{"id":{"repo_id":"gmu","oai_identifier":"oai:MARS:1920/13946"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/gmu/oai:MARS:1920/13946","repository":{"repo_id":"gmu","name":"George Mason University","base_url":"https://mars.gmu.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"“SEEING LIKE” A DEVELOPMENTAL STATE: THE POLITICS OF LAW IN RECONFIGURING CIVIL SOCIETY IN ETHIOPIA","abstract":"This dissertation challenges the conventional liberal conceptions undergirding (1) autonomous civil society, (2) the separation of the state from civil society, and (3) the political control thesis of authoritarianism studies. The conventional views the role of law as mediating state-civil society relations by limiting state power to ensure separation of the state and protect civil society \"autonomy.\" The existing literature on authoritarianism emphasizes the \"closure\" and repression of civil society, especially the repression narrative. I argue that such conventional approaches to the study of state-civil society relations that rely heavily on normative analyses of the role of law in limiting state power and protecting civil society, and its repressive function of subordinating civil society in authoritarianism studies, does not adequately account for a nuanced and context-specific examination of the nature, features, and dynamics of state-civil power dynamics. By drawing on Michel Foucault’s governmentality approach, I offer an alternative framework that examines the role of law and notion of developmental states to show how various forms of power are mobilized and deployed to shape state-civil society relations in Ethiopia. Using Ethiopia as a case study, I trace the role of law and developmentalist discourse to analyze the various modes of political power that were exercised by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Front to shape state-civil society relations in a context-specific and sociohistorically situated manner, and provide a more nuanced understanding of the nature, features, and dynamics at work. By exploring how the Ethiopian developmental state is thought about and practiced, my analysis shifts the focus from a normative analysis of state-civil society relations to that of historically situated power relations wherein discursive and non-discursive constructions and problematizations of various socioeconomic and political issues might be genealogically mapped as problem spaces. My research design in this study is aimed at critically analyzing the assumptions and forms of embedded political reason in the activities of government, specifically in the context of Ethiopian developmental state’s regulation and institutionalization of the civil society sector. This study draws on a wide range of archival materials, manifestos, policy documents, government laws and regulations, public debates, and conducted interviews with senior members of the EPRDF and officials. I combined the genealogical method and governmentality approach to examine how the Ethiopian state embeds itself in society, through economic policy, discourse and political practice. By using Foucauldian notions of “power” and “discourse” and subjectification effects, I illustrate how the discursive and non-discursive construction of the developmental state as a governing logic (mode of rule) could be useful for studying power relations to capture the diverse strategies and objectives of state exercises of power beyond the conventional democratic vs. authoritarian binary. By foregrounding the idea of the developmental state as a Foucauldian-esque “mode of rule,” I problematize current renderings of the “repression narrative or political control thesis” in civil society studies and challenge liberal notions of autonomous civil society and the apartness of the state. By examining how the actions and discourses of the Ethiopian developmental state, including its mode of organizing party-state structures and civil society, its enactment of laws, and how the formation or reformation of developmental governmentality shaped the role of law to regulate civil society, I argue that the law operates as a powerful ordering rationality for government, producing subjectivities solely by its discursive force and injunctions. This dissertation shows how developmentalism emerged as a hegemonic “regime of truth” in Ethiopia, and problematizes civil society as a governable field that required state intervention. I explicate the disciplinary, regulatory, and productive role that the law plays in shaping and reconfiguring Ethiopian state-civil society relations for the aggrandizement of state power. Ultimately, two theoretical contributions are made by this dissertation. First, the study expands the field of governmentality studies into state-civil society relations. Second, it challenges the narrow view of state authoritarianism and argues for a Foucauldian understanding of the exercise of state power in modern state forms. This study by demonstrating that the law beyond beyond serving as a tool for repression, also instructs and shapes the behavior of civil society actors and maintaining their positions as \"productive\" partners who advance the developmental aims of the state, it highlights the crucial role of law in state formation, statecraft, and civil society in non-democratic contexts.","abstract_html":"This dissertation challenges