The Forum for Social Studies is an independent, non-profit institution engaged in policy-oriented research on the development challenges facing Ethiopia. Together with the Ethiopian Economic Association and the Agricultural Economics Society of Ethiopia, they organised a conference in 2005 from which the papers are collected in this volume. The main aims were twofold: to keep the debate on the land question alive, and to move the focus and scope of the debate if civil society and the public at large are to benefit from it. The land issue not only bears on a wide range of development and...

The 1991 government change in Ethiopia ushered in a centralised system of governance, aimed to bring about harmony and cooperation between different groups and to promote local self-rule. It has proceeded in two phases: 1991-2001 centred on creating and powering National/Regional Governments, termed mid-level decentralisation. Further powers were devolved in 2001 through the District Level Decentralization Program and Urban Management Profram. This volume brings together studies by the Forum for Social Studies and others, with the aim of identifying knowledge gaps for further research and to...