The federation of Ethiopia and Erithrea (1952-1962): lessons from imposed federalism

The article is devoted to the analysis of the experience of the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea, formed in East Africa in 1952. A characteristic feature of this federation was its imposed nature - it was formed under pressure from the UN, which sought to resolve the post-colonial situation in the region. The influence of world powers prevented the Eritreans from gaining independence, like many other African nations after the end of the Second World War, and the only alternative to independence offered to Eritrea by the UN was union with Ethiopia in a federation. The scheme of the state structure of the Federation proposed by the UN implied equal relations between the two subjects, their political equality and cooperation. The created federation was supposed to be a way to strengthen relations between neighboring entities, but in reality it became only a decoration that allowed Ethiopia to eventually annex Eritrea in violation of the conditions established by the UN. A study of the short history of the Federation shows the inefficiency of federal relations imposed from outside and allows us to identify a set of problems leading to the collapse of such federations. These include: the inequality of the subjects of the federation (a significant preponderance in the socio-economic indicators of one subject over another, excluding political parity between them), significant religious, ethnic and cultural differences between the subjects, the unpreparedness of the elites and the bulk of the population for federal relations, the destructive influence external forces (the UN and individual states) that initiated the creation of a federation, but refused to continue to defend its existence, and the lack of political will of the ruling elites, who mask their true goals with the ideas of federalism.