Citizenship in Ethiopia

Citizenship determines whether a person formally belongs to a particular State. Beyond, it deals with the society-State reciprocal interactions. This article, thus, made comparative analysis of the manner citizenship has been framed in Ethiopia; the way citizens were informed of citizenship and tied to the State; and the way the State responds to the interest of citizens. Membership/identity, rights and participation are used as a framework of analyses. In doing this, the study employed qualitative, content analysis method. Since people in the country have been facing aching discriminations, many groups made fierce struggles against power holders for reasons of inclusion. Instituting genuine citizenship wouldn’t be a challenging task had the governments equally entertain the identity of all groups into the State apparatus. Reconciling the contending perspectives of the ethnic groups regarding the past memories and rectifying their legacies is a living headache towards establishing genuine citizenship in Ethiopia.