was introduced, offers the American Declaration of
Independence in 1776, witnessed the emergence of
constitutionalism in its modern sense. Thus, constitution
emerged as legal instruments to form governments by the
people. The powers people give to governments are limited by
constitutions. Constitution of state also prohibits a government
from exercising its power arbitrarily violating the law set forth in
the constitution. As the result, most modern and democratic
states established governments and proclaim the constitution as
the fundamental law by they ruled.

Constitutional experiences in Ethiopia also can be generally

categorized in to two. There are the traditional unwritten
constitutional experiences and the written constitutions. Up
until 1931 Ethiopia had no written constitution. It had its first
written constitution in 1931. Since then, Ethiopia experienced
different constitutions under the Imperial and the Derg regime
and still it is.

A. The Traditional Constitutional Experience in Ethiopia (Pre-1931)

Until the early 1930’s, the rule of the Ethiopian Emperors was
based on traditional and customary- political and legal
premises. The traditional constitution experience was
45
characterized by the dominance of myths and legends that were
used to provide legitimacy to the monarchs. Example of such
legendary sources of legitimacy was the myths of the Solomonic
dynasty. Many of the legends and myths including the myths of
Solomonic dynasty revolve around the idea of the divine rights of
kings. This idea explicitly entertained in the traditional
constitution, called Kibre- Negest (Glory of kings), that appeared
during the 13century.

Kibre Negest, literally, translated, as the Glory of Kings is

written legends about the Jewish origin of the Ethiopian
Monarchy. Legend is a fabricated story that could not be proved
through reliable evidence. Here, the point is that by claiming
descent from country of the origin of Christianity, the Christian
rulers of Ethiopian wanted to persuade their people about the
divine power by association of their origin of the country of
JESUS CHRIST. They claimed to be “Chosen people of God to
rule”.

Kibre Negest mystifies that the Ethiopian monarchs derived their

power to rule from God and, therefore, they could not be
accountable to any power. In this traditional constitution;
monarchs were considered as elects of God that are born to rule.
Here, ‘the king is the Ministry of God’. It is explicitly proclaimed
opposition to the king as a sin against the order of the God.

B. The 1931, First Written Constitution of Ethiopia

This first written constitution was promulgated following the

coronation of Emperor H/Sellassie I. The introduction of the
written constitution however, doesn’t mean that a new
philosophy was introduced to the Ethiopian political system.
Instead, it was an attempts to simply change the unwritten
dynastic claim in to a written form, in other words, it didn’t
provide genuine freedom to the Ethiopian peoples. Its main aim
was to give the country and the Imperial rule an image of
modernity to the outside world and guarantying continuity to
46
the rule of the Emperor. This can be clearly seen in the
constitution that the king was presented as the representative of
God and the king is represented as “Niguse Negest Seyume
Egziabher”- which means ‘king of kings elect of God’. The
constitution was not initiated by the people, and it was not also
initiated for the people. That is why there was no attention to
guarantee popular sovereignty, political freedom and
fundamental human rights to the Ethiopian people. Rather than
creating the limited monarchy, like many modern constitutions,
the constitution gave all sovereign power to the Emperor. And
the people were considered as subjects as they used to be,
without granting any kind of political and civil rights.

In general, the constitution was formulated or introduced mainly

to attain two basic purposes that would advance the Emperor’s
authority and political control.

i. The constitution was intended to give Ethiopia the image of

‘modernity’ in the international community, i.e. to achieve
recognition abroad, and
ii.More significantly than the above purpose, the constitution
was introduced to strengthen, and centralize the absolute
power of Emperor H/Sellassie by extending his power over
the regional rulers. Thus, the 1931 constitution can be
referred as the charter of absolute power of the monarchy.

However, the 1931 constitution laid some foundations for

modern practices of government in Ethiopia. These
contributions can be summarized as follows:
a) Parliamentary System: The introduced parliament was
bicameral, namely the Chamber of the Senate (Yehig
Mewesegna Meker Bet)and the Chamber of Deputies (Yehig
Memria Mekir Bet) respectively. The members of two
chambers were being appointed by the Emperor and they were
only noblemen and princes, and their term of office was not
limited. However, the parliament was not given powers and
functions by the constitution, and the law making power was
47
 vested on the Emperor and the parliament was merely meant
by rubber stamp legislation of the Emperor.
b) Annual Budget: The constitution introduced the idea of fixed
annual budget for government. In principle, annual budget
was meant to be proposed by the parliament and approved by
the Emperor. In practice, however, the assignment of budget
as indicated in the constitution had not been properly
implemented.
c) Ministerial System: it also provided the institutional frame
work for the ministerial system. While the emperor remained
with the most important executive power, the ministerial
system of government was completely subordinate to the
emperor. The minister both individually and collectively was
responsible to the emperor. Thus, the executive branch of
government was heavily dominated by the emperor.
d) Judicial Branches: the constitution formally institutionalized
two separate systems of courts, known as regular courts and
administrative tribunals. The former deals with civil and
criminal cases and the latter handle civil cases that affect the
government. The highest judicial power was in the hands of
the emperor. In all aspects, whatever innovative features the
constitution introduced were more of paper value.

However, the 1931 constitution legalized the emperor’s absolute

power in:
 Appointment and dismissal of officials in all three organs
of the government
 The rendering of justice
 The declaration and termination(end) of war and
 The quality of land and honors.

C. The Revised Constitution Of 1955

It was the second written constitution of Ethiopia, which was

similar to that of the 1931. But the political principles and
objectives of the 1955constitution were much wore clear in
pronouncing the powers and functions of the Imperial
48
government. It also included some provisions bearing advanced
democratic ideas compared to that of the 1931.

Like that of the constitution of 1931, however, the revised

constitution did not involve popular process for ratification.
Indeed, it was “gift” from the Emperor to his subjects on the
occasion of celebrating his 25 years in power, i.e., silver jubilee.

In terms of enhancing popular sovereignty, the principles and

manners of implementing, the revised constitution made little or
no progress. There were historical and political processes that
forced the revised constitution to come into being. One of the
essential prerequisites for constitutional revision was the act of
federation of Eritrea with Ethiopia in 1952. Eritrea had been
under Italian colonial rule for decades, and latter under the
British protectorate, was federated with Ethiopia following the
decision made by UNGA.

Under the supervision of the UN, the Eritrean constitution of

1952 was drafted under the sovereignty of Ethiopian crown. The
federation of Eritrea, therefore, created abnormal political
situation; Firstly, the federal act was not strictly federal in its
nature; Ethiopia remained a unitary state with absolute rule of
an Emperor, while Eritrea obtained an entirely different
government. In other words, there emerged two separate
governments based on entirely different principles, i.e. elected
government in Eritrea and an absolute Monarch in Ethiopia.
Thus, both were exercising different powers over the same
territory.

Secondly, in its nature, the Eritrean constitution implied a

more liberal government that incorporated some element of
democratic society as a result of their colonial tradition. There
were quasi- political and quasi-religious groups in Eritrea, while
in Ethiopia, political grouping outside the royal crown was a
personal offence to the Emperor, hence illegal.

49
The constitution was incorporated some new concepts, and it
was much more elaborated than its predecessor. It has 131
articles, and was divided in to 8 chapters. The first two chapters,
comprising nearly one third of the articles, were concerned with
defining the power and authority of the Emperor and privileges
of the imperial family. Only one chapter was reserved to deal
with some right and more duties of the people. It further
developed the centralizing and “modernizing” themes of the 1931
constitution. The revised constitution more strongly established
the absolute power of the monarch and declares the
“inviolability of the Emperor’s dignity”. He could appoint and
dismiss government officials in all branches of government. Any
law could not come in to effect unless he approved it. Moreover,
his power also extended to the extent of determining the
administrative affairs of the church itself. Although the revised
constitution of the 1955 was a step forward in the history of
constitutional development in Ethiopia, in effect it failed to lay
down a democratic tradition in the Ethiopian political process.

Some Progressive Elements included in the Revised Constitution of 1955

a) It gave at least textual recognition to rights and liberties of

citizens’ freedom; of speech, press, and people’s
participation in election of the members of Chamber of
Deputies. But, there was no observance (enforcement) of
these provisions of rights and freedoms of individuals at all.
It was only paper value to ordinary Ethiopians.
b) The Chamber of Deputies was made to have the power, at
least in textual sense, to question the Ministers with the
view to hold the government accountable.

Some similarities it had with that of the 1931 constitution:

♣ The Solomonic root of the dynasty, the sacredness of the
person and dignity of the Emperor,
♣ The Emperor had unquestionable power over the
executive, legislative and judiciary,

50
 ♣ The Emperor had the power to issue Decrees(laws) on
emergency situation when the parliament is not session,
♣ The Emperor retained the power of being the commander-
in-chief of the army,
♣ He had also the power to guide and directs all activities
pertaining to foreign relations, and
♣ He was vested with the power over the Orthodox Church in
which all rules regulations of the church issued by him
and the election appointment of the patriarch to be
approved by him.

D. The Constitution of PDRE (Derg Era-1987-1991)

The social, Economic and political crises led to the outbreak of

the Ethiopian revolution in 1974. The revolution resulted in the
deposition of Emperor H/Sellassie from power. And the military
junta formed a military council known as the “Derg” controlled
political power. The Derg emerged to be the military government
in Ethiopia.

The military regime suspended the 1995-revised constitution

and began to rule the country by series of decrees and
proclamations. In order to deepen its power, the Derg
established its single party- the Workers Party of Ethiopia (WPE)
in 1987. This was transition from a no party system to the one
party system in Ethiopia. Nevertheless, this didn’t give rise to
democratic orders. The party further enhanced the dictatorship
of the DERG and that of COLONEL MENGISTU’s personal rule.
Having eliminating or weakening internal opposition, the Derg
moved on establishing the PEOPLES’ DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
OF ETHIOPIA (PDRE) that mainly aimed at Mengistu’s indefinite
retention of power. The PDRE Constitution of 1987 was issued
for the purpose of justifying the Derg’s rule, not to enhance
democracy. Thus, it didn’t depart from its predecessor’s in terms
of democracy, human rights and freedom to the Ethiopian
societies.

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The PDRE Constitution differed from the previous constitutions
in some ways. An important contribution of the PDRE
constitutional experience was the involvement of the people in
the ratification of the constitution which was drafted by a
constitutional commission through a program of “public
consultation”. It was for the first time that the people were
exposed in the constitutional experience despite the active
control of WPE. In form, some of the of the PDRE constitution
incorporated democratic principles. It declared that all powers of
the government are derived from the elected National Shengo, a
legislative body having unicameral structure. The National
Shengo was, by name, the supreme organ of the state, and it
was responsible to establish the subordinate organs of the state
and to elect the president and other leading officials. In practice,
however, actual powers of the Shengo were compromised.

Although, the constitution recognized the cultural identity and

equality of nationalities, it didn’t attempt to address the national
question in Ethiopia. Since the PDRE constitution kept in effect
the centralized and unitary state structure under the party’s
control. There were little or no opportunities for exercising the
rights of nations, nationalities and peoples of the country to self
determination.

In the final analysis, the PDRE constitution was an instrument

of making lawful the authoritarian rule of Derg regime. As a
result, when the Derg regime was deposed from power- 1991
due to wide spread popular resistance and armed struggle, led
by EPRF, the 1987 constitution lost its political significance. A
new and by far progressive process of constitutional
development began to take place in Ethiopia after 1991.

E. The 1995 Constitution of FDRE

The 1995 constitution of the federal democratic republic of

Ethiopia is significantly different from that of the Imperial and
the Derg constitution. It made an important departure from the
52
constitutional traditions of the country in terms of its basic
philosophy, content and organization of government. The
constitution strongly affirms that the peoples of Ethiopia are the
source of sovereignty and that this sovereignty is expressed
through this constitution. The constitution explicitly states the
rights and duties of the federal government as well as the
prerogatives and obligations of the regional states. It clearly
declares the areas that purely fall under the jurisdiction of the
federal government and that of the regional states as a well as
their concurrent powers. The constitution also states that the
political power shall be held through periodic, fair and free
elections, which entitles the Ethiopian citizens to exercise their
human, democratic, political, social and economic rights and
freedoms.

It declares the right of nations, nationalities and peoples of

Ethiopia to exercise their self-administration including the right
to secession. Moreover, the constitution recognizes and affirms
fundamental human rights and freedoms in conformity with the
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
other international human right instruments.

The 1995 constitution has established a federal system

comprising of nine member states called National Regional
states. The member states exercise Executive, legislative and
Judicial powers in their own territories in conformity with the
federal constitution. The constitution dictates that any official or
governmental body shall not exercise power arbitrarily. Officials
and governments at all levels are to be held accountable to their
people and responsible for their actions and decisions. If the
people lose confidence on their elected representatives they have
a constitutional right to recall them at any time.

The 1995 constitution established a parliamentary system of

government and divides the legislative, executive and judicial
powers among the parliament, council of Ministers and the
independent Judiciary. Let us now examine the structure of the
53
Ethiopian government under the Federal Constitution. But,
before that lets spend some time on the stages the FDRE
Constitution goes through in its formulation and the major
objectives, of the constitution and other related issues and more
pints about the FDRE Constitution.

Stages of Constitutional Formulation in general and of the 1995 FDRE has

passed:

A. Drafting Stage: it is/was the first stage of the formulation of the

1995 FDRE Constitution. A special body known as Constitution
Commission carried out the drafting task. Experts with a good
deal of experiences from other countries were invited to such
seminars and workshops that have helped immensely in sharing
experiences.

B. Discussions and Development Stage: This stage involved extensive

public discussions on the draft of the constitution. This can be
termed as popular discussion and ratification of the
constitution. These extensive discussions on the draft gave
citizens of Ethiopia the opportunity to:
♣ Know the tentative provsions that would be parts of the
final constitution;
♣ Amend or improve the provisions before they enforced
into action, and
♣ Participate in the formulation of their own constitution.

C. The Ratification Stage: This stage is also known as adoption or

endorsement. A Constitutional Assembly- a special body
constituted body of elected representatives of the Nations,
Nationalities, and peoples of Ethiopia- accomplished a historical
task of ratifying or endorsing the draft of the constitution.

♣ In the constitutional Assembly, 538 elected citizens

participated.
♣ The Constitutional Assembly thoroughly and conspicuously
discussed on the draft of the constitution for 3 weeks. Each
provision or article of the Draft was passed by Vote.
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 ♣ Finally the signatures of the Constitutional Assembly
endorsed it on December 8, 1994, and came in to force on
21st day of August, 1995.

Objectives of the 1995 FDRE Constitution

1. Building a political Community based on the popular will or

agreement that is the destiny of all Nations, Nationalities
and Peoples of Ethiopia;
2. To have the rule of law as the foundation of the political
community built based on popular will;
3. Ensuring lasting peace, democracy and development that
would characterize building a prosperous country; and
4. Maintaining and consolidating the effectivization and
successful unity-based on diversity through guaranteeing
and securing the right of Nations, Nationalities and peoples
of Ethiopia to self –determination, including up to
secession.

Principles of the 1995 FDRE Constitution

1. The Principle of the full respect of the fundamental

democratic and Human rights of the Citizens at individual
and collective levels; and
2. The principle of living together. i.e. the principle of peaceful
co-existence on the basis of equality and without any
ethnic, cultural, political, religions, gender, social status, or
any other form of discrimination.

Some Salient Features of the 1995 FDRE Constitution

1. Ethnic based System of Federalism

2. Recognition of diversity i.e. Ethiopia is a home of various
Nations, Nationalities and peoples. And, hence Unity is to
be conspicuously and essentially founded on this diversity.
3. Provisions of Basic /fundamental Democratic and
Human Rights.

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 4. The Principle of Unity based diversity to be based on
Equality Justice and rules of law.
5. Ethnicity as a major component is officially empowered.
Utmost Significance is given to the Ethno-linguistic
components of the Ethiopia Society. Ethiopia is a Nation of
Nations; a republic of republics. The ethnicity of states is
not just of historical importance; it is of actual significance
(realistic) in the everyday life of the people and of the
federation as a whole.
6. Parliamentary Democracy: The use of parliamentary
democracy assumes the exercise of freely and fairly
contested, periodic elections and representative assembly or
assemblies that are the expression of popular will and hold
power for a mandated period.
7. The Right to Self-determination up to Secession
8. State Ownership of Land, i.e. the right to ownership of
rural and urban land is exclusively vested up on the state
and up on the peoples of Ethiopia. Added to the above is
that “land is a common property of the Nations,
Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia and shall not be
subject to sale or other means of transfer.”
9. Equality of languages and their practical application in
government. The general principle is that “all Ethiopian
Languages shall enjoy equal state recognition.” Therefore,
each Nation, Nationality or people have the right to speak to
write and to develop its own language.
10. Constitutional Interpretation. i.e. the highest
authority, of interpreting the FDRE Constitution is vested
up on the House of Federation, not up on the Federal
Supreme Court.

The Parliament

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The parliament has the power for legislation in all matters
assigned to the Federal government. The Ethiopian parliament is
bi-cameral, comprising of the House of Peoples’ Representatives
and the House of Federation.

A. The House of Peoples Representative

The House of People’s Representatives has not more than 550

seats, of these, not less than 20 seats are allocated to represent
minority nationalities. Members of the House of Peoples’
Representatives are elected by direct popular vote through
universal suffrage for 5 years. They, therefore, represent the
Ethiopian peoples as a whole. The House of People’s
Representatives has a wide range of powers.

Some of the powers and functions are the following:

1. It makes laws, approve general
polices, and strategies of the country.
2. Supervises activities of the executive,
and has the power to call and question the prime Minster and
other Federal officials on the conduct and discharge of their
responsibilities. With regard to the dissolution of House of
Peoples Representatives according to the federal constitution,
there are two conditions by which the House of Peoples’
Representatives can be dissolved;
ii. The prime Minster may cause the
dissolution of the House with the expiry of the five-year term.
iii. Upon the dissolution of the previous
Council of Ministers, because of the loss of its majority in the
House, the president may invite political parties to form a new
coalition government with in one week. If the political parties
cannot agree to the continuation of the previous coalition or to
form a new majority coalition, the house shall be dissolved
and new elections shall be held with in 6 months. The new
house becomes functional with in thirty days after the
conclusion of the elections.

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 B. The House of Federation
 The House of Federation is composed of the representatives
for the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia. Each
Nation, nationality or peoples represented by at least one
representative in the House of Federation.
 In addition, each nation, nationality or people will have one
more representative for each additional one million of its
population.
 Members of the House of the Federation are directly elected
either by the state councils or the state councils may hold
popular election to elect the representative.
 The House of Federation meets at least twice a year. The
principal task of the House of Federation is to interpret the
Constitution and decide on constitutional dispute submitted to
it. It has the power to decide on issues of self-determination,
including the right to secession as well as settling territorial
disputes among regional states.
 The House of the Federation also determines the allocation
of budget and subsidies from the Federal Government to
regional states.

The Council of Ministers

 The Council of Ministers forms the executive branch of the
federal government of Ethiopia.
 The Federal executive authority is constitutionally divided
between the Office of the Federal President and the Office of the
Prime Minster.
 The president of the republic is elected under a joint session
of the two houses of the parliament by a two third majority vote.
 The term of office of the president is six years. And once
elected as president he or she ceases to be a member of either of
the houses.
 The president of the federal republic of Ethiopia is the head
of the state.

Powers and Functions of the President of the Republic

58
 He/she opens the joint sessions of the Houses of the
parliament
 He/she proclaims laws approved by the House of People’s
representatives.
 The president up on the recommendation of the prime
Minster, appoints ambassadors and envoys, receives credentials
of foreign ambassadors and envoys; grants high military titles,
awards medals, prizes and gifts, grant pardon (amnesty) in
accordance with conditions and procedures established by law.

About the PM of the FDRE

 The highest executive powers of the federal government are
vested upon the prime Minster. As the chief executive, the prime
Mister plays the role of the head of government and is the
commander– in–chief of the armed forces.
 She/he presides over the council of ministers: nominates
the Ministers from among members of the two houses or other
competent persons outside of the parliament.
 The prime Minster’s nominees for ministerial posts must be
approved by the House of People’s Representatives.
 Furthermore, the prime Minster is responsible for ensuring
and supervising the implementation of laws and policy decisions
adopted by the parliament.
 She/he has the overall power to supervise the
implementation of the country’s Foreign policy. The Prime
Minister and members of the council of Ministers are collectively
responsible to the House of Peoples’ Representatives for their
actions and decisions.
 The Prime Minster is elected, and must be elected, from
among members of the House of People’s Representatives and
must be the leader of the majority party.
 Majority party is a party that controls the larger number of
seats in the House of People’s Representatives.
 The terms of office of the prime Minster is equal to that of
members of House of People’s Representatives.

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C. The Independent Judiciary
The FDRE Constitution ensures the establishment of an
independent Judiciary. The judicial authority is vested upon the
courts. As an independent organ, neither the Council of
Ministers nor the Parliament interferes with the legal activities
and decisions of the courts. The Federal Supreme Court (FSC)
exercises the highest Federal Judicial Authority.
 The president and vice-resident of the federal Supreme
Court are recommended by the prime Minster and approved by
the House of People’s Representatives.
 Other Federal judges are selected by the Federal Judicial
Administration Council and appointed, upon the recondition of
the Prime Minister, by the House of People’s Representatives.

The Constitution also provides for the establishment of the

Council of Constitutional Inquiry. This council is composed of
eleven members these are:
 The President of the Federal Supreme Court (FSC) who
serves as its president.
 Vice–president of the Federal Supreme Court (FSC) who
serves as vice – President
 Six legal experts, appointed by the President of the Republic
up on the recommendation of the House of Peoples
Representatives, with a proven professional capacity and high
moral standing and
 Three persons designated by the House of the Federation
from among its members.

- The Council of the Constitutional Inquiry has the

power to investigate constitutional disputes and submits its
recommendations to the House of Federation. AS such, the
Council of Constitutional Inquiry is not an independent body,
of does not have the power to interpret the constitution or
decide on constitutionality or unconstitutionality of laws.
- Generally, the 1995 Federal Constitution of Ethiopia
has created a federal system in which political power is
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 formally /constitutionally shared between the Federal
Government and the Regional States. Contrary to the
centralized and unitary state structures under the previous
regimes, now the political power to exercise legislative,
executive and judicial authority is devolved to the regional
states.

4.2 Democracy and Democratic System

Introduction
Like any other concept of Social Sciences there is no single
agreed upon definition of the concept democracy. Scholars,
politicians and other individuals tried to define democracy from
different angles. To begin with etymologically, the word
democracy is derived from conjunction of two Greek words
61
‘demos’ and ‘kratos’ which means people and rule respectively.
By implication, democracy is a form of government in which
power vests within the people; or the rule of the people.
Similarly, Finer observed that democracy “The primary meaning
of democracy is government which is derived from public
opinion and is accountable to it”. C.F Strong views democracy as
a condition wherein power of the state “is legally vested not in a
particular class or classes but in the members of the community
as a whole’’. A more elaborative and descriptive definition of
democracy is given by Abraham Lincoln as ‘’ democracy in the
government of people, for the people and by the people.
Democracy is a political concept , concerning the collectively of
groups, associations or society in relation to their decisions
about the rules and policies & claims that such decision making
should be subject to the control of all members of the collectivity
who are considered equals. That is to say, democracy embraces
the related principles of “popular control” and “political
equality”. This entails that democracy is also a system of
Government in which the supreme political power resides in the
people and is exercised directly by people or by their elected
representatives. And the government which is formed by will of
the people is expected to uphold the principles of freedom,
equality and dignity of members of the political community for
which the government is instituted to serve through the social
contract, which is the constitution.
Aspects/Dimensions of democracy
It could be political, social, economical and legal aspect of
democracy from among the varieties. Apparently, democracy
proceeds in two basic assumptions:
1) Popular sovereignty in the sense that the country should be
governed by representatives of the people and that all power
comes from them at their pleasure and under their watchful
supervision.

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2) There should be equality among the citizens in a arriving
at the decision affecting them. However, there are four
dimension of democracy.
The first and most basic are the popular election of the
parliament or legislature and the head of the government. It
is not only for the effectives of popular control in practices, but
also the degree of political equality in each area under free and
fair election. There should not be any discrimination on the
ground of Religion, race, sex or any of them. Political rights and
liberties must be guaranteed to all section of society.
The second is what is known as open and accountable
government” continuous accountability of Governments directly
to the electorate through the public justification of its policies
and political accountability of government the representatives
indirectly as regards of the execution of such policies are
important for democracy to prevail.
The third is the guarantees of civil or political rights or
liberties, the freedom of speech, association, assembly and
movement are essential to democracy since without them no
effective popular control over the government is possible.
Finally, the dimension that concerns with democratic society
as a whole. Since a society is a part of democracy, there
should be equal opportunity for self organization, association,
equal access to the media, and so on.
Understanding Rights and Obligations as Basic Pillars of
Democracy
It may be pointed out that democracy was demanded and
admitted on the ground that in other system of government
people were not secure, their natural rights were denied and
well-being and progress of mankind thereby disrupted. To make
this society works, or allow it to operate, a non-arbitrary or
responsible system of government was needed.