the conventional liberal conceptions undergirding (1) autonomous civil society, (2) the separation of the state from civil society, and (3) the political control thesis of authoritarianism studies. The conventional views the role of law as mediating state-civil society relations by limiting state power to ensure separation of the state and protect civil society "autonomy." The existing literature on authoritarianism emphasizes the "closure" and repression of civil society, especially the repression narrative. I argue that such conventional approaches to the study of state-civil society relations that rely heavily on normative analyses of the role of law in limiting state power and protecting civil society, and its repressive function of subordinating civil society in authoritarianism studies, does not adequately account for a nuanced and context-specific examination of the nature, features, and dynamics of state-civil power dynamics. By drawing on Michel Foucault’s governmentality approach, I offer an alternative framework that examines the role of law and notion of developmental states to show how various forms of power are mobilized and deployed to shape state-civil society relations in Ethiopia. Using Ethiopia as a case study, I trace the role of law and developmentalist discourse to analyze the various modes of political power that were exercised by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Front to shape state-civil society relations in a context-specific and sociohistorically situated manner, and provide a more nuanced understanding of the nature, features, and dynamics at work. By exploring how the Ethiopian developmental state is thought about and practiced, my analysis shifts the focus from a normative analysis of state-civil society relations to that of historically situated power relations wherein discursive and non-discursive constructions and problematizations of various socioeconomic and political issues might be genealogically mapped as problem spaces. My research design in this study is aimed at critically analyzing the assumptions and forms of embedded political reason in the activities of government, specifically in the context of Ethiopian developmental state’s regulation and institutionalization of the civil society sector. This study draws on a wide range of archival materials, manifestos, policy documents, government laws and regulations, public debates, and conducted interviews with senior members of the EPRDF and officials. I combined the genealogical method and governmentality approach to examine how the Ethiopian state embeds itself in society, through economic policy, discourse and political practice. By using Foucauldian notions of “power” and “discourse” and subjectification effects, I illustrate how the discursive and non-discursive construction of the developmental state as a governing logic (mode of rule) could be useful for studying power relations to capture the diverse strategies and objectives of state exercises of power beyond the conventional democratic vs. authoritarian binary. By foregrounding the idea of the developmental state as a Foucauldian-esque “mode of rule,” I problematize current renderings of the “repression narrative or political control thesis” in civil society studies and challenge liberal notions of autonomous civil society and the apartness of the state. By examining how the actions and discourses of the Ethiopian developmental state, including its mode of organizing party-state structures and civil society, its enactment of laws, and how the formation or reformation of developmental governmentality shaped the role of law to regulate civil society, I argue that the law operates as a powerful ordering rationality for government, producing subjectivities solely by its discursive force and injunctions. This dissertation shows how developmentalism emerged as a hegemonic “regime of truth” in Ethiopia, and problematizes civil society as a governable field that required state intervention. I explicate the disciplinary, regulatory, and productive role that the law plays in shaping and reconfiguring Ethiopian state-civil society relations for the aggrandizement of state power. Ultimately, two theoretical contributions are made by this dissertation. First, the study expands the field of governmentality studies into state-civil society relations. Second, it challenges the narrow view of state authoritarianism and argues for a Foucauldian understanding of the exercise of state power in modern state forms. This study by demonstrating that the law beyond beyond serving as a tool for repression, also instructs and shapes the behavior of civil society actors and maintaining their positions as "productive" partners who advance the developmental aims of the state, it highlights the crucial role of law in state formation, statecraft, and civil society in non-democratic contexts.