Developmental neopatrimonialism and its discontents: Rethinking EPRDF’S Ethiopia

This paper critically examines the central claim of the developmental neo-patrimonialism paradigm: that centralized management of economic rents and their long-term deployment under neo-patrimonial governance can foster economic development and political stability in African states. Guided by the overarching research question—Does the developmental neopatrimonialism paradigm offer a sustainable pathway to economic prosperity and political stability in Africa?—the paper investigates Ethiopia’s post-1991 experience under the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).While Ethiopia has frequently been portrayed as a model of successful developmental neo-patrimonialism, this study argues that the apparent economic transformation obscured deep-seated structural fragilities. The regime’s reliance on centralized power, ethnically defined patronage networks, and rent distribution on the basis of “primitive accumulation” strategies generated short-term economic gains but simultaneously intensified social fragmentation, distorted institutional development, elite fracture and undermined long-term political stability. The disjuncture between the paradigm’s rhetoric and Ethiopia’s empirical reality ultimately contributed to recurrent instability. By examining this process, the paper contributes to broader globalization debates by illustrating how global development paradigms are negotiated and transformed within specific national political contexts.