Abstract
While the Ethiopian GDP is growing remarkably, a shift in macroeconomic policy can decisively contribute to high growth rates and new margins of maneuver for sectoral and structural policies. The dazzling feature of such GDP growth is that the contribution of real cost reduction recorded, is higher than in any of the well-performing emerging markets. The developmental state model that accords primacy to macroeconomic stability, notwithstanding; Ethiopia’s growth potential is yet to be and can be mobilized and structural transformation will in effect involve unlocking self-reinforcing policy trajectories and a coordinated change in the composition and level of public and private sector investments. Amartia Sen’s celebrated argument in Development as Freedom that no famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy, and its corollary, that a free press and an active civic engagement constitute the best early-warning system a country threatened by famines can have, is no longer open to dispute. Indeed, these are the main drivers of the community theories of change, deeply embedded in cultural configurations of Ethiopians: security, adaptation, responses to stress and shocks. The lessons learned point to the need to address the issues to put national policies foreign policy transfers and interventions in coherent theoretical or strategic perspective. What is the overall rationality of programs and projects, the proliferating of which must show regard for economy of coordination, how far and in what ways do various agencies’ programs, mechanisms, forms of knowledge and technical assistance feed on one another in helping set the boundaries of reform. Ethiopia undoubtedly depends on vital international assistance. Yet, it must be recognized that external support creates opportunities as well as problems. Hence, in confronting the imperatives for change, nothing is more challenging than the strategic coordination of diverse global and local elements, relations and activities within themselves, nor has anything, greater potential for enabling good economic and social pluralism through sound policies.
While the Ethiopian GDP is growing remarkably, a shift in macroeconomic policy can decisively contribute to high growth rates and new margins of maneuver for sectoral and structural policies. The dazzling feature of such GDP growth is that the contribution of real cost reduction recorded, is higher than in any of the well-performing emerging markets. The developmental state model that accords primacy to macroeconomic stability, notwithstanding; Ethiopia’s growth potential is yet to be and can be mobilized and structural transformation will in effect involve unlocking self-reinforcing policy trajectories and a coordinated change in the composition and level of public and private sector investments. Amartia Sen’s celebrated argument in Development as Freedom that no famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy, and its corollary, that a free press and an active civic engagement constitute the best early-warning system a country threatened by famines can have, is no longer open to dispute. Indeed, these are the main drivers of the community theories of change, deeply embedded in cultural configurations of Ethiopians: security, adaptation, responses to stress and shocks. The lessons learned point to the need to address the issues to put national policies foreign policy transfers and interventions in coherent theoretical or strategic perspective. What is the overall rationality of programs and projects, the proliferating of which must show regard for economy of coordination, how far and in what ways do various agencies’ programs, mechanisms, forms of knowledge and technical assistance feed on one another in helping set the boundaries of reform. Ethiopia undoubtedly depends on vital international assistance. Yet, it must be recognized that external support creates opportunities as well as problems. Hence, in confronting the imperatives for change, nothing is more challenging than the strategic coordination of diverse global and local elements, relations and activities within themselves, nor has anything, greater potential for enabling good economic and social pluralism through sound policies.
Key words: human development, human security, developmental state, MDGs,
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