This study illustrates that assistance to human rights has been instrumental in the emergence of a voluntary sector in Ethiopia. Humanitarian assistance and socio-economic development have been notable too; however assistance to democratisation has been limited, in part due to the failure of political parties to broaden their power base. In contrast, there have been some notable local achievements in areas such as elections and press freedom.

Under its program of land investments, the Ethiopian government has leased out huge tracts of land to domestic and foreign investors on terms that are highly favorable to both but particularly to foreign ones. Critical reports on the ibonanzai reaped by foreign capital have appeared in the world media and the websites of international activist organizations, and while some of these are based on questionable evidence, the global attention they have drawn may well be deserved given the image of the country as a land of poverty and hunger. This study, which is based on information gathered from...

Hunger and food shortages have been endemic in rural Ethiopia for countless generations; nevertheless, it was not until the mid-1970s, following the fall of the imperial regime and its replacement by the military government, the Derg, that food security became a concern in public policy discourse, and a variety of program initiatives were put in place to tackle the problem. Since then there has been increased awareness of the complex causes of food shortages and a growing determination on the part of decision-makers to bring to an end the blight of hunger and malnutrition that has been so...