Produced as the result of a collaborative venture between the Forum for Social Studies and the Chr. Michelsen Institute with funding from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-212).

Introduction / Bahru Zewde -- Systems of local governance among the Gurage / Bahru Zewde -- Sera : traditionalism or living democratic values? : case study among the Sidama in southern Ethiopia / Øyvind Aadland -- Seera : a traditional institution of Kambata / Yacob Arsano -- Models of democracy, perceptions of power : government and peasantry in Ethiopia / Harald Aspen -- Peasant participation in land reform : the Amhara land redistribution of 1997 / Svein Ege -- No environmental protection without local democracy? / Siegfried Pausewang -- Civil society organizations in Ethiopia / Dessalegn Rhamato -- The role of NGOs in protecting democratic values / Kassahun Berhanu -- Decentralization in Ethiopia / Mehret Ayenew -- Mengistulore : oral literatures depicting the man, his regime, officials and proclamations / Fekade Azeze -- Democratisation and gender / Original Wolde Giorgis -- The state of the press in Ethiopia / Shimelis Bonsa.