Yemen, a Tribute to the Demise of Global Governing Bodies, International Law and Universal Rights & Public Policy RL Vol XII No 335 MMXVIII

Yemen, a Tribute to the Demise of

Global Governing Bodies, International Law and Universal Rights & Public Policy

Public lecture RL Vol XII No 335 MMXVIII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

President, Lem Ethiopia: Environment Development Society

https://addisababa.academia.edu/CostyCostantinos

Abstract

Yemen was for centuries the centre of civilisation and wealth on the Arabian Peninsula. The Romans referred to the area as Arabia Felix, or Happy Arabia. Its once fertile plains were irrigated with the aid of the great Ma'rib Dam built around 700 B.C. by the biblical Sheba and chronicles speak of the land as Frankincense country, whose cities brimmed with all sorts of goods and provided the major link between the Mediterranean world and the fabled Indian ports. Nevertheless, there are views that some inaccurately speculate that the conflict in Yemen is mostly the result of a proxy geopolitical war between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the broader Middle East. However, Iran’s role and influence in the conflict have been greatly exaggerated. The Houthis have been around for some time, and to their credit, they tried a number of non-violent approaches to former governments for years, in an attempt to end discrimination against their community. Eventually they were compelled to resort to violence where the Yemeni government, already under al Qaeda siege, was an easy target”. A military intervention was launched by Saudi Arabia in 2015, leading a coalition of nine African and Middle East countries, to influence the outcome of the Yemeni Civil War in favour of the government of President Hadi. Today, a military alliance battling Houthi rebels negotiated secret deals and recruited al-Qaeda fighters. There is now a clear and present danger of an imminent and great big famine and cholera engulfing the country.

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Jamal Khashoggi’s murder could have major repercussions for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, MbS and for the entire kingdom (Wright, 2018). A solution in Yemen’s two and-a-half year-old civil war will likely come through military rather than political means, the country’s Saudi-backed president said, blaming the Iran-backed Al Houthis of obstructing chances of peace, but Egypt was humiliated and bankrupted in the sixties in its Yemen intervention. Hence, others say it is necessary to initiate an immediate ceasefire with the help of the international community, and start the peace negotiations in a multilateral context in order to establish an inclusive government in the war-torn country. On the other side, the Houthis argue that a negotiated settlement should begin with the formation of a national reconciliation government that includes the Houthis and those aligned with Hadi that would oversee military disengagement and the rebuilding of a single national military under its command. Peace would begin with a political settlement and then proceed to military disengagement.  After the Saudi-led coalition declared the entire Saada Governorate a military target, the UN and Human Rights Watch said that air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition on Saada city in Yemen were in breach of international law. On 1 July 2015 UN declared a level-three emergency – the highest UN emergency level – for a period of six months. Yemen is now a tribute to a 21^st century catastrophe of international law, public policy and global governance institutions. To reduce this action to some sadistic aim is too simplistic; there is a sense of frustration in the Gulf and the West seems to be tending to its vexation with oxygen that is fuelling the inferno. It is morally wrong, but morality is an alien concept in Arab polity and indeed, in any of the systems that claim the moral high ground to change it.

Key words: Yemen, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Houthis, Hadi, Saleh, famine, cholera, international law,

See lecture here or  https://www.academia.edu/37687180/Yemen_a_Tribute_to_the_Demise_of_Global_Governing_Bodies_International_Law_and_Universal_Rights_and_Public_Policy
Cartoon credit - 'Weighed in the balance' Cartoon by Ella Baron

Ethnic Self-Determination or Centripetal Dismemberment of a Nation RL Vol XII No 340 MMXVIII

Ethnic Self-Determination or

Centripetal Dismemberment of a Nation

Polarity of Incarnate Narratives and

Avant-garde Ideology

Public Lecture - RL Vol XII No 340 MMXVIII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

Professor of Public Policy & Sustainable Institutional Reforms

https://addisababa.academia.edu/CostyCostantinos

Abstract

Despite the success the new charismatic Prime Minister Abiy, some regions are locked up in a round of vindictive ethnic violence. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Ethiopians are caught between ethnic violence and shadowy politics. Ethnic violence in Ethiopia's Southern regional state has left at least 770,000 people displaced. What is re-emerging now after almost 27 years of revolutionary democracy rule is the deep division and heated debate about the wisdom of ethnic based regionalisation of the country. The modern state that emerged was a heterogeneous society comprising of major ethnic groups. Irredentist and secessionist parties claim that there was no meaningful effort undertaken to integrate the indigenous populations into the expanded political system. Moreover, the swing to the left in the late 1960s was attended by the adoption of a virtually infallible recipe for organisation, in its Stalinist variant for the urban setting and its Maoist one for the rural. A cardinal feature of the recipe was the principle of ‘democratic centralism’. The ‘Dergue’ discovered its utility and applied it to achieve the highest level of mobilisation and regimentation of society ever recorded in Ethiopia. Utilising the same organisational recipe, the rural guerrilla forces smashed the gigantic military machine and defeated the ‘Dergue’. The same ideological baggage has permeated economic policy since 1974.

Nevertheless, citizens complain that, in this light, the issues of ‘democratisation’ that the nation poses and seeks to settle may be seen more as a feature of its ideology than a feature of Ethiopia, though the country certainly faces problems of democratic transition. For it is difficult to see how ethnic-based ‘democratisation’ constitutes the ‘democratisation’ of Ethiopia. When all that is constitutive of its historic identity and unity is subject to rejection and deconstruction, how does this become a subject of democratic change? This claim of reductionism in approaching national tradition along with the naively rationalist criticism that goes with it, is predicated on the polarity the new political order draws between historically sedimented values, sentiments and symbols of the tradition, on the one hand, and contemporary ideas and projects of self-determination which they are being promoted, on the other. It is based on a dualism of effective history and revolutionary ideology. This polarisation is indefensible in its assumption that the two forms of Ethiopian national experience are mutually exclusive. If we do not accept it, and there may be good reasons for not accepting it, the arguments that the incumbents make on its basis become untenable.

On top of many programmes proposed by the lecture, the most significant is the devolution of power to the zones (awrajas during Emperor Haile Sellasse) will no doubt address issues of identity, resources use, livelihood security (entrepreneurship, employment) and ethnic peace. The human and financial resources of the regional states must wither away along with decision-making tasks to the zones so that they can serve the populace better and faster. The most intimidating challenge is to free society and polity from the pugnacious, belligerent and bellicose legacy and doctrinaire traditions of the junta era by fostering the brighter aspects of the past while consciously fighting the darker ones.

Key words: self-determination, ethnicity, Ethiopianness, history, tradition, political transition, parties

See lecture here or  https://www.academia.edu/37686246/Ethnic_Self-Determination_or_Centripetal_Dismemberment_of_a_Nation_Polarity_of_Incarnate_Narratives_and_Avant-garde_Ideology_RL_Vol_XII_No_340_MMXVIII

Global Trade Wars, Unilateralism & the Providence of Multi-lateralism - RL Vol XII No 308 MMXVIII

Global Trade Wars, 

Unilateralism & the Providence of Multi-lateralism

Interview transcript - RL Vol XII No 308 MMXVIII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

President, Lem Ethiopia: Environment and Development Society

https://addisababa.academia.edu/CostyCostantinos

Summary

Protectionism refers to government actions and policies that restrict or restrain international trade, whose merits of protectionism are the subject of fierce debate. Critics argue that over the long term, protectionism often hurts the people it is intended to protect by slowing economic growth and pushing up prices, making free trade a better alternative. Proponents of protectionism argue that the policies provide competitive advantages and create jobs. The three pillars of the ‘America First’ ideology — isolationism, protectionism and restricting immigration — were gaining popularity before Mr. Trump became president and may outlast his tenure. In international relations, unilateralism is any canon that nations take as a parochial action, a neologism which is already in common use; it was coined to be an antonym for multilateralism, which is the doctrine which asserts the benefits of participation from as many parties as possible. With the advent of Global Governance Institutions after the catastrophic World War II, multilateralism flourished to maintain world order, economic prosperity and human rights. The Breton Woods institutions (IMF & World Bank) were founded as the financial agencies of the world, the WTO to regulate world trade and the UN Security Council to maintain world order. Others were formed to undertake human and structural development across the globe.

The US is the richest and most stable economy and its role is seen as a leader of the free world to create a global architecture for freedom from fear and freedom from want. Nevertheless the ‘America First’ slogan is fast removing it from leading the multilateralism process. One can observe that the US is trying to contrast itself with developing nations such as China that has been feared as a communist giant and countries that are gradually emerging from authoritarian rule of the Cold War. The stability of Asia, Africa and Latin America is paramount for US peace and hence the US must pay any price to maintain human security in these regions through principally trade. Otherwise, it will have to send its troops such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya to name a few. Yes, indeed, the U.S. administration's inward looking approach of ‘America-first’ will hurt multilateralism. For a good reason. America has been the largest supporter of the Breton Woods institutions, it has contributed to the UN peace keeping more than any other nation, and its bilateral aid has been instrumental in fighting poverty and diseases. The US contribution to NATO has also been substantial. The Marshall Plan had reconstructed Europe after WWII and American capital has heralded capital development in East Asia and Latin America. Now all this is under question mark, with the US threatening to withdraw aid from nations that do not support it in the UN General Assembly. The US stance on global governance institutions is also another threat to multilateralism, with WTO fast becoming irrelevant given the US unilateral action. The World Bank warns trade tensions could trigger a 2008-level crisis.

Key words: China, United States, trade wars, developing nations, protectionism, WTO, UNCTAD

See paper here or https://www.academia.edu/37582029/Global_Trade_Wars_Unilateralism_and_the_Providence_of_Multilateralism_RL_Vol_XII_No_308_MMXVIII

Syncretic Conduits to Middle Eastern Schisms in Noxious Religious Conflicts (Sunni-Sufi-Shia) Public Lecture - RL Vol XII No 315 MMXVIII

Syncretic Conduits to Middle

Eastern Schisms in Noxious Religious Conflicts (Sunni-Sufi-Shia)

Public Lecture - RL Vol XII No 315 MMXVIII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

Professor of Public Policy & Sustainable Institutional Reforms

https://addisababa.academia.edu/CostyCostantinos

Abstract

Sufism was a mystical form of Islam, a school of practice that emphasises the inward search for God and shuns materialism. It has produced some of the world’s most beloved literature. While some Muslims view Sufis as quirky, even eccentric, some fundamentalists and extremists see Sufism as a threat and its adherents as heretics or apostates. Puritanical Salafist Muslims have attacked Sufi shrines and communities across the Arab world in a campaign to spread their influence. Nevertheless, in Tunisia, where national history and identity are intimately intertwined with Sufism, the Salafis have been thwarted (Luck, 2017). Sunni, Ahl al-Sunna, are the people of the tradition. The tradition in this case refers to practices based on precedent or reports of the actions of the Prophet Muhammad and those close to him. Sunnis venerate all the prophets mentioned in the Quran, but particularly Muhammad as the final prophet. In early Islamic history, the Shiats were a political faction - literally Shiat Ali or the party of Ali. The Shiats claimed the right of Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and his descendants to lead the Islamic community.

Conflict is seen as a positive and necessary force, desirable because individuals and groups are naturally seen as having different needs and interests, valued because it often serves as an important impetus for positive change. However, the brutal demise of the Yemeni people shows how these schisms have to be put together and the dots have to be connected. The chessboard is being staged for a Clash of Cultures & Civilisations and all the chess pieces are being put into place. The Arab World is in the process of being cordoned off and sharp delineation lines are being created. These lines of delineation are replacing the seamless lines of transition between different ethno-linguistic, skin-colour, and religious groups. Hence, resolving conflicts that arise from spiritual variances derive from several basic premises about the nature of conflict, change and power and how conflict is managed.

Key words: Sunni, Shia, Clash of Cultures & Civilisations, Clash of Cultures, Conflict resolution, 

See lecture here or https://www.academia.edu/37578443/Syncretic_Conduits_to_Middle_Eastern_Schisms_in_Deadly_Religious_Conflicts_-_RL_Vol_XII_No_315_MMXVIII

The Ethiopian Somali Dynamic Bearings of a Simmering Statutory Crisis RL Vol XII No 277 MMXVIII

The Ethiopian Somali Dynamic

Bearings of a Simmering

Statutory Crisis

Public Lecture - RL Vol XII No 277 MMXVIII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

Professor of Public Policy & Sustainable Institutional Reforms

https://addisababa.academia.edu/CostyCostantinos

Abstract

          In the Somali Region, pastoralists, agro-pastoralists, farmers and traders – have suffered a series of livelihood shocks in contemporary years, some natural, others political (violent conflicts). Unfavourable polices towards the region by successive regimes in the country’s political history. Because of these multiple shocks, and because rainfall in the Horn of Africa has been low in recent years, questions are being asked about the sustainability of livelihood in a predominantly pastoralist area. The Government for instance, is advocating rural sedentarization of pastoralists as one long-term option, while many question the government’s legitimacy to intervene in changing people’s lifestyle. The purpose here is to develop such an understanding and look for critical answers to the genuine causes of underdevelopment in the region. This is the foundation to come up with sustainable resolution to the backwardness in the Region. The study will help to present this evidence to policy-makers as an input to their strategic decision-making. Using a descriptive research design based on secondary data, it allows the research to describe the behaviour of the issue understudy without influencing it in any way. Under-development in Somali Region is affected by processes of social change, political instability, drought triggers livelihood crises, but the underlying causes of underdevelopment are the combination of social, political and natural.

            While the region has witnessed some form of stability since the attack on oil and gas exploration teams that killed 72 Ethiopian and Chinese engineers and works, new developments in the Somali region have culminated in the arrest of the former president Abdi Mohamed Omar, accused of human rights. The following discussion may help shape the debate. With the opposition parties now officially in Ethiopia, can one expect a negotiated peace in the Somali Region? With the newfound oil and gas wealth, what is the future of the Somali Region? What are the implication of the arrest former president of Abdi Mohamed Omar, the region? Now that Eritrea and Somalia have made peace, would AL Shabaab move in into the Somali Region of Ethiopia?

Key words: Somali Region, Ethiopia, human rights, petroleum find, self-determination,

See lecture here or  https://www.academia.edu/37568141/The_Ethiopian_Somali_Dynamic_Bearings_of_a_Simmering_Statutory_Crisis

Interview with Ethiopian Herald Sunday Group

The Rationale behind Teaching & Studying Ethiopian History,

Interview - RL Vol. XII No 291 MMXVIII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

Chief Scout, Ethiopian Scouts & President, Lem Ethiopia

https://addisababa.academia.edu/CostyCostantinos

Summary

         History helps us understand people and societies, the importance of history in our own lives, history contributes to moral understanding, history provides identity, studying history is essential for good citizenship and history is useful in the world of work. Some argue that history has been justified for reasons that Africans no longer accept – the history that was thought as if it were the narrative of its colonisers and rulers, but not of its people.

       Civic education, learning about and appreciating one's rights, duties, obligations and responsibilities as a citizen and the immediate rules, laws and governance structures within which one exercises citizenship is the first and fundamental step in citizenship. Nevertheless, we have narratives that our children must learn.

         Three thousand years ago, Axum was the seat of the earliest Ethiopian kingdom and one of the holiest grounds and traded with the world from the ports of Adulis and subsequently Massawa were the gateway of the Ethiopian Empire. One of the earliest holy mosques in the world is the holy Islamic faith centre, Negash built before many Muslim nations had a mosque. The Ottomans attempt to colonise Ethiopia were defeated buy Emperor Yohannes and Ras Alula. Ethiopian forces defeated the Italian army at Mequelle on 21 Jan 1986 and at Adwa on first of March 1896.

       Adwa has become a quintessential emblem and a pedestal for Pan-Africanism - an important political form of a religious Pan-Africanist worldview appeared in the form of Ethiopianism.

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See interview here or  https://www.academia.edu/37428133/Interview_The_Rationale_behind_Teaching_and_Studying_Ethiopian_History_RL_Vol._XII_No_291_MMXVIII

Democracy, Republic and Multiparty Politics in Ethiopia RL Vol XII No 307 MMXVIII

Interview with Herald

Democracy, Republic and Multiparty Politics in Ethiopia

Interview - RL Vol XII No 307 MMXVIII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

Chief Scout, Ethiopian Scouts & President, Lem Ethiopia: Environment and Development Society

https://addisababa.academia.edu/CostyCostantinos

Summary

            Globally, democracy is in retreat, so assert influential voices in the West. With the rise of populism and hate politics in relation to immigration, religion and colour. Three types of threat to democracy: coups, catastrophes and technological takeovers. While coups will become less common, other forms of “coups” will constrain elected governments even while they remain formally in power. Further, looming threats to civilisation, (environmental crises and nuclear warfare) could make democracy seem like an unaffordable luxury. Social media we have become dependent on is an arena that we neither control nor fully understand. Nevertheless, while influential voices contend that democracy is in decline worldwide, the global proportion of democracies is actually at or near an all-time high. Republican democracy is the active participation of politically conscious citizens with the requisite understanding of the meaning of democracy, as citizens of a political society in a polity endowed with political rules and institutions. It is a system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections and one that protects the human rights of all citizens and a rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens. Democracy creates losers as well as winners. When the losers are powerful enough to undermine democracy, this is why the fate of many democracies has been precarious.

        Today, while PM Abiy inherits a spectacular economic and infrastructure growth, hundreds of thousands graduating yearly from hundreds of vocational schools, universities, a ten-years increase in life expectancy in a decade and meeting the MDGs. Nevertheless, because of the frustrated populace he has now emerged to transform the security situation which predicated a martial law to silence it, after his historic speech focused on Ethiopianness and the need to act together as citizens of a single political society. The remaining agenda is to fix the economic and social governance and the livelihood of Ethiopia’s youth. I see unquestionable genuineness in PM Abiy’s moves to widen the political space and to make his ruling party a competitive political organ that can win the spoils of power using political participation and political competition. Whatever his party chooses as a strategy remains to be seen, but Abiy has given another life to a party that had transformed the economic infrastructure and education of the youth of Ethiopia; but, had at the same time, lost the confidence of the same youth it had meticulously enlightened to question its governance strategies. 

See interview here or https://www.academia.edu/37481100/Interview_with_Herald_Democracy_Republic_and_Multiparty_Politics_in_Ethiopia

Pan Africanism, Globalisation & Regional Integration: The Impact of Trade Wars on Developing Nations RL Vol. XII No. 303, MMXVIII

Today, humankind stands on an extraordinary, and perhaps, seductive sets of dilemma: a global lifestyle and value system in which the 21^st century has ushered in unprecedented global wealth; yet, such a lot that is all lavishly squandered, while Africa is haunted by an oppressive present -- an embodiment of conflicts and devoured natural environment.

Interview transcript

Pan Africanism, Globalisation & Regional Integration: The Impact of Trade Wars on Developing Nations

Public lecture series - RL Vol. XII No. 303, MMXVIII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

Chair Ethiopica Communication Infrastructure & Tunnelling Co

https://addisababa.academia.edu/CostyCostantinos

         Elbowing the heinous crimes of slave trade, and later on, colonialism and militarism, Pan-Africanism represents the complexities of black political and intellectual thought over two hundred years. At a basic level, it is a belief that African peoples, both in Africa and Diaspora taken as slave labour, share not merely a common history, but also a common destiny.

Even today, Africa faces the usual panoply of challenges endemic in with too few instruments and too few resources, while also grappling with the perennial problem of non-integration. While the top five fast growing economies are in the continent, coupled with the impact of the recent trade war, globalisation and regional integration are disembarking on ill-prepared African leadership… Hence, Africa should modify regulatory policies that inflate business costs and depress urban consumer incomes, go for bolder and more unconventional agricultural policies and put in place a smarter set of policies for the financial sector.

            On regional integration, the case for government investments in public goods such as roads and power infrastructure is undeniable, as it is laying the essential foundations—the necessary conduits and circuitry—of a modern economy. The peace initiative with Eritrea has suddenly transformed the Horn of Africa where Somalia and Eritrea have made peace, there is dialogue between Djibouti and Eritrea and the South Sudanese have once more put pen to paper to make peace. 

        On ethnic based conflicts, the degree of self-determination up to and including secession, has been widely assumed by its critics that this was pronounced with the objective of legitimising the stand that condoned the secession of Eritrea. Consistent with this strategy, a major restructuring of Ethiopian polity has been undertaken, setting the foundation for and cutting it up into a score of regional governments based on linguistic, ethnic, and cultural identity. Hence, maintaining peace, law and order are paramount if the economic trajectories will continue as expected by IFIs that have been pumping loans and grants to the state. Moreover, if it is going to continue to be the darling of FDI, it must secure law and order with a view to secure more investments. 

See paper here or  https://www.academia.edu/37495011/Pan_Africanism_Globalisation_and_Regional_Integration_The_Impact_of_Trade_Wars_on_Developing_Nations_RL_Vol._XII_No._303_MMXVIII

Priming Africa’s Political & Structural Transformation via South-South Partnership “Reciprocal Development & a Shared Future”

Priming Africa’s Political & 

Structural Transformation via South-South Partnership

“Reciprocal Development & a Shared Future”

Public Lecture - RL Vol. XII No 297 MMXVIII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

Professor of Public Policy & Sustainable Institutional Reforms

https://addisababa.academia.edu/CostyCostantinos

Summary

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit ushers in a new stage of the South-South cooperation. The friendship between China and Africa has been persistently built on the shared destiny that can be traced to the common past and mutual support during their struggle for political independence. Such a South-South Cooperation between China and Africa is resolute to move forward to an even stronger community in the 21^st century. The Belt and Road Initiative coming from the China, a developing nation in its own right, and a great rising power, is a welcome opportunity for Africa to emulate China’s development. China has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. The Chinese leadership needs advance the cooperation with Africa within the coordinated and transparent framework of, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the African Union's Agenda 2063 and individual countries' development plans.

True, the investment in African infrastructure and services are creating new jobs, opportunities, and opening up new trading routes to boost bilateral trade further, which has averaged annual growth of around 30% since 2008. The solidarity aims at the win-win cooperation and reciprocal benefits. Since the 2000 when the FOCAC was first established, it has served as the key platform for the collective dialogue and cooperation between the two sides. China's President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech ‘Work Together for Common Development and a Shared Future.’ Proposing that over the next three years and beyond, China will implement eight major initiatives in fields such as industrial development, infrastructure connectivity, trade facilitation, green development, capacity building, health care, people-to-people exchanges, peace, and security in order to bring the futures of China and Africa closer together.

China-Africa partnership in structural transformation is an important input in production and there is a close link between infrastructure, economic growth and consumption. Primarily the China-Africa partnership can focus on building rules and institutions, leadership development, executive (government) accountability and priming governing institutions, the administration and civil service. Moreover, the partnership can focus on developing oversight and regulation of state institutions, removal of obstacles for the development of a vibrant private sector and progress against corruption and the upholding of the rule of law and the spirit of tolerance. These will in turn support human security and development that is visibly missing on the partnership.

Key words: China-Africa partnership, human security & development, structural transformation

See paper here or https://www.academia.edu/37400755/Priming_Africas_Political_and_Structural_Transformation_via_South-South_Partnership_RL_Vol._XII_No_297_MMXVIII