Researcher ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1567-0381
Graduation Year
2025
Date of Submission
4-2025
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Government
Reader 1
Peter Uvin Ph.D
Abstract
This paper will investigate Ethiopia's strategic geopolitical realignment from the United States toward a closer partnership with China and the BRICS bloc by examining the underlying causes and discussing broader regional and global implications. Though Ethiopia has historically been an anchor for the U.S. in the Horn of Africa, its recent shift away from Western institutions and norms results from economic pragmatism, domestic governance priorities, and shifting regional and international power dynamics with the emergence of the BRICS bloc. Western financial aid and political engagement after the fall of the Derg regime in 1991 can be described as conditional and bureaucratically complex, frustrating Ethiopian policymakers and the EPRDF. Conversely, China offered unconditional financial support and significant industrial infrastructure investment and maintained a "non-interference" policy in Ethiopian domestic affairs that was extremely attractive to EPRDF leaders. This enhanced domestic stability and offered a viable alternative to Western funding that allowed for rapid, state-led economic development. The analysis integrates the U.S. and China's economic, political, and foreign policy perspectives by utilizing official government data, peer-reviewed academic literature, reputable news sources, and case studies of American and Chinese institution-funded development projects. Ethiopia's realignment indicates a broader African trend as emerging global powers challenge traditional Western hegemony in international relations and call for a multipolar world that reduces Western paternalism in developing countries. The findings reveal Ethiopia's dissatisfaction with Western-imposed reform requirements, a strong desire for rapid, state-led infrastructure development to stimulate their domestic economy, and the U.S. being perceived as an unreliable partner. At the same time, the efficiency of Chinese financing mechanisms and its legitimization of the EPRDF model made China, and the BRICS bloc, a better ideological fit.
Recommended Citation
Reddinger, Addison T., "From West to East: Investigating Ethiopia’s Strategic Alignment Shift from the United States to China and Its Broader Implications in Regional and Global Power Dynamics" (2025). CMC Senior Theses. 4034.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/4034
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
