Dr. Logan Cochrane, Associate Professor at the College of Public Policy, has published a new Open Access article: “The Expansion of Social Protection Systems in Ethiopia: Continuity or Rupture of Citizen-State Relations?” Co-authored with Melisew Dejene Lemma, Assistant Professor at Hawassa University, the article appears in a special issue of the open access journal afriche e orienti.

Dr. Cochrane evaluates social protection in Ethiopia during three periods: responsive (1991-2004), donor-driven (2005-2013), and re-orientation (2014-2019). By re-visiting the history, practice, and research on social protection, the two authors are able to explore “how little the expansion of social protection has altered the expected role of the government and the rights of citizens, and instead how these initiatives acted as a tool that entrenched political power and disenfranchised any form of dissent or difference”. They highlight key lessons for the future and the need for a re-orientation of the social protection system.