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The Abiy Project: God, Power and War in the New Ethiopia
In 2018, Ethiopia and the world were in the throes of 'Abiymania', a fervour of popular support for the divided country's young, charismatic new prime minister. Arriving as if from nowhere, Abiy Ahmed, a Pentecostal Christian, promised democratic salvation and national unity. For his role brokering a historic peace with neighbouring Eritrea, he received the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. Hailed at home as a prophet and abroad as a liberal reformer, Abiy was all things to all men. But his democratic revolution wasn't quite what it seemed. Within two years, Ethiopia had lurched into a devastating civil war, threatening state collapse. By 2023, genocidal fighting had killed hundreds of thousands in the northern Tigray region; famine stalked the land; and Ethiopia's once-promising economy lay in tatters. But Abiy had never looked stronger. Based on hundreds of interviews with Ethiopians of all persuasions, and extensive reporting across the country, this book traces the fading hope of Ethiopia's transition, unravelling the paradoxes of an enigmatic world leader. Despite everything, Abiy remains in power, embodying the new Ethiopia in all its contradiction, triumph and tragedy. But his attempt to remould the country in his image almost broke it--and may break it still.
454 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 27, 2024
About the author
Tom Gardner
35 books14 followersTom and David Gardner cofounded The Motley Fool, a multi-media financial education company, in 1993. Since then they have co-authored four New York Times bestsellers, including The Motley Fool Investment Guide and The Motley Fool's Rule Breakers, Rule Makers.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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December 11, 2024(...) it wasn’t just a minor war in some forgotten place but something with potentially major geopolitical implications.
If large-scale war returns to Ethiopia, particularly to Tigray, the country in its current form might not survive much longer.
Further fragmentation is not unthinkable. Even much of Amhara, the part which historically identified most strongly with the Ethiopian state, is now up in arms against it. If there is hope, it will likely be found beyond Ethiopia’s fractious elites. Over the course of years reporting on the country’s myriad conflicts, it was among ordinary people that I found the most powerful evidence that patches of Ethiopia’s social fabric continