‘Adwa, not AGOA’: Digital propaganda and strategic narratives during the Ethiopian civil war of 2020 to 2022

This article examines how peripheral states deploy narratives to shape perceptions, mobilize support, and resist external pressure in times of conflict. Drawing on the concepts of strategic narratives and participatory propaganda, the authors examine the pro-government campaign on Twitter during the Ethiopian civil war (2020–2022) to understand how governments attempt to control narratives in the context of a domestic armed conflict with an international communicative dimension. Based on an interpretative analysis of 279 top tweets from the pro-government campaign, the study uncovers two strategic narratives: (1) portraying the adversary, the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), as an existential threat, so as to mobilize domestic support; and (2) painting the West as interventionist and neo-colonial, so as to resist international pressure. These narratives instrumentalized existing pan-Ethiopian, Pan-African, anti-imperial, and non-interventionist discourses. The article contributes to the literature on strategic narratives by demonstrating how peripheral states engage in co-produced digital propaganda to shape the perceptions and actions of audiences.