A Middle Power in the Making? An Assessment of Ethiopia’s Power Position

In the context of being faced by scarce literature on African (middle) power analyses in an international state system that shifts towards multipolarity, this research investigates Ethiopia’s current power position/status in the international state system by analyzing the country from a middle power lens, which also reveals how Ethiopia can become a fully-fledged middle power. The analysis looks at four definitional attributes that have been identified in the existing literature on middle powers and tries to identify to what extent Ethiopia fulfills these, namely: Positional/material capabilities, behavioral/normative patterns, identity and systemic impact attributes. Subsequently, Ethiopia’s shortcomings in these criteria are being used to form policy recommendations that should make Ethiopia a fully-fledged middle power in the future. Eventually, the analysis showcases that Ethiopia can be considered an “awkward middle power.” Accordingly, a set of three policy recommendations is...Show moreIn the context of being faced by scarce literature on African (middle) power analyses in an international state system that shifts towards multipolarity, this research investigates Ethiopia’s current power position/status in the international state system by analyzing the country from a middle power lens, which also reveals how Ethiopia can become a fully-fledged middle power. The analysis looks at four definitional attributes that have been identified in the existing literature on middle powers and tries to identify to what extent Ethiopia fulfills these, namely: Positional/material capabilities, behavioral/normative patterns, identity and systemic impact attributes. Subsequently, Ethiopia’s shortcomings in these criteria are being used to form policy recommendations that should make Ethiopia a fully-fledged middle power in the future. Eventually, the analysis showcases that Ethiopia can be considered an “awkward middle power.” Accordingly, a set of three policy recommendations is presented that aims at tackling Ethiopia’s shortcomings of its domestic economy, its extra-regional engagement and its rather negative regional perception. Interestingly, more recently Ethiopia was able to achieve positive developments that strengthen its power position, hence why one could call it a “rising” awkward middle power, which is a trend that the policy recommendations try to stabilize. Ultimately, this study aims at opening a debate around Ethiopia’s and other African countries’ (middle) power status and invites critiques and further analyses of this under-analyzed regional branch of IR.Show less

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A Middle Power in the Making? An Assessment of Ethiopia’s Power Position