Zemene Bizualem

State Constitutional Amendment Patterns: in Ethiopia Zemene Bizualem

State constitutional amendment procedures in most federations are flexible, involve direct popular participation and have variety of avenues. Viewed from these perspectives, state constitutional amendments in Ethiopia are rigid and solely controlled by legislatures at various levels both for initiation and ratification. The federal constitution also mandates the amendment of state constitutions to be undertaken by the state council. This may erode the state?s popular sovereignty and autonomy from designing (determining) their institutions. Even if states have gone half way in setting aside this prescription, they still made the approval of amendment of certain sections of the constitution to the federal legislature. This has its own ramification in making the amendment rigid, complex and in eroding their sovereignty. The main theme of this book is, therefore, to examine and give insight on the organs, institutions and procedures involved for initiation and ratification of state constitutional amendment. It also highlights the major shortcomings of the methods adopted like rigidity of the amendment process, its exclusionary tendency of different stakeholders.