63
It is through the progress of democracy that people start to
demand certain political rights and their well-being. For
democracy to prevail, individuals should be given opportunity to
exercise his /her rights and discharge their responsible. Every
democratic government provided their citizen with all their rights
that could be political, social, economical and legal. All this
rights are included in each and every constitution of the every
countries of the world. Once this all right are provided to the
citizen of the society they evidently realized what is expected
from them that means they will discharge their obligation
effectively and properly. Some of the obligations are like paying
taxes, respecting the law of the country, safeguarding their
country from foreign aggression. It is by taking in to
Consideration this rights and obligations that one can speak
about the existence of democracy.
Ways of Exercising Democracy: Direct and Indirect Way
It could be exercised directly or indirectly
1. Direct way of exercising democracy: It is a kind of
democracy that gives opportunity for all people in decision
making. It is practical in small scale and simple association
where people can control collective decision making directly E.g.
Greek and Roman city states. Nowadays, direct way of
democracy survives in the institution of referendum and
Initiative.
2. Indirect way of exercising democracy: The will of state is
formulated and expressed through the representatives of the
people who are responsible to them.
This way of exercising democracy is suitable for large society
with greater population. It requires a complex set of institution
and practices to make the principle of participation effective.
Fundamental principles and values of democracy
A. The principle of equality: There should not be
discrimination on the bases of sex, religion, race color, etc.
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 this implies the major dictum that all people are equal
before law.
B. Principle of Accountability: Governments officials
are accountable to what they do individually or in groups .It
helps to control miss management of administration
corruption etc.
C. Transparency: All activities of government should be
clearly known by the people.
D. The principle of separation of power: Any
democratic government should have separate bodies which
has distinctive functions. There is horizontal and vertical
separation of power the vertical separation of power is
between the regional and central government. The
horizontal power separation implies the separation of power
within regional and central government.
E. Multiparty system: Implies having several parties in
one political system. It creates competition among parties to
hold the power.
F. The principle of Tolerance: It is acceptance of
differences irrespective of ethnic group, religion, language,
Color, etc. It allows the people to live together peacefully
G. The principle of rule of law: According to this
principle, no one is above the law. All individuals, including
government officials, are dictated by law
H. The principle of Universal suffrage: Suffrage means
the right of people to vote and elect their leaders. This
principle banned discrimination in voting & electing that
paved the way for the accommodation of the right of all
legible people in voting & electing.
Democratic rights as enshrined in FDRE constitution.
There are many democratic rights that provided by the
Constitution- of Ethiopia. These are.
 Right of thought, opinion and Expression
 The right of Assembly, Demonstration and petition
 Freedom of Association
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  Freedom of movement
 Rights of Nationality
 Marital, personal and family Rights
 Rights of women
 Rights of children
 Rights of Access to justice
 The Rights to Vote and to be elected
 Right of Nations, Nationalities , and people
 The Right to property
 Economic, social and cultural Right
 Right of Labor
 The Right to Development
 Environmental Rights.
Democracy and Equality
It is quite clear that one cannot conceive of democracy without
equality of citizen in all aspects. In every democratic system of
government there is a fair and indiscriminatory participation of
all citizens in every sphere of their influences and this indicates
how much equality is being enjoyed among the members of the
society since equality of opportunity and freedom for individual
are the salient characteristics of democracy.
Equality must be spread to all organization and sphere such as
political equality, social economical, cultural, and legal etc. But
these equalities are unthinkable without the emergence of
democracy and these by a democratic system of government.
Every member of society has got an equal right to enjoy his/her
life and of course to discharge his obligation at best level. We
connect talk about equality in regimes such as fascist Italy, Nazi
Germany and other totalitarian regimes.
Gender and democracy
It is quite satisfactory that the continuous advancement and
progress of mankind was found possible only under the
democratic system of government since democracy contain
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human values and legal procedures of governance. Through the
practice of democracy everyone is supposed to be equal that is
based on principle like all human are equal by nature and they
deserve to be treated equally. In general, the question of gender
is not quite familiar in the past systems of government because
it only gives priority to man and while suppressing and the
women in general. Nowadays spread of democratic ideals, the
rights and equality of women are recognized in constitutions of
most states and recognizable incentives like positive
discrimination and affirmative actions are being enforced to
address past injustices against women in many parts of the
world including our country Ethiopia.
Understanding justice and Equality
Justice essentially embodies the idea of fairness which has to
do with equality of treatment that basically pertains to the
provision of social services and the distribution of national
resources. And also distribution of benefits and besides, it also
has to deal with most of the time the fair distribution of
resources both at individual and government level. Every
member of a given society must be treated alike and should be
given their share equally or indiscriminately. Justice is believed
to close the gap that had been created due to unequal and
unfairly distribution resources. Justice can play a role of seeing
every one with the same eye since –every member of a society is
equal and deserved to be treated equally.
Equity, on the other hand entails the idea that every individual
must enjoy equal benefits and opportunities in accordance with
their need or merit, while at the same carrying equal burdens
according to their capacity. Also suggests the general equality of
every member or citizens in distribution and opportunity and
also the roles that they can play for the development of the
society. Everyone in society is expected to get equal share and
bases that is expected from them.

67
Both Justice and equity have a great role in managing the order
and levels in society that has due to occur because of
mistreatment and unfair distribution of resources in the society.
They are core value in democracy, unless we do give attention to
this principle, we cannot imagine of progress of democracy and
democratic system in general.
Political culture, Democratization and Good Governance
Political culture is composed of set of attitudes, beliefs and
values that relates to the political system and to the political
issues. political culture also refers to people’s psychological
orientations, political, culture being the pattern of orientations,
to political objects such parties ,government the constitution
expressed in beliefs, symbols & values.
There are three general types of political cultures
1. Participant political culture (civic culture): It is one in
w/c the citizen pays close attentions to the politics and
popular participation as both desirable and effective. The
citizen with this culture has the knowledge and skills to
participate in political activity in local, regional, and
national levels. This kind of political culture helps the
growth of democracy.
2. Subject political culture: this culture in characterized by
more passivity amongst citizens, citizens have limited
capacity to influence the government and they regard
themselves as a subject of government not as participant in
their process of political activities. The relationship between
the government and the people become that of doer –
receiver. This kind of political culture paves the way to the
emergence of dictatorship &abuse of power.
3. Parochial political culture: It is marked by absence of
citizenship, with people identifying with their locality, rather
than the nation and having neither the desire nor ability to
participate in politics. This kind of political culture is
known for the weak association of citizen with the central
68
 government and they are limited & being obedient to their
immediate chief in their local areas. This kind of police
culture is mostly prevalent in African countries. E.g., In
Ethiopia, the Zemene Mesafint (Era of princes) in feudal
socio- economic system. The past political system such as
oligarchy, Tyranny, Aristocracy, and military dictatorship
were described as imperfect societies and systems, and
severely criticized for oppression and exploitation of lowest
class by rulers. Everyone in that society starts to feel and
struggle to put the system on end. Through many ups and
downs the people finally aimed at the solution which is a
democracy.