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Asfaw, Seife Ayalew"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023","date_published":"2023","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:51:50Z","subjects":["Civil Society","Developmental state","Ethiopia","Governmentality","Law","Power and Subjectivity"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["hdl:1920/13946"],"render_values":[{"text":"hdl:1920/13946","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Civil Society","Developmental state","Ethiopia","Governmentality","Law","Power and Subjectivity"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["hdl:1920/13946"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.other","label":"Dc Description Other","values":["This dissertation challenges the conventional liberal conceptions undergirding (1) autonomous civil society, (2) the separation of the state from civil society, and (3) the political control thesis of authoritarianism studies. The conventional views the role of law as mediating state-civil society relations by limiting state power to ensure separation of the state and protect civil society \"autonomy.\" The existing literature on authoritarianism emphasizes the \"closure\" and repression of civil society, especially the repression narrative. I argue that such conventional approaches to the study of state-civil society relations that rely heavily on normative analyses of the role of law in limiting state power and protecting civil society, and its repressive function of subordinating civil society in authoritarianism studies, does not adequately account for a nuanced and context-specific examination of the nature, features, and dynamics of state-civil power dynamics. By drawing on Michel Foucault’s governmentality approach, I offer an alternative framework that examines the role of law and notion of developmental states to show how various forms of power are mobilized and deployed to shape state-civil society relations in Ethiopia. Using Ethiopia as a case study, I trace the role of law and developmentalist discourse to analyze the various modes of political power that were exercised by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Front to shape state-civil society relations in a context-specific and sociohistorically situated manner, and provide a more nuanced understanding of the nature, features, and dynamics at work. By exploring how the Ethiopian developmental state is thought about and practiced, my analysis shifts the focus from a normative analysis of state-civil society relations to that of historically situated power relations wherein discursive and non-discursive constructions and problematizations of various socioeconomic and political issues might be genealogically mapped as problem spaces. My research design in this study is aimed at critically analyzing the assumptions and forms of embedded political reason in the activities of government, specifically in the context of Ethiopian developmental state’s regulation and institutionalization of the civil society sector. This study draws on a wide range of archival materials, manifestos, policy documents, government laws and regulations, public debates, and conducted interviews with senior members of the EPRDF and officials. I combined the genealogical method and governmentality approach to examine how the Ethiopian state embeds itself in society, through economic policy, discourse and political practice. By using Foucauldian notions of “power” and “discourse” and subjectification effects, I illustrate how the discursive and non-discursive construction of the developmental state as a governing logic (mode of rule) could be useful for studying power relations to capture the diverse strategies and objectives of state exercises of power beyond the conventional democratic vs. authoritarian binary. By foregrounding the idea of the developmental state as a Foucauldian-esque “mode of rule,” I problematize current renderings of the “repression narrative or political control thesis” in civil society studies and challenge liberal notions of autonomous civil society and the apartness of the state. By examining how the actions and discourses of the Ethiopian developmental state, including its mode of organizing party-state structures and civil society, its enactment of laws, and how the formation or reformation of developmental governmentality shaped the role of law to regulate civil society, I argue that the law operates as a powerful ordering rationality for government, producing subjectivities solely by its discursive force and injunctions. This dissertation shows how developmentalism emerged as a hegemonic “regime of truth” in Ethiopia, and problematizes civil society as a governable field that required state intervention. I explicate the disciplinary, regulatory, and productive role that the law plays in shaping and reconfiguring Ethiopian state-civil society relations for the aggrandizement of state power. Ultimately, two theoretical contributions are made by this dissertation. First, the study expands the field of governmentality studies into state-civil society relations. Second, it challenges the narrow view of state authoritarianism and argues for a Foucauldian understanding of the exercise of state power in modern state forms. This study by demonstrating that the law beyond beyond serving as a tool for repression, also instructs and shapes the behavior of civil society actors and maintaining their positions as \"productive\" partners who advance the developmental aims of the state, it highlights the crucial role of law in state formation, statecraft, and civil society in non-democratic contexts."