Skip to main content
Research Paper Undergraduate 2,700 words

Ethiopian cultures and their influence on local, regional, and U.S. interests

~14 min read 7 sections World Studies
Abstract

This essay explores Ethiopia and the elements of reasoning, assess the cultures within Ethiopia and their ability to influence an issue of local, regional, or global importance and its effect on U.S. interests inside the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa Area of Operations. It also involves Ethiopia’s influence on local issues such as the food famine and not to mention the regional issues such as child soldiers and the conflicting battles going on in the surrounding regions.

✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
Essay 2,700 words

¶ … Ethiopia and their effect on U.S. Interests

REASONING ASSESSMENT OF ISSUES IN ETHIOPI

Cultures within Ethiopia

Ethiopia and their ability to influence a Local Issue 5

Ethiopia Influence on Regional Issues

Issues in Ethiopia and their effect on U.S. Interests

interests inside the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa Area of Operations

This essay explores Ethiopia and the elements of reasoning, assess the cultures within Ethiopia and their ability to influence an issue of local, regional, or global importance and its effect on U.S. interests inside the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa Area of Operations. It also involves Ethiopia's influence on local issues such as the food famine and not to mention the regional issues such as child soldiers and the conflicting battles going on in the surrounding regions.

CRITICAL REASONING ASSESSMENT OF ISSUES IN ETHIOPI

Critical Reasoning Assessment of issues in Ethiopia and their effect on U.S. Interests

Introduction

It is clear that the nation of Ethiopia is turning out to be a country that is more and more y authoritarian and is very obvious that they are potentially confronting a convergence of challenges that will stretch the government's capability to achieve multiple emergencies. The reigning Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party was able to endure the immediate domestic issues that came after belligerent national elections in 2005. Non-economical local votes that have been taken place over the years and the promulgation of a draft announcement to limit civil society organizations in July specify that the government is intent on developing its control. With that said, this paper will explore the cultures within Ethiopia and their ability to influence an issue of local, regional, or global importance and it's effect on U.S. interests inside the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa Area of Operations.

Cultures within Ethiopia

The research shows that Ethiopia has many different mixes of ethnic and verbal backgrounds. Furthermore, they are a nation that has beyond 80 different ethnic groups each with its own language, culture, practice and custom. However, one of the most important areas of Ethiopian culture is their literature, this is because it represents mostly by translations that are known to come from ancient Greek and Hebrew religious texts into the ancient language Ge'ez, current Amharic and Tigrigna languages (Stuart Munro-Hay, 2009). Nevertheless, Ge'ez is one of the most antique and unique languages in the world and people of the nation are still talking in this language this very day. It is also a language that has had a huge influence locally, regionally and all over the world. Research also shows that The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has its own sole customs and ethnicities, which have been swayed by Judaism culture. The Tigrayans' culture and history comes from the Aksumite Kingdom culture and tradition while the culture and history of the Amhara persons is resulting from the post Aksumite grand reign of Menelik II and Haile Selassie (Stuart Munro-Hay, 2009).

Ethiopia and their ability to influence a Local Issue

One local issue that Ethiopia is dealing with is the food shortage. Long-term provision of aid to those in the local areas is in need of great assistance and has been linked with fear of creating a dependency syndrome. (Lyons, 2012)however, the primary issues are that recipients will drop the incentive to work in order to improve their own livelihoods after getting assistances, or that they will purposely decrease their work efforts in order to succeed for the removal. (Webb, 2013)] In Ethiopia, food aid has been a significant device by which chronically food-insecure families live. Ethiopia is considered to be one of the biggest receivers of food aid in the world. (Wood, 2005) Because of inadequate food production and recurring food scarcities, the country has been hooked on food aid for many years.

