Skip to main content
Log in

Challenges of Restrictive Legislation on Domestic CSOs in Promoting Democracy: Lesson from Ethiopia

  • Published:
Journal of Human Rights and Social Work Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The operation of strong Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) within a given country helps make the state democratic: CSOs struggle for justice, the respect of rights, equality, and freedom, and advocating changes against repression. This is especially true for CSOs in African countries lacking democratic practices. However, due to the repressive regulations passed by governing parties, CSOs have not fully played their role in the continent’s democratization process. The number of countries adopting legislationto curtails the potential roles of CSOs in promoting democracy and has increased. ls. The legal system of each country strongly determines the degree of involvement of CSOs in promoting democracy. The challenges CSOs are facing might deviate depending on the nature and content of legislation. Accordingly, this study mainly focused on investigating the challenges of imposing restrictive legislation on CSOs in promoting democracy, taking the lesson from Ethiopia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Availability of Data and Materials

The data set generated and analysed in this study is not publicized right at this time. The main issue is consent from the participants was not received to share the data with a third party.

References

  • Afework, D. (2013). Media and Democracy in Ethiopia: Roles and Challenges of the Private Media Since 2005 [Unpublished MA Thesis] Addis Ababa University, School of Graduate Studies.

  • Babbie, E., & Mouton, J. (2003). The practice of social research. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barder, O. (2009). Ethiopia’s new civil society law. http://www.owen.org/blog/2086

  • Berehie, B. (2016). We have to ask to apologize for the public. Addis Zemen Newspaper, 76th year, number 075.

  • Beyene, T. M. (2015). Laws governing civil society organisations and their impacts on the democratization of a country: Ethiopia in case. The University of Liverpool.

  • Cakmak, C. (2004). The role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the norm creation process in the field of human rights. Alternative Turkish Journal of International Relations, 3(1): 100–122.

  • Carothers, T. (2006). The restrict against democracy promotion. Council on Foreign Relations, 85(2), 55–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carothers, T. S., & Barndt, W. (1999). Civil society: foreign policy. Washington post. Newsweek Interactive, LLC.

  • Charities and Societies Agency (CSA). (2018). Statistical reports of the closed CSOs. Unpublished report.

  • Chekole, B. B., & Bayou, D. Z. (2015). The role of non-governmental organizations in the democratization process of Ethiopia, a historical survey. International Journal of Science and Research, 78(96): 2319–7064.

  • Crowe, S., Cresswell, K., Robertson, A., Huby, G., Avery, A., & Sheikh, A. (2011). The case study approach. BMC medical research methodology11(1), 1-9.

  • Dupuy, K. E., Ron, J., & Prakash, A. (2015). Who survived? Ethiopia's regulatory crackdown on foreign-funded NGOs. Review of International Political Economy, 22(2), 419-456.

  • Ethiopian National Election Board [ENEB]. (2005). The 2005 national Election Report.

  • Ethiopian National Election Board (ENEB) (2018). The 2005 National Election Board Unpublished Report. Addis Ababa.

  • Fenta, S. B. (2010). Assessment of the role of CSOs in the development of democratic political culture in Ethiopia. [Unpublished MA Thesis], Addis Ababa University.

  • Gellner, E. (1991). Civil society in historical context. International Social Science Journal, 129, 495–510.

  • Giddens, A. (1987). The nation-state and violence: A contemporary critique of historical materialism, (Vol. 2). University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goshu, S. (2017). Resurrecting the hapless CSOs in Ethiopia, ‘Media and Communications Center of the Reporter.

  • Harbeson, W. J. (2005). Ethiopia’s extended transition. Journal of Democracy, 16(4), 144–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights Council (HRCO). (2011). The impact of the CSO proclamation on the human rights council.

  • Kassa, S. (2015). Democracy and Good Governance Post 1991 in Ethiopia. International Journal of Political Science and Development, 3(4), 174–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kebede, G. (2013). Political corruption: Political and economic state capture in Ethiopia. European Scientific Journal, 9(35), 1857–2788.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kefale, A. (2011). The (un)making of opposition coalitions and the challenge of democratization in Ethiopia, 1991–2011. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 5(4), 681–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumulachew, D., & Debebe, H. G. (2012). Assessment of the enabling environment for civil society in Ethiopia. Unpublished Report for CCRDA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemessa, K. T. (2017). Ethiopia: a self-defeating charities and societies proclamation hurting all. Published in human rights, public policy and law blog. https://www.abyssinialaw.com/blog-posts/item/1486-ethiopia-a-self-defeating-charities-and-societiesproclamation-hurting-all/amp

  • Milkias, P. (2006). The role of civil society in promoting democracy and human rights in Ethiopia. [Unpublished MA Thesis]. Concordia University.

  • Ncube, C. (2010). Contesting hegemony: civil society and the struggle for social change in Zimbabwe, 2000–2008. [Ph.D. Thesis], the University of Birmingham.

  • Riley, G. (2014). In the news of growth and development in Ethiopia. Accessed from http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/growth-and-development-in-Ethiopia

  • Sandberg, E. (2007) Re-conceptualizing non-governmental organizations-African state relations. Politics Department, Oberlin College, USA.

  • Teshome-Bahiru, W. (2009a). Electoral violence in Africa: Experience from Ethiopia. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(7), 1653–1677.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teshome-Bahiru, W. (2009b). Civil society and democratization in Africa: The role of the civil society in the 2005 election in Ethiopia. International Journal of Social Sciences, 4(2), 80–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van-Rooy, A. (1998). Civil society and aid industry. Earth scans Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinod, M. J. (2006). The changing dimensions of civil society in the twenty-first century: Theory versus reality. The Indian Journal of Political Science, 67(4), 783–792.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeshanew, S. A. (2012). CSO Law in Ethiopia: Considering its constraints and consequences. Journal of Civil Society, 8(4), 369–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yusoff, M. A., & Sarjoon, A. (2016). Civil society activism for democracy and peace building in Sri Lanka. Medwell Journal, 11(5), 661–671.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeleke, M.A. (2010). Civil society and freedom of association threatened? A critical examination of Ethiopian Charities and Societies Law. [MA Thesis], University of Oslo.

Download references

Acknowledgements

This article was first written by the authors. And then authors received and incorporated constructive comments from anonymous reviewers. Hence, we, the authors are grateful to appreciate anonymous reviewers and other individuals who gave comments to this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Digvijay Pandey.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Considerations

First, the researchers asked the participants’ willingness by briefly explaining the purpose of the study and who the researchers are. Next, the researchers contacted the voluntary participants. Audio records were handled with utmost care and confidentiality, but they would not be transferred and used for another purpose than the research objective. No participants in this study were included without obtaining their informed consent. Additionally, to protect participants’ identity, anonymity was safeguarded by giving pseudonyms instead of using their direct names though the researchers also used the actual names of some informants based on their consent.

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Asabu, M.D., Pandey, D. Challenges of Restrictive Legislation on Domestic CSOs in Promoting Democracy: Lesson from Ethiopia. J. Hum. Rights Soc. Work 7, 428–440 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-021-00198-6

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-021-00198-6

Keywords

Navigation