Dams, Power, and the Politics of Ethiopia's Renaissance

After more than a decade, Ethiopia is filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a controversial dam with the potential to transform the hydrology and politics of the Nile Basin. The GERD is the culmination of a dam building boom carried out over three decades and a key pillar of the Ethiop...

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Päätekijä: Lavers, Tom
Aineistotyyppi: Online
Kieli:englanti
Julkaistu: Oxford University Press 2024
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Linkit:https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/94110
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author Lavers, Tom
author_browse Lavers, Tom
author_facet Lavers, Tom
author_sort Lavers, Tom
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description After more than a decade, Ethiopia is filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a controversial dam with the potential to transform the hydrology and politics of the Nile Basin. The GERD is the culmination of a dam building boom carried out over three decades and a key pillar of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front’s (EPRDF) efforts to bring about an Ethiopian ‘Renaissance’. This book provides the first detailed examination of the domestic and international political dynamics that shaped Ethiopia’s dam building, drawing on extensive primary research including more than a hundred interviews with politicians, technocrats, consultants, and donors. In doing so, the book reflects on Ethiopia’s implications for broader debates about the role of the state in late development, the dynamics of twenty-first-century dam building, and the political economy of renewable energy transitions. A central argument of the book is that Ethiopia’s dam building is symbolic of the successes and failures of the EPRDF’s ‘developmental state’. On the one hand, this dams’ boom enhanced electricity generation capacity, while constituting a key element of the state infrastructure investment that turned Ethiopia into one of the world’s fastest growing economies. On the other hand, a politically driven decision-making process undermined electricity planning, contributed to an unsustainable debt burden, and, ultimately, failed to provide reliable electricity access to key users. Following the EPRDF’s collapse, the subsequent Prosperity Party government has taken steps away from the state-led development model of its predecessor, while labouring towards the final completion of the GERD.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1469012024-10-31T04:04:31Z Dams, Power, and the Politics of Ethiopia's Renaissance Lavers, Tom Ethiopia, Nile, dams, political economy, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, electricity, hydropower, hydropolitics, Meles Zenawi, renewable energy transitions thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPQ Central / national / federal government::JPQB Central / national / federal government policies thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPS International relations::JPSL Geopolitics thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCM Development economics and emerging economies After more than a decade, Ethiopia is filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a controversial dam with the potential to transform the hydrology and politics of the Nile Basin. The GERD is the culmination of a dam building boom carried out over three decades and a key pillar of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front’s (EPRDF) efforts to bring about an Ethiopian ‘Renaissance’. This book provides the first detailed examination of the domestic and international political dynamics that shaped Ethiopia’s dam building, drawing on extensive primary research including more than a hundred interviews with politicians, technocrats, consultants, and donors. In doing so, the book reflects on Ethiopia’s implications for broader debates about the role of the state in late development, the dynamics of twenty-first-century dam building, and the political economy of renewable energy transitions. A central argument of the book is that Ethiopia’s dam building is symbolic of the successes and failures of the EPRDF’s ‘developmental state’. On the one hand, this dams’ boom enhanced electricity generation capacity, while constituting a key element of the state infrastructure investment that turned Ethiopia into one of the world’s fastest growing economies. On the other hand, a politically driven decision-making process undermined electricity planning, contributed to an unsustainable debt burden, and, ultimately, failed to provide reliable electricity access to key users. Following the EPRDF’s collapse, the subsequent Prosperity Party government has taken steps away from the state-led development model of its predecessor, while labouring towards the final completion of the GERD. 2024-10-31T04:04:29Z 2024-10-31T04:04:29Z 2024-10-29T09:17:32Z 2024 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/94110 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/146901 eng Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations (OSAPIR) open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/94110/1/9780192699053_WEB.pdf Oxford University Press 10.1093/oso/9780192871213.001.0001 10.1093/oso/9780192871213.001.0001 db4e319f-ca9f-449a-bcf2-37d7c6f885b1 5857a0d3-69a0-4e09-beac-bdab4cc4412d a897f645-c917-4be8-a0db-e8b3f64cac47 337 Oxford University of Manchester The University of Manchester 10.13039/501100000770 open access
spellingShingle Ethiopia, Nile, dams, political economy, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, electricity, hydropower, hydropolitics, Meles Zenawi, renewable energy transitions
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPQ Central / national / federal government::JPQB Central / national / federal government policies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPS International relations::JPSL Geopolitics
thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCM Development economics and emerging economies
Lavers, Tom
Dams, Power, and the Politics of Ethiopia's Renaissance
title Dams, Power, and the Politics of Ethiopia's Renaissance
title_full Dams, Power, and the Politics of Ethiopia's Renaissance
title_fullStr Dams, Power, and the Politics of Ethiopia's Renaissance
title_full_unstemmed Dams, Power, and the Politics of Ethiopia's Renaissance
title_short Dams, Power, and the Politics of Ethiopia's Renaissance
title_sort dams power and the politics of ethiopia s renaissance
topic Ethiopia, Nile, dams, political economy, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, electricity, hydropower, hydropolitics, Meles Zenawi, renewable energy transitions
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPQ Central / national / federal government::JPQB Central / national / federal government policies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPS International relations::JPSL Geopolitics
thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCM Development economics and emerging economies
topic_facet Ethiopia, Nile, dams, political economy, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, electricity, hydropower, hydropolitics, Meles Zenawi, renewable energy transitions
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPQ Central / national / federal government::JPQB Central / national / federal government policies
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPS International relations::JPSL Geopolitics
thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KC Economics::KCM Development economics and emerging economies
url https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/94110
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