Famine and drought are the vital drivers of food aid movements to Ethiopia. The quantity of Ethiopians that have been affected by drought and famine locally went up from 4% in the 1972-74 famine to over 30% during 2011-2012 food disaster. (Lyons, 2012)With that said, the amount of individuals necessitating food aid likewise stretched to its maximum level of about 15 million individuals in 2003. (O'Keeffe, 2010)Therefore, the quantity of food aid obligatory to alleviate the influence of famine and drought in 2002-03 was the uppermost in Ethiopian history, with an assessed quantity of 1.4 million metric loads. (Stuart Munro-Hay, 2009)

Locally, the Ethiopians have been trying to put huge investments in the food aid program. However, the food programs were not that successful when it came down to changing up the food security circumstance for individuals in Ethiopia. In spite of decades of food aid, food uncertainty remains a key challenge in the local areas of the nation. However, the food programs have been the only thing locally that has been able to make somewhat of a difference.

In the meantime, the nation has remained one of the most food-unconfident in the world with closely half of the population being malnourished in the local areas. (Stuart Munro-Hay, 2009)In an attempt to address this local issue, the government has also had much influence because they have also introduced the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) and the Other Food Security Programs (OFSPs) in 2005 (Webb, 2013). These local programs are created so that they can bring some kind of aid to households and in return help they become more self-sufficient. Also, the PSNP program was something that took off by helping 5 million individuals; by the end of the first stage of the program in 2009, the amount of recipients had touched something like 8.3 million individuals. (O'Keeffe, 2010)

There are numerous development actors, consisting of the Ethiopian administration, seeking an explanation for the ongoing dependence locally on food aid in Ethiopia. Allegations of dependency syndrome have been controversial in the past but on the other hand have been worth investigating.

Issues in Ethiopia and their effect on U.S. Interests

It is evident that Ethiopia has been able to have strong influences on the United States. Research shows that for more than a century, Ethiopia and the United States have really enjoyed the warm government-to-government and person -to-person relationship. It is clear that those ties have been able to transcend the way of time, and the strong pledges of business and friendship have been able to go on and on over the years, unimpeded by personal changes in government.

Unlock this full paper and 135,000+ more
View Full Document

However, the United States-Ethiopian relationship was something that was at one time established in December 1903 succeeding nine days of conferences in Ethiopia among Emperor Menelik and the administration of Ethiopia and Robert P. Skinner, a representative of President Theodore Roosevelt (Stuart Munro-Hay, 2009). Ethiopia was a nation that respected America's commercial attention in Ethiopia, and that the United States did not own colonial strategies comparable to those that were presently being followed all the way through Africa by European powers.

Following WWII the United States were able to seek and get some aid from Ethiopia in the when the Korean War was over. The concurrent support of the west for Eritrean incorporation into Ethiopia is understood by many to be part of the agreement for Ethiopian supporting the Korean War efforts. The United States went on to stay in a role that was supportive for Ethiopia as the Soviets started destructively backing the sovereigns in Somalia.

Lately, Washington felt it needs a very close connection with Ethiopia so as to follow its strategic welfares in the Horn of Africa (Young, 2013). This relationship, on the other hand, comes with a price. As with other pivotal states in difficult regions for instance Pakistan and Egypt, these sometimes uncooperative bedfellows obtain U.S. provision for security reasons but then follow their own, sometimes ruthless, agendas irrespective of force from Washington. Also, Addis Ababa and Washington both faced the Islamic Courts in Somalia, for instance, but for extreme various reasons. However, Ethiopia have certain worries about the support these groups are giving out in order give the regime's enemies in Eritrea and among Oromo and Somali rebellious groups, even though the United States was troubled with associations to al-Qaeda. This connection additionally weakens U.S. policy toward democratization and human privileges in Ethiopia and Washington's maintenance for the application of the Algiers Agreement (Adem, 2012). If the rising domestic and regional pressures meet and destabilize Addis Ababa, an unrestrained and potentially very violent changeover is likely.

