History

According to topschoolsintheusa, after the political elections of 2005, the conduct of which had been contested by the opposition and by various international bodies, the growing control over the state apparatus and society by the ruling party ended up defining a system that, beyond decentralization federalist and electoral consultations, it had the characteristics of a single-party state without any real openness to multi-partyism. It is no coincidence that the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDRPE), led by Meles Zenawi, obtained 499 seats out of 547 in the 2010 political elections. it had altered an authoritarian and repressive government policy. kebele, base cells of local administrations, very small administrative units, through which social services were provided and access to school, health care or land use was ensured. A powerful tool for controlling and building consensus that did not involve participation or effective levels of autonomy. Social and above all ethnic tensions, in particular the Oromo question, failed to find political expression and often resulted in outbursts of violence or armed action. Zenawi used this autocratic centralization to initiate a profound transformation of the country also from an economic point of view, making public intervention the driving force for development and obtaining significant growth rates. China became the main investor in large infrastructure and energy projects, but it also began to start low-cost production in Ethiopia, taking advantage of lower wages than those of China. The good relations with China were accompanied by equally good relations with the United States, which they saw in Ethiopia a fundamental point of reference for the strategy against terrorism. The intervention of the Ethiopian army in Somalia in December 2006 (the mission ended in January 2009), against the nascent government of the Union of Islamic Courts of Mogadishu and again, in 2011, against the militias of the al-Shabaab. Foreign policy, with an active commitment to regional events, it appeared as one of the most important achievements of Zenawi’s overall strategy and ended up obscuring serious allegations of violations of human rights and civil liberties. Relations with Eritrea, on the other hand, remained critical, especially after the unsuccessful conclusion of the international mission (2008), and mutual accusations of border violations multiplied (2012, 2013). The death of Zenawi (ag. 2012), after a short illness, deprived the country of the leader who had led it since 1991, but it did not seem to open a difficult transition, even in the absence of an equally strong reference figure. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hailemariam Desalegn became Prime Minister. The line of the new government was in continuity with that of the government that had preceded it both for the management of power – student demonstrations in defense of the Oromo ethnic group were severely repressed in May 2014 – and for the role of regional reference in the fight against Islamic terrorism (logistical-military cooperation agreements were signed with the Somali government in February 2014). The parliamentary elections of May 2015 confirmed the political hegemony of the FDRPE in the country.

Architecture

Significantly growing also from an architectural and urban point of view, in the early 2000s the Ethiopia has equipped itself with a series of important infrastructures. The Cargo terminal of Bole airport, one of the main African airports, is under construction in Addis Ababa, while a partially elevated metropolitan tram line, the so-called Addis Ababa Light rail transit, was inaugurated in 2015. The renovated interest in the historical architectural heritage, in particular that dating back to the last imperial period: hence the restorations of the Yohannes IV complex (2010-14) in Macallé, built by the Italian Giacomo Naretti at the end of the 19th century. and the eclectic imperial complex of Menelìk II (201215) in Addis Ababa. The latter, which dates back to the early decades of the 20th century, is housed in a large park and is made up of about 12 different pavilions, some of which are of considerable historical and architectural interest. Both interventions, redesigned as a museum, were designed by Livio Sacchi and Sandro Annibali with STAGI srl and the structural consultancy of the Ethiopian studio MH Engineering. Similar restoration projects are planned for other imperial residences still in Addis Ababa, Dire Daua and other locations. MH Engineering itself recently won the design competition for the new stadium in the capital, capable of hosting 60,000 spectators.