A Shift of Political Discourse: Critical Discourse Analysis of Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed’s Inaugural Speech

Abstract

This paper explains the political discourse shifts made by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahemed’s April, 2, 2018 inaugural speech. P.M. Abiy`s inaugural speech is the text for this study analysis to extract the political and ideological discourse shifts observed in his speech. Mainly the analysis is done qualitatively through explaining a few excerpts of the inaugural speech. To substantiate the qualitative analysis, key word quantitative analysis is also applied. The analysis results show that Prime Minister Abiy made significant shifts of political discourse from his predecessors and Tigray People Liberation Front lead Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (TPLF/EPRDF). The discourse shifts are observed in representing Ethiopian history, defining identity, and interpretation of pluralism in Ethiopia. For instance, P.M. Abiy portrays Ethiopia as a country of citizens whose identity is inseparable where as TPLF/EPRDF portrays Ethiopia as a country of nation nationalities whose identity is the sum total of different identities; the P.M claims for “Ethiopia first” rhetoric where as TPLF/EPRDF claims for “my ethnic first” rhetoric; P.M. Abiy aspires for a country of ideas but, TPLF/EPRDF has worked for a country of identities.