Merera Gudina Jefi

I am an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, and look forward to spend some 3 months at the ASC.
After obtaining a BA in Political Science at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, in June 1986, I went to study at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, where I obtained my MA in Political Science in June 1992. Then I continued my studies at the ISS in The Hague, in 1997 for my PhD degree in Development Studies (Political Science), awarded in July 2002.
Since my graduation, I have been researching and lecturing at Addis Ababa University, with various stints of training and visiting fellowships abroad, e.g. at the US Department of State, Human Rights Institute of University of Oslo, SSRC (Michigan State University), Vienna University, and the United Nations University.
At the Political Science Department at AAU I was twice chairperson and served it in various other capacities as well.
I have also long been involved in Ethiopian politics, recently as the chairman of an opposition party, the Oromo People’s Congress, and of the umbrella organization United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), and I was a Member of Parliament in Ethiopia from 2005 until the May 2010 elections.

My rsearch areas include: democratization and transition politics in Africa, conflict & peace studies, issues of diversity and federalism, civil society, rural development and administration, with a particular focus on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. On these topics, I published a book and a fair number of articles and reports.
At AAU in the past years I gave courses on Politics in the Horn of Africa & the Middle East, on Ethiopian Foreign Policy & International Relations, on International Political Economy of Africa and on Ethiopian Politics & Government.

At the ASC I will be attached to the research group SMPC and will be working on two projects:
* ‘Is the Ballot Box Working in Africa? The May 2010 Elections and the Future of Democracy in Ethiopia’. This will result in a couple of articles.
* I will also be editing a textbook on Ethiopian politics.
At the ASC I hope to have a fruitful time here, profiting as much as possible from the ASC library as well as from other academic resources in the Netherlands.