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["“SEEING LIKE” A DEVELOPMENTAL STATE: THE POLITICS OF LAW IN RECONFIGURING CIVIL SOCIETY IN ETHIOPIA"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:date.issued":["2023"],"dc:description.other":["This dissertation challenges the conventional liberal conceptions undergirding (1) autonomous civil society, (2) the separation of the state from civil society, and (3) the political control thesis of authoritarianism studies. The conventional views the role of law as mediating state-civil society relations by limiting state power to ensure separation of the state and protect civil society \"autonomy.\" The existing literature on authoritarianism emphasizes the \"closure\" and repression of civil society, especially the repression narrative. I argue that such conventional approaches to the study of state-civil society relations that rely heavily on normative analyses of the role of law in limiting state power and protecting civil society, and its repressive function of subordinating civil society in authoritarianism studies, does not adequately account for a nuanced and context-specific examination of the nature, features, and dynamics of state-civil power dynamics. By drawing on Michel Foucault’s governmentality approach, I offer an alternative framework that examines the role of law and notion of developmental states to show how various forms of power are mobilized and deployed to shape state-civil society relations in Ethiopia. Using Ethiopia as a case study, I trace the role of law and developmentalist discourse to analyze the various modes of political power that were exercised by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Front to shape state-civil society relations in a context-specific and sociohistorically situated manner, and provide a more nuanced understanding of the nature, features, and dynamics at work. By exploring how the Ethiopian developmental state is thought about and practiced, my analysis shifts the focus from a normative analysis of state-civil society relations to that of historically situated power relations wherein discursive and non-discursive constructions and problematizations of various socioeconomic and political issues might be genealogically mapped as problem spaces. My research design in this study is aimed at critically analyzing the assumptions and forms of embedded political reason in the activities of government, specifically in the context of Ethiopian developmental state’s regulation and institutionalization of the civil society sector. This study draws on a wide range of archival materials, manifestos, policy documents, government laws and regulations, public debates, and conducted interviews with senior members of the EPRDF and officials. I combined the genealogical method and governmentality approach to examine how the Ethiopian state embeds itself in society, through economic policy, discourse and political practice. By using Foucauldian notions of “power” and “discourse” and subjectification effects, I illustrate how the discursive and non-discursive construction of the developmental state as a governing logic (mode of rule) could be useful for studying power relations to capture the diverse strategies and objectives of state exercises of power beyond the conventional democratic vs. authoritarian binary. By foregrounding the idea of the developmental state as a Foucauldian-esque “mode of rule,” I problematize current renderings of the “repression narrative or political control thesis” in civil society studies and challenge liberal notions of autonomous civil society and the apartness of the state. By examining how the actions and discourses of the Ethiopian developmental state, including its mode of organizing party-state structures and civil society, its enactment of laws, and how the formation or reformation of developmental governmentality shaped the role of law to regulate civil society, I argue that the law operates as a powerful ordering rationality for government, producing subjectivities solely by its discursive force and injunctions. This dissertation shows how developmentalism emerged as a hegemonic “regime of truth” in Ethiopia, and problematizes civil society as a governable field that required state intervention. I explicate the disciplinary, regulatory, and productive role that the law plays in shaping and reconfiguring Ethiopian state-civil society relations for the aggrandizement of state power. Ultimately, two theoretical contributions are made by this dissertation. First, the study expands the field of governmentality studies into state-civil society relations. Second, it challenges the narrow view of state authoritarianism and argues for a Foucauldian understanding of the exercise of state power in modern state forms. This study by demonstrating that the law beyond beyond serving as a tool for repression, also instructs and shapes the behavior of civil society actors and maintaining their positions as \"productive\" partners who advance the developmental aims of the state, it highlights the crucial role of law in state formation, statecraft, and civil society in non-democratic contexts."],"dc:identifier":["hdl:1920/13946"],"dc:subject":["Civil Society","Developmental state","Ethiopia","Governmentality","Law","Power and Subjectivity"],"dc:title":["“SEEING LIKE” A DEVELOPMENTAL STATE: THE POLITICS OF LAW IN RECONFIGURING CIVIL SOCIETY IN ETHIOPIA"],"dc:type":["Dissertation"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:51:50Z"}