Equilibrium on Diversity and Fragility : Civic and Ethical Education Textbooks in Democratizing Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, which consists of diverse ethnic and cultural groups, the maintenance of unity as a country is an issue of serious concern. Civic and Ethical Education (CEE) is considered as an important means to ensure the rule of a fragile-based government, which emerged after a long period of monarchy and dictatorship in the multiethnic society. This paper disentangles the logics of democracy in Ethiopia by analyzing the secondary school CEE textbooks. In these textbooks, democracy is explained in close relationship with the control of power and tolerance. While the development of patriotic citizenship is desirable, loyalty to a particular ethnic group is strictly discouraged. The concept of democracy is also used to condemn the past autocracy, which suppressed the rights of citizens, and to justify the current regime.