Thus the emergence of modern democracies in the world was the

result of social, economic and political revolutions which had
played a dominant role in nearly all political crisis for example,
French revolution, English revolute and American war of
independence across the world. It was after all this every
countries of the world adapt the constitution as a major rule of
their country. In this constitution therefore all the rights, liberty,
freedom of all individual is articulated. It was through all the
above mentioned process that democracy reaches at this stage
today. In short, good governance is that based on its rules and
principles as prescribed in the constitution. It is also system
under which people enjoy their full equality, freedom and liberty
and all their rights in general. Good governance is that in which
the public opinion is overtly and freely expressed.
4.3 HUMAN RIGHTS
Human rights are protections to which all human beings are
entitled because of their humanity and not because of their
social status or individual merit. They are rights that belong
to all human beings irrespective of their difference in sex,
race, religion, nationality, age and so on. Human rights are
universal legal protection individuals and groups against actions
and omission that interfere with fundamental freedoms,
69
entitlements and human dignity. So, human rights do not
emanate from government’s will or individual’s convention.
The term human rights came into existence very recently
particularly after the Second World War. It replaced early
notions like ‘natural rights’ or the rights of man’. It has been
stated that the history of rights reflects the various demands
forwarded by human beings at different times.
Basic features of human rights
 Human rights are natural rights , which mean they do not
emanate from the government will or from individual’s
conventions. Human rights are protections to which all
human beings are entitled because of their humanity and
not because of their social status or individual merit.
 Human rights are based on equality, because the rights are
interconnected and based on human nature, which means
they are applied equally at any condition, place and time
irrespective of sex, ethnicity, colour, language, age,
citizenship, religion, political outlook, social position, etc.
 Human rights are unassailable, which mean they cannot be
attacked during promotion or protection.
 Human rights are eternal, which mean as far as human
society exists they continue to exist.
 Human rights are irreducible which means they are
applicable in their fuller forms.
 Human rights are indisputable which means they are not
subjected to different arguments.
 Human rights are inalienable, which means they cannot be
waived or taken away.
 Human rights are not given by governments and are not
inherited; and cannot be transferred.
 Human rights are universal.
 Human rights focus on inherent dignity and equal worth of
human beings.
 Human rights are equal, indivisible and interdependent
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  Human rights impose obligations of action and omission,
particularly on states and state actors.
 Human rights have been internationally guaranteed.
 Human rights are legally protected.
Classification of Human rights
There is no complete agreement on the classification of human
rights, because of the difference on the grounds of classification.
For example, based on the type of the right holder human
rights can be classified into individual rights and group
rights. Human rights can also be classified based on the type
of state obligation as negative and positive rights. So, there
are different types of classifications.
The widely known classification is the idea of generation rights
proposed by the French Jurist Karel Vasak. This is
classification of rights based on their evolution/generation in
human history. He was inspired by the three themes of French
revolution: liberty, equality and fraternity (solidarity).
According to Vasak’s classified into three generation of rights:
First generation rights (civil and political rights)
These rights are primarily derived from 17th century and 18th
century English and French revolutions and American war of
independence. These rights are stated in UDHR article 2-
21.These rights are core values. They are featured in
constitutions of more than 160 countries. These rights
include:
 Freedom from racial and equivalent forms of discrimination
 Freedom from slavery or involuntary servitude
 Freedom from torture and from cruel inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment
 Freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile
 The right to fair and public trial
 Freedom from interference in privacy and correspondence
 Freedom movement and residence
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  The right to asylum from persecution
 Freedom of opinion and expression
 Freedom of peaceful assembly and associations
 The right to own property and right not to be deprived of
one’s own property arbitrarily
Second generation rights (economic, social and cultural
rights)
These are economic, social and cultural rights stated in article
22-27 of the UDHR. These rights include
 The right to social security
 The right to work and protection against unemployment
 The right to rest and leisure including periodic holidays with
pay
 The right to standard of living adequate for health and well
being self and family
 The right to education and the right to the protection of one’s
scientific, literary and artistic production
 The internationalization of thee rights has been very slow
compared to first generation rights.
The third generation rights (solidarity or fraternity rights)
These rights are claimed rights .they is stated in article 28 of
UDHR. These rights are:
 The right to political, economic, social and cultural self
determination
 The right to economic and social development
 The right to participate in and benefit from the “common
heritage of main land”. It includes shared earth: space
resource, scientific, technical, and other information and
progress, cultural traditions, sites and movements etc.
 The right to peace
 The right to healthy and balanced environment
 The right to humanitarian disaster relief
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 All these claimed rights tend to be collective rights requiring
the concerted efforts of all social and political forces at
systemic level. The majority of these rights are aspirational in
character.
Are Human Rights Universal Or Relative?
There have always been dilemmas whether human rights are
universal or culture specific. In other words, the growing
consensus in the West that human rights are universal has been
fiercely opposed by critics in other parts of the world. We will try
to give some points of arguments given by both Universalists
and Relativists to defend their positions so that you will have
better knowledge of the universal-relative discourses of human
rights.
Universalists argue that human rights are protections to which
all human beings are entitled because of their humanity and
not because of their social status or individual merit.
Human rights are universal legal protection individuals and
groups against actions and omission that interfere with
fundamental freedoms, entitlements and human dignity. So,
human rights do not emanate from government’s will or
individual’s convention. They are rights that belong to all
human beings irrespective of their difference in sex, race,
religion, nationality, age and so on. The questions of Kofi Annan
at Tehran University “When have you heard a free voice demand
an end to freedom? Where have you seen a slave argue for
slavery? When have you heard a victim of torture endorse the
ways of the torturer?” asserts the universalism of human rights.
If we do not unequivocally assert the universality of rights that
oppressive government’s abuse, and if we admit that these rights
can be diluted and changed, ultimately we risk giving oppressive
governments an intellectual justification for the morally
indefensible. Objections to applicability of international human
rights standards have all too frequently been voiced by
authoritarian rulers and power elites to rationalize their
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violation of human rights, violations that serve primarily, if not
only, to sustain them in power. Just as the Devil quote the
Scripture for his purpose. Some of the basic features of
Universalist human right are:
 Human rights are based on equality
 Human rights are unassailable.
 Human rights are eternal.
 Human rights are irreducible.
 Human rights are indisputable.
 Human rights are inalienable.
 Human rights are universal.
 Human rights are equal, indivisible and interdependent
 Human rights impose obligations of action and omission,
particularly on states and state actors.
 Human rights have been internationally guaranteed.
The paramount importance of human rights at systemic level is
reaffirmed and endorsed by numerous documents of
international law. The relativists on the other hand argue that
human rights are values. Values are culture specific and so
are human rights. There is nothing universal. If there is
universal culture there is universal human right. For there
is no universal culture, there is no universal human right.
Human rights are defined and limited by cultural perceptions.
It is ignoring the very different cultural, economic, and political
realities of the other parts of the world. Can values of consumer
society be applied to societies that have nothing to consume? Is
not talking about universal rights rather like saying that the rich
and the poor both have the same right to fly first class and to
sleep under bridges?
Many in developing countries argue that some human rights are
simply not relevant to their societies the right for instance to
political pluralism, the right to paid vacations, (always good for
laugh in the sweatshops of the third world), and, inevitably the
right of women as, in this case, marriage is not seen as a
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contract between two individuals but as alliance between
lineages.
Some critics of Universalists argue that the concept of human
rights are merely is really a cover Western interventionism in
the affairs of the developing world, and that “human
rights “are merely the instrument of Western political neo-
colonialism. Moreover, they argue that developing countries
often cannot afford human rights, since the task of nation
building, economic development, and the consolidation of state
structure to these ends are still unfinished.
Still it is possible to have a situation where both cultural
integrity and individual freedom can be strengthened, for which
the marriage of Muslim women under Muslim personal Law or
civil law interpreted differently that in turn ensures the
individual right of the woman and collective right of the Muslim
community.
To come to the point where international regime is evolving to,
the better idea is to accept the fact that human rights are
universal but not uniform. Universality of human rights do not
fundamentally contradict the ideals and aspirations of any
society, and that they reflect our common universal humanity,
from which no human being be excluded.

CHAPTER FIVE: ETHICS AND CIVIC VIRTUE

5.1 Conceptual Approach: What is Ethics, and Morality?
It goes without saying that human beings are faced with
numerous choices, day in, day out, throughout life. We choose
what clothes to wear, whether to go to work (or to school) today,
what to eat for lunch, how to spend our leisure, what career to
undertake, how to conduct our self around others, whether to
consume alcohol, and so on. Sometimes our choices seem
unimportant; there is nothing earth shaking about them. Never

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the less, other times, they can have profound effects on our lives
and the lives of others.
But whatever their significance or difficulty, we are responsible
for all our actions, at least in so far as we choose them or are
their agents. In this case, then, the process of living gives rise to
human beings to the need of determining what is right and
wrong, and of establishing ideas with which they can praise or
blame others, and even themselves. Some acts are approved and
are called right or good while other acts are condemned and are
called wrong or evil. Moreover, human beings want to know
and understand their own obligation, i.e. what they ought to do.
Having said this, now let’s proceeds to some prominent
conceptual definition of ethics and morality.

Ethics a field of study that deals with what constitutes good and
bad human conduct including related actions and values.
♣ It deals with good (moral) and bad (immoral) aspects of
human conduct and moral judgment of an action, and moral
duty and obligation.
♣ It is a study of a set of principles or generally accepted
guidelines for right and wrong behaviour.
♣ It is an–in-depth field of study questioning moral principles
and thinking. And, it attempts to raise fundamental moral
questions and provide logical and meaningful answers to
them.

It follows, from the above given certain definitions that a

question of ethics arises when we ask whether a course of action
is moral or immoral, fair or unfair, just or unjust, honest or
dishonest. And, it is the task of ethics to help us realize more
clearly the nature and content of our moral consciousness.

Morality refers to the degree to which an action confirms to a

standard or norm of human conduct.
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 ♣ It deals with the aspects of good and bad actions
themselves depending upon individuals act.
In the end, it is worth noting that though people erroneously use
the term morality and ethics, interchangeably, however, the
term morality and moral refers to the conduct it self while ethics
and ethical refer to the study of moral conduct (morality) or the
code that one follows. We should also take note of the fact that
ethical decisions are not concerned with what one would do (an
essentially psychological) but what one ought to do (a matter
of duty and obligation).

5.2 Contending Theories of Ethics

Before we directly go to major contending theories of ethics, it is
essential and imperative to conspicuously understand certain
criteria (parameters) to be met by ethical theories, like most
other theories, so as to be rationally and reasonability
acceptable.

Criteria (parameters) to be met by ethical theories

A.The most basic criterion of an acceptable ethical theory is
the requirement for clear, well-defined concepts. Concepts are
the building blocks of theories; and ambiguity at this level will
affect the whole theory with vagueness and imprecision. In a
good ethical theory, we need a clear definition of concepts
such as “good” and “bad”. For example, “Lying is wrong” is an
ethical statement.
B.A good ethical theory of ethics will have consistent
statements. Consistency is a basic requirement of logic
because two contradictory statements could not both be true
and because contradictory statements would give conflicting
suggestions about how we ought to act. In ethics, statements
vary according to degrees of generality.
Example 1: “Persons deserve respect” is a general statement
(principle)
Example 2: “Do not lie” “ Do not murder” are rules (derived form
principle as specific statements)
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 C.A good theory of ethics must be complete. That is, it should
help us to decide how to act in all significant problem areas of
life. And, hence it should not be limited in its ability to tell us
how to act in a given situation.
D.Good theory of ethics should have simplicity. It should not
have more statements than necessary to be complete.
Simplicity implies means that the rules and principles can be
simple to be learned and understood by most people, for that
is the function of an ethical theory, to provide guidelines for
all rational persons.
E.A good theory of ethics must be based on the fullest set of
relevant available, relevant evidence and facts for it to be
rationally acceptable.

The need for combining the criteria of theories of ethics

with certain Rational Mental Attitudes
We must combine the criteria for theories of ethics (A-E stated
above) with certain conspicuous and rational mental attitudes in
the following ways:
1. Avoiding Hasty generalization: we need to avoid
hasty generalization (i, e, to generalize from few and
diminish our reasoning ability; therefore, we should not
decide important issues while under the influence of strong
feeling.
2. Avoiding Emotionalism: Emotionalism refers to
using emotion or “gut” felling to prove moral point or Moral
theory. Emotions could cloud and diminish our reasoning
ability; therefore, we should not decide important issues
while under he influence of strong feeling.
3. Avoiding closed Mind: (i.e. becoming open – minded).
Rationality requires that we resist the temptation to assume
that our society’s values are necessarily correct; we must
accept the possibility of our own error.

