Relocating Displacement: Government-Led Resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons in Urban Ethiopia

Resettlement has attracted considerable academic attention in discussions on displacement governance. However, the focus has largely been on planning, which essentializes government intervention without questioning its implementation processes and the effects of power relations at key moments. Drawing on a qualitative study of interethnic displacement and the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ethiopia, this paper unpacks the rationalities and techniques adopted by the government to relocate IDPs to cities considered ethno-politically desirable. This critical approach foregrounds subjectification and the often obscured processual vulnerabilities of people in resettlement. This contributes to critical scholarship on the politicization of displacement response.