From beleaguered fortresses to belligerent cities

Abstract

Given the progressively central role of religious affiliation as a marker of political identity in Ethiopian urban communities, this paper reflects on the impact of current imprints of conflict in inter- and intra-religious relations and the degree of government interference in national religious structures. As religion becomes part of the political debate, it is worth reading the present situation against the framework of traditional mediation, negotiation and tolerance practices, which have historically shaped intra- and inter-communal relations. As politically relevant as the Christian / Muslim cleavages may be, the tendency of analysts and external decision-makers to overvalue it, disregarding the pragmatism shown by millennial coexistence between these groups and the evidence of major reconfigurations presently taking place in urban Ethiopia, runs the risk of hindering a comprehensive reading of the complexity of the dynamics of domestic and foreign Ethiopian policy in the Horn of Africa.