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 4. Reason: (sound justification). Attitudes about what one
should (ought to) believe ought to ultimately based not on to
personal authority but on reason.

Theories of Ethics
Ethicists often disagree about the nature of those standards and
desirable qualities and follow different path in establishing
standards and discovering which qualities are desirable. How
ever, their theoretical views about ethics can be discussed, for
the sake of convenience by categorizing in to broad fields of
ethics. These are:
1. Normative Theory of Ethics
2. Non – normative theory of Ethics

1. Normative theory of ethics

Normative ethics is concerned with developing rational rules,
guidelines, or standards according to which we ought to live out
life. Put it differently, it deals with an effort to discover, if there
are, or if we can, and formulate any moral accord with which we
can apply in the game of life. And, hence, it attempts to
determine what moral standards to follow so that our actions
may be morally right or good.
A. Applied Normative ethics
B. General Normative ethics
A. Applied Normative Ethics: deals with attempts to explain
and justify positions on specific moral problems like sex
outside marriage, capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia,
and reverse discrimination. It is said to be applied because
ethicists apply or use general ethical principles in an attempt
to resolve specific moral problems.
B.General Normative Ethics: General normative ethics, in
part, tries to formulate and defend a system of basic ethical
principles, which presumably is valid for everyone. General
normative ethics can be categorized into two broad normative
theories. These are:
i. Teleological (Consequentialist) theory ethics; and
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 ii. Deontological (non – Consequentiality) theory of
ethics.
(i) Teleological (Consequentialist) theory ethics;
Teleological ethics (from the Greek telos, meaning purpose or
end) one which emphasizes on the intended consequences or
results of an action as the criteria for their rightness. In other
words, this theory of ethics maintains that the morality of an
action depends the non–moral consequences that the action
brings about.

In plain English, an action is judged as right or wrong, moral or

immoral, good or bad depending up on what happens or results
of its pay-off (consequence). And, hence, rightness is solely a
function of producing goodness or having good consequence.
Probably, the best examples of teleological sort of ethics are
Egoism and Utilitarianism. The former (Egoism–also called
egoistic hedonism) holds that the criteria of right action is the
promotion of personal pleasure and focuses on the best
consequences for self and hence it takes the “Self” as the central
concern for the beginning of the end of all considerations. i.e.
(Ask what you will do for yourself”. Egoism has two aspects.
1. Cyrenacism-it focuses on bodily pleasure
2. Epicureanism-it emphasizes on mental pleasure
The latter (Utilitarianism – also called social hedonism) asserts
the promotion of every one’s best interest is the standard of
morality. To put it differently, an action is right if it claims that
we should always act so as to produce the greatest possible ratio
of good to evil for all concerned therefore, utilitarianism holds
that an action is right if it tends to produce the greater
happiness for the greater number of people. Otherwise, it is
wrong. The two philosophers associated with utilitarianism are
Jeremy Bentham (Quantitative Utilitarianism) (1748 – 1832) and
John Stuart Mill (Qualitative Utilitarianism) (1806 – 1873).
(ii) Deontological (non–Consequentialist) Theory of Ethics
 Deontological theory of Ethics is one that set up as the
criterion of moral behaviour, not what might or might not
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 happen, but rather the intent (motive) to perform one’s duty
through a certain action.
 It maintains that the morality of an action depends on the
factors (motives) rather than consequences (achievements).
 It holds that the morality of an action is not primarily
determined by its consequences but by certain intrinsic
features of the intention or mental aspect of the contemplated
action. A deontologist emphasizes doing one’s duty and the
natures of our motives and intentions, not the consequences
that may result from our actions. On this view, moral
correctness means to follow certain universal rules or to be
true to a moral insight, such as honesty, integrity, etc,
regardless of the consequences. For more clarification and
clear understanding of this theory of ethics, the following
terms of concepts would get definitions:

 Motive is anything whatsoever which by influencing

the will of sensitive being is supposed to serve as a means of
determining him/her to act
 Intrinsic (an end by itself): A thing has intrinsic value
of (feature) when it is valued for its sake. For example,
pleasure has intrinsic value (feature) i.e. it is worth while in
itself, not because it can yield something else
 Extrinsic (a means to an end): A thing is said to be
with extrinsic value when it a means to an end. For example,
a film could be said to have extrinsic value i.e. it is not a
value in itself but it can yield (or produce) a value perhaps,
pleasure.
N.B intrinsic and extrinsic values are not necessary mutually
exclusive because what is valued in itself may also be a means
to some thing else. For example, knowledge is worthwhile in
itself but also a means to a job.
 The deontological theory of ethics, which is discussed above
at a length, is associated with Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804), a
German Philosopher.

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The deontological theory of ethics involves two sub categories
(formal) theories. These are: Categorical Imperative, and the
Devine command theory.
 Categorical Imperative: This, which is associated with
Immanuel Kant theory of demonological ethics, is a statement
that commands one to act in a given way without laying down
any conditions what so ever. It states that one must do such
and such, and it states this without any qualification. Therefore,
according to this principles, it is the duty of every one to seek
the happiness of others, and this entails treating each individual
as an end in him self, not as a means to other ends. It is
because of this that Immanuel Kant considered categorical
Imperative as a moral law, which is true for all rational beings at
all, times. Kant believed that nothing was good in itself except a
“good will”. Intelligence, judgment, and all other facets of the
human personality are perhaps good and desirable, but only if
their will that makes use of them is good.
 The Devine command theory: is a single rule non –
Consequentialist normative theory that says we should always
do the will of God. Put it differently, whatever the situation, if we
do what God will, then we do the right thing, if we do not do
what God wills, then no matter what the consequences, we do
wrong. God established laws are generally interpreted in a
religious tradition. The Ten Commandments are good example.
They are universally and absolutely binding for all people
everywhere.

B. Non – Normative Theory of Ethics.

Non – normative Ethics is the study of either a factual

investigation of moral behavior, or analysis of the meaning of the
terms used in moral discourse and an examination of moral
reasoning by which moral beliefs can be shown to be true or
false.

Non-normative Ethics has two aspects (fields). These are:

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1. Scientific/ Descriptive study
2. Metaethics study

1. Scientific/Descriptive study: This deals with how people

actually behave, not with whether such behaviour is right or
wrong. In other words, this study of morality involves factual
investigation of moral behaviour. This non normative theory of
ethics has in turn two doctrines:
(i) Ethical Absolutism: - This deals with the
description of the existence of only one and one moral code.
Absolutists maintain that this code applies to everyone, at
all times, everywhere. Example, if cannibalism – the belief
in eating human flesh – is wrong, it is wrong for everyone,
at all times, everywhere.
(ii) Ethical Relativism: - This insists that morality is
relative, not absolute or universal. Moral codes take root in
diverse social contexts and environments. Ethical relatives
maintain that any morality is relative to the time, place, and
circumstances in which it occurs. In brief, ethical
relativisms believe that what is thought right is right. This
is to mean that what is “right” is what works in a society,
and what “works” is what works in a society is therefore
right. Notions of right or wrong are therefore relative to a
particular society, and they differ from one society to
another. Therefore, ethical relativists hold that one can
make meaningful ethical decision only in social context in
which an ethical problem occurs. For example: Polygamy
(but not more than four wives) may be right in Egypt, but
not in Israel. Moreover, it is wrong for Jews and Moslems to
eat pork; but may not be wrong for other religious people
(out of Jews and Moslems).
2. Metaethics:
Metaethics concerns the meaning of ethical terms such as
“right”, “good” and “obligation”. Does “good” mean that which is
commanded by God or Allah, or does it meant that which
maximizes happiness? Therefore, it is highly technical discipline
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investigating the meaning of ethical terms, concepts and natures
of moral philosophers, including a critical study of how ethical
statements are verified.

5.3 Morality and Law: A Juxtaposition of Morality and Right

and Obligation
Moral declaration involves the good will of community/ society
and as such they receive social recognition. However, all moral
declarations may not be protected by the state. But, moral
declarations become rights when they are accepted and
recognized as having common interest by society and at the
same time protected by the state. Therefore, it follows that
morality (moral declaration) that are accepted and recognized by
the society of a given state is an essential aspect (ingredient) of a
right. Hence, it is self – evident that a right has the following
three essential ingredients:
A. Moral foundation and recognition: Rights are ethical
(moral) when we deal with claims of individuals based on their
real wills, and therefore recognized by the community.
B. The goodness /wills/ common interest of society: This
to mean that it (a right) must get universal application and
hence rendering a public service. Therefore, the impetus (the
driving force) should be a national consideration of the public
interests and not personal caprice of the individual.
C. Protection by the state: Rights are legal when they are
translated into law by the state and protected by the state.
Therefore, it needs to be emphasized that morality is a
conspicuous foundation of a right and hence the moral values,
norms and customs are remarkably taken into account in
framing (making) a right. There fore, aright is a claim of
individual(s) that is recognized and accepted by a society, and
translated into law and protected by the state.