Issues in Ethiopia and their effect on U.S. Interests have brought in the Obama administration which has viewed Ethiopia as a strategic ally in the war against certain type of terrorism, nonetheless Meles has been ignoring Washington on questions of human rights, democratization, and the need to instrument the Algiers Agreement. What's more, the close links among Washington and Addis Ababa connect the United States with a sometimes brutal regime in addition to its local battles in Somalia, in the Somali-inhabited Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia, and with Eritrea (Adem, 2012). However, the next administration will need to be able to balance interests in recalling a strategic partner in a progressively unsafe neighborhood with interests in human rights, democratization, and regional stability. Especially, Washington would need to look for chances to hearten both the EPRDF government and the full scope of opposition parties so as to pledge talks to re-make the chances for nonviolent political rivalry in the era leading up to the 2014 national elections.

Issues in Ethiopia and their effect on U.S. Interests is involved the U.S. administration. For example, the next management needs to undo its cooperation in chase of common counter-terrorism objectives from guidelines where the two states have less arrangement. Washington should express clearly about its concerns regarding human rights, democracy, and humanitarian issues in Ethiopia. It is also clear that the United States would need to press Ethiopia to fulfill the EEBC border choice and take away its forces from Badme and other parts. As a final point, experts and politicians from both sides believe that Washington should pressure both the government and the comprehensive array of opposition parties to occupy in deliberations so that the 2010 elections are not another missed chance to promote democratization and constancy.

U.S. interests inside the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa Area of Operations

The Combined Joint Task Force -- Horn of Africa is considered to be a joint task force of United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) (Lyons, 2012). This force originated up under the Operation Enduring Freedom -- Horn of Africa which is considered to be as part of the United States reply to the September 11, 2001 attacks. The United States has interest because it wants to conduct certain operations in the East Africa region such as Ethiopia because it wants to build partner nation capacity so as to promote regional stability and security, in order to stop conflict, and also being protection to the U.S. And all of the coalition welfares. CJTF-HOA's labors, as part of a comprehensive entire-of-government method, are intended at swelling African partner nations' volume to uphold a stable environment, with an effective government that delivers a degree of financial and social progression for its inhabitant.

However, Operation Enduring Freedom -- Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA) is recognized as being the name of the military operation described by the United States for fighting militant Islamism and piracy in the Horn of Africa. (Webb, 2013)It is considered to be one constituent of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which consists of eight African states extending all the way from the far northeast of the landmass to the oil-rich Bay of Guinea in the west. (Adem, 2012)The other Operation Enduring Freedom assignment in Africa is recognized as Operation Enduring Freedom -- Trans Sahara (OEF-TS), which, up until the formation of the new Africa Command, was run out from the United States European Facility. U.S. interest in this has a lot to do with the accomplishing the objectives of the OEF-HOA. Part of these objectives would be protecting the area against the vicious pirate ships.

Conclusion

It is clear that Ethiopia has a lot of influence. Locally they have been able to come up with different programs to keep the food shortage at bay. Also, in the regional areas that have had enough influenced to put some ends to the battles going on in that area as well as a stop to the child soldiers. When it comes to the world, United States is their closes allies and they have had huge influences over the years especially when it comes down to the Horn of Africa.

503 Words Hidden
Ethiopia Influence on Regional Issues503 words
When it comes to influences on the regional level, it is clear that there is low-level conflict going on among the OLF and government militaries.…
References
3 sources cited in this paper
  • Adem, S. (2012). China in ethiopia: Diplomacy and economics of sino-optimism. African Studies Review, 23(7), 143-160.
  • Lyons, T. (2012, March 8). Ethiopia: Domestic and Regional Challenges. Retrieved from Center for Strategic and International Studies: https://csis.org/story/ethiopia-domestic-and-regional-challenges-0 ↗
  • O’Keeffe, P. (2010, March 8). Global Poverty and Post-colonial “Development Agendap
Key Concepts in This Paper
Ethiopia Ethiopian cultures food security Horn of Africa EPRDF Productive Safety Net Program U.S. foreign policy regional conflict
Cite This Paper
PaperDue. (2014). Ethiopian cultures and their influence on local, regional, and U.S. interests. PaperDue. https://www.paperdue.com/essay/issues-in-ethiopia-184623

Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.