Morality and law are intrinsically and remarkably related in

many aspects. Like wise they also differ from each other in their
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content, sanction, and definiteness. In the case of relationship,
the following are aspects of relatedness:
A. Both of them base their source in the rational nature of
human beings. i.e. morality and law bound individuals by the
common virtue of being reasonable creatures.
B. Both of them are related in the sense that they seek to
enforce what is desired by a norm and values of morality.
For example, morality requires that one should not practice
unfair means in one’s public life and inorder to make it
mandatory, law prohibits fraud and cheating. In this way, a
precept of morality is enforced by coercive legal authority.
C. Both of them are also related in the sense that law
cannot undermine or violate a well – established norms and
values of morality.
On the other extreme, morality and law also differ form each
other in the following aspects:
A. Laws are the outward acts of man. i.e. the regulation of
the objective behaviour of man where as morality deals with
the inner motives (i.e. morality has its connection with
subjective aspect (behaviour) of man.
B. The purpose of law is to restrain a man from doing a
crime like theft or burglary where as the purpose of morality
is to save him from committing a sin and evil things that are
against conscience of his/her self and the community like
honesty, practicing in gratitude, etc.
C. Moreover, they differ from each other interms of their
imposition: i.e. law is imposed by the state universally in that
given society where as morality is developed and imposed by
the society. While there may be a sanction behind the rules of
morality, it is not applied by organized machinery (state), nor
is it determined in advance.
D. Morality lacks a relative precision, technical and
precise than law. That is, rules of law, relatively unlike rules
of morality, are expressed in technical and precise language.
E. Morality is relatively more diversified than rules of law.
Different societies may evolve different codes of morality. This
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 is what is known as Relative theory of morality. On the other
hand, law is relatively uniform across countries. For example,
eating the flesh (meat) of a donkey or a Dog is immoral in
societies of Ethiopia while it is moral in societies of china or
Korea. But, killing a person is illegal relatively in all societies.

F. With regard to the nature and type of punishment, In

most case, violation of law entails punishment, which is
physically painful, On the other extreme; violation of moral
norms (values) entails only psychological pain like social
ostrasization, etc.

5.4 Moral Values and Norms

No society has ever been without some value system, a collection
of codes of values. What do we mean by moral values? Before we
directly go to see what moral values and norms are, we shall
look at distinguishing between a fact (factual judgment) and
value (a value judgment).
 A factual judgment: describes an empirical relationship or
quality For example, Addis Ababa is the capital city of
Ethiopia; Water boils at 212 degree Fahrenheit at sea level,
are factual judgment.
 A value judgment: Assesses the worth of objects, acts,
feelings, and attitudes, even people. A value judgment is of
two kinds: These are illustrated below using
examples: are value judgment that lend

o “I should (ought to) visit my themselves to rational analysis

and may be debatable
sick brother”
o “You were wrong in lying”
o “I ought to help poor people”
o “I should not do evil things” etc
o “I like the flavor of real Italian spaghetti (taste)
o “I think Susan is beautiful” (vision – although beauty
as such is not actually seen but is created from visual
perceptions and past experiences)
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o I enjoy walking in the rain (touch)
It is observed that the nature of value judgment in ethics
involves relatively two values. Firstly, those that are statements
of personal taste and temperamental and are not debatable; and
secondly, those that lend themselves to rational analysis and
empirical investigation and are, therefore, debatable.
Following this, in this section, we shall look at moral values i.e.
Collective values judgment that lend themselves to rational
analysis is based on conscience and reasonableness in societal
context.
Values: are a culture’s general orientations to ward life – its
notions of what is good and bad, what is desirable and
undesirable, value them selves are abstractions. They can best
be found by looking for the recurring patters of behavior that
express them.
 Values refer to special traits of human beings i.e. to ask
thoughtful questions and to act in the desirable manner and
the worth ness of different way of life or human behavior.
Therefore, moral values are in tangible and acquired from
culture, not born. Therefore, Moral values of conceptions of an
individual or group. Characteristics of the desired values that
influence the selection form available modes of means and
ends of action.
 Societal values
 Group values
 Individual value
Hierarchy of values

Norms: - are rules of behaviour that are agreed upon and

shared with in a culture, which prescribe limits of acceptable
behaviour.
Well can see norms by categorizing it in to two parts: These are:
-
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 i) Mores: - are strongly held norms that
usually have a moral connotation and are based on the
central values of the culture. Violation of mores produces
strong negative reactions, which are often supported by the
law. For example, sexual molestation of a child, rape,
murder, incest, and child beating are some examples. Mores,
therefore, usually have absolute conformity.
ii) Folkways (traditions): are norms that
permit a wide degree of individual interpretation as long as
certain limits are not over stepped. People who violate
folkways are seen as peculiar or possibly eccentric. For
example, a dress style is different culture to culture. They
(folkways) change with time. For example, in Ethiopia, it is
customary to thank someone for a gift. To fail to do so is to
be ungrateful and ill – mannered Subtle cultural differences
can make international gift giving, however, a source of
anxiety or embarrassment to well meaning business
travelers. For example, if you give a gift on first meeting an
Arab businessman, it may be interpreted as a bribe if you
give a clock in china, it is considered as bad luck.

5.5 Ethics and Morality in the context of profession

The term profession refers to the knowledge, skill and ability,

which can be acquired through formal educational institutions
such as universities, colleges and training centers that are filled
by those persons who posses such knowledge, and skills in any
fields of study.
General Distinguished Features /Characteristics
of a Profession
A. Prestige: - this refers to a degree of esteem. As such,
inorder to be a professional, this to incorporate:
 A body of knowledge that includes general, specialized,
and professional knowledge.
 A body of skills, which includes needs science its own.
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B. Inorder to be a profession, it should stand for the well –
being and improvement of human society.
C. A profession should be practical. That is, a professional
person must change the knowledge and skills to practical and
tangible way of life.
D. It should be organized. This is to mean that a profession
must be strong, respected, secured and continuous.

Professional Ethics:
 Professional Ethics: refers to ethics that enables
professionals to distinguish what is right from what is wrong
using morality as standard of evaluation. Hence, it (professional
ethics) serves as parameter by which actions and behavior of a
professional or (professionals) can be judged as right or wrong.
 It follows that, therefore, Professionals are expected to
behave and manifest their actions by which a profession
conspicuously demands and each profession as a profession has
its own codes and principles (standards) of ethics. And, the
codes of ethics each profession demands are a sort of
conspicuous guidelines and standards, which enable
professionals to differentiate the right way of conduct from
wrong way of conduct. There fore, these guidelines enable
professionals to posses’ proper conducts and actions, and to
develop proper relationship with other workers. Consequently,
fertile and conducive working environment would be created and
effective, efficient, just and ethical services would be delivered to
their clients and particularly to the public (people). It is if this is
conspicuously developed by each profession that poor people,
like Ethiopian society, and come out from the wretched and
grinding poverty and effective and just services particularly that
of public services, can be delivered.

Fundamental Codes and Principles of Professional Ethics

It is not beyond imagination that different professions may have
different codes of ethic and rules of conduct with in which their
professional’s actions and behaviors are judged as right or
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wrong against their profession. But there are also common
codes of ethics and rules of conduct of workers in all
professions. Hence, these rules, which will be discussed in the
following section, are universal applied and must be applied
across all professions. The following are, among others, the most
important and common codes of ethics and principles of conduct
for all professions.
A. Punctuality
Punctuality refers to the state of being strictly observant of an
appointed or regular time. Across all professions, a worker is
said to be, and should be, punctual not only when he/she
comes to work place on the time but also when he/she meets
deadlines and when he/she is always available during working
hours.
B. Honesty and Integrity
Honesty basically refers to the art of telling the truth.
Employers and institutions expect their workers to be honest,
but many workers and instructors (teachers) are not. When you
are employed for a certain job of a given profession, you have
entered into agreement to sell both your time, and knowledge
and skill to your institution. And hence, your working hours
(time) doesn’t belong to you! Rather it belongs to your employer
(the institution) employer/institution.
C. Proper Utilization of Instruments of Labour
A worker in any profession, be it a farmer, a teacher (instructor),
or physician, should handle the instruments in a way that
she/he can use the instruments for longer time. That is, any
worker of a given profession should use restores – be it financial,
material, etc – efficiently, effectively and in a just and proper
manner. This is particularly applied by public institutions that
deliver service to the public by any worker in a given profession.
For example, avoiding wastage of material and financial resourse
putting off the light when leaving the office, which is an ordinary
example.
D. Loyalty and Self – Efficacy

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The maxim common to many societies that “Do not bite the
hand that feeds you”. This is certainly true in your relationship
with your employer or institution whether public or private
institution. Any worker, in a given profession must stand for,
not against your relationship with your employer or institution.
Therefore, always think what you can do to promote the
organization or office or university you work for. This also
includes the need to maximize productivity of your employer or
institution i.e. the quantity and/or quality of work done. More
over, an ethical professional must develop self–efficacy, which
an appraisal or evaluation that a professional about his/her
professional and personal competence to succeed in a particular
task i.e. he has to develop his personal and professional belief in
the ability to perform tasks successfully.

E. Working in cooperation with colleagues:

A worker of a given profession should make sure that he/she
has a good relationship with other workers. The main rationale
behind these codes of professional ethics is to create a fertile
and good atmosphere conducive for cooperation and better
productivity. He/she should serve hand in hand with other
professional workers in the interest of effective provision of
service.
F. Anti – Corruption spirit
It is well known that corruption severely hampers development
and it is an impediment for building democracy. One way of
fighting corruption is by making professionals to comply with
the laws, rules and regulations of the state. But most
importantly, it is plausible that every professional should
enhance or develop the spirit (mentality) that is anti or against
corruption so that development, equality, democracy and justice
can remarkably be fostered.
G. Confidentiality
A worker of a given profession conspicuously needs to keep
some information that should be kept secret. For example, in a
case of physicians or nurse he/she has to keep all the
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information a regarding the patient contained in a patient’s
chart. Therefore, the physician or nurse should never voluntarily
divulge information of a confidential nature unless the patient’s
best interest requires this to be done. Another example is that a
teacher should keep all information of students achieve
confidential.
H. Commitment
A professional should help his/her client and the whole
community to maintain and satisfy societal (public) demands.
More over, he/she holds paramount the safety; health and we
fare of the public and shall strive to comply with the principle of
sustainable development in the performance of their professional
duties.
I. Persistent Tolerance and Democratic Culture
Any worker or professional have to develop the ability and
willing ness to accommodate differences in ideas, outlooks,
views, etc due to various behaviour of human beings. For
example, conflict of ideas, outlooks, or views is indispensable
able but it should be carefully and peace fully managed and
resolved so that fruit full produces and progress can be achieve.
Having said this, it is also imperative to accompany or back
difference or conflict of ides outlooks, etc by tolerance.

J. Respecting the Dignity of People

A professional or worker should respect the dignity of all
persons serving them in accordance with their basic needs,
irrespective of their sex, personal status, religion or by other
supernal factors involved.
K. Impartiality (Non–Partiality)
A professional should be impartial i.e. non – parties a to his
client or all persons that the/she contacts. Rather, he/she treat
all equally in this service delivery to his clement or people with
out any discrimination. A teacher (instructor) should treat
his/her students equally on the basic of their academic
performance or achievement.

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Therefore, a professional (worker) should keep a fair and
impartial attitude to the public, clients, of his/her work, and
serve sincerely.
L. Accountability and Responsibility
Any worker in a given profession has professional
responsibilities or duties. In an organization where you are
engaged, you have to be obedient for the chain of command,
which are presented to you. As you are part of a given
organization you have to be answerable for your actions.
M. Transparency
It is also imperative for a professional to be transparent i.e.
his/her works must be open to the public to whom he delivers
public service. Confident professional who work for the people
effectively and efficiently are usually transparent.
N. Responsiveness
Refers to the extent that a professional satisfies the needs,
preferences, or values of his clients and/or the society. Since
he/she has connections and professional relationship with his
clients or public, he/she has to able to reply or respond to the
people’s demand.

5.6 Understanding and Internalizing Civic Virtues

It is viewed that the citizen committed to civic virtue as one who
watches both sets of values-those of the public good and those
of freedom, diversity, and individual rights and who acts on the
basis of the best informed judgment that profoundly study and
active participation can be provided. It is believed that civic
virtue embraces rational thinking and acting in such a way that
individual rights are viewed in light of the public good and that
the public good includes the protection of individual rights.
Whether one prefers to stress balance, equilibrium, or tension
between these traditions, or views them as a blend, mixture, or
tapestry it is believed that the effort to identify and understand
their ingredients is the first major step toward the practice of
civic virtue civic virtue is described interms of civic dispositions
and civic commitments.
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 Civic Dispositions refers to those attitudes and ingrained
habits of mind that are conducive to behavior that leads to the
healthy functioning and common good of the democratic system.
These dispositions also enhance the individual’s ability to
participate competently and responsibly in the political system.
Dispositions of the citizen conducive to the healthy functioning
of a constitutional democracy include the following:
1. Civility: - is a polite way of acting or behaving towards
others. It is the need to respect others. This includes the
respect and politeness we show to those with whom even we
may disagree. In this case, thus, we are expected to respect the
rights of those who are in dispute with us. It is an element of
civilized behavior. Moreover it is a way of peaceful living and co-
existence with others.

In its civic context, civility has the following characteristics:

1. Respect. Civility includes treating others with respect and
as individuals inherently worthy of regard whether or not one
agrees with their positions.
2. Civil discourse. Civility includes a disposition to take part
in public debate and in doing so to adhere to commonly
accepted standards of discourse such as:
a. Addressing the issue. Debate should be based on the
substance of opponents’ argument or positions on the issue and
not on personal attacks on their character.
b. Respecting the right of others to be heard. Disruptive
tactics that undermine debate in a public forum should be
avoided. However, when people are unjustly denied their right to
express their views, disruptive tactics such as civil disobedience
and similar non – violent activities can be justified.
2. Individual responsibility: - refers to the moral and legal
obligation of citizens, and hence citizens should be disposed to
care for and take responsibility for themselves and their actions
and activities.

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3. Self – discipline: - Virtuous citizens freely adhere to the
fundamental rules required for the maintenance of a system of
constitutional government without requiring the imposition of
external authority. In all situations, there are some rules and
regulations to be observed. These rules and regulations help to
guide our actions. Thus, we should be able to respect these
rules and standards in our day-to-day activities. When we do
this freely and from our own initiative, our actions can be
referred as self-disciplined. Thus self-discipline comes from
inside of us without being forced or controlled by outside
expectations or impositions.
4. Civic – mindedness: - this refers to citizen’s readiness and
desire to give concern to the public. Thoughtful citizens
recognize that there is often a tension between private interest
and the common good. Citizens should understand that there
are times when they should place the common good above their
personal interests. Civic-mindedness is unselfish behavior that
enables us to do good and make sacrifice ourselves to the
society and to our nation.
5. Open-mindedness: - This is the disposition to be receptive to
different ideas and arguments. This includes the following
attributes:
A. Openness: - citizens should be open to considering
opposing positions and changing or modifying their own
positions. Openness to opposing positions and arguments,
however, does not mean that all views are of equal value or
validity.
B. A healthy skepticism: - A healthy skepticism is an
appropriate response of the citizen to unsupported
generalizations and dogmatism.
C. Recognition of ambiguity: - citizens should recognize that
actions and situations are sometimes capable of more than one
interpretation and that the character of political and social
reality is therefore sometimes ambiguous. It may therefore be
difficult to achieve full understanding or certainty.

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6. Compromise (Negotiation/bargaining): - is one form of
behavior that should be observed in settling conflicts peacefully.
It involves the readiness and willingness to spare something on
both sides of the conflict in favor of the peaceful resolution of the
problem and its outcome. That means, whenever we are in
conflict with others on a certain issue, there is a need to give up
some of our positions or interests. However compromise never
allows abandoning basic principles and interests.
Therefore, compromise is based on the principle of give and take
spirit and hence involves concession and counter concession by
each party or individual person engaged in conflict.
7. Toleration of diversity: The disposition to tolerate,
appreciate, and support diversity includes respect for the right
of others to differ in ideas, ways of life, customs, and beliefs etc.
Support for diversity in everyday life should be based upon an
understanding of benefits of having people of diverse beliefs and
ethnic and racial backgrounds as a part of the community.
8. Patience and persistence: - Citizens should understand that
forming or changing public policy usually requires a great deal
of time and persistent effort. They should not be dissuaded from
this fact or by the inevitable delays and failures that result when
trying to exert influence on governmental decision-making.
9. Compassion: - Compassion is the disposition to empathize
with others and show concern for their welfare, and hence, it is
an essential attribute of citizens in a society devoted to the
common good.
10. Generosity: - Generosity means the disposition to expend
time, effort, and resources in a civic context for the benefit of
others. The virtuous citizen shows generosity to others and to
the community at large.
11. Loyalty to the Nation and its Constitution: - Citizens
should habitually act in accord with the fundamental values and
principles of the constitution of the F.D.R.E and be committed to
narrowing the gap between those values and principles ands the
actual practice. In doing so, therefore, the F.D.R.E constitution

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conspicuously effective and hence constitutionalism profoundly
prevails across the nation and the society.

Civic Commitment and Internalization

Civic commitments are reasoned devotion or commitment
expected to be discharged or fulfilled by all citizens of a given
state. Civic commitment is profoundly applied or practiced if and
on if citizens and students conspicuously and persistently
internalized the aforementioned and other civic virtues, and
thereby, making them part and parcel of their behaviour
conduct. It is only if civic commitment is essentially practiced by
each and every citizen that our social system and solidarity get
effective, and hence not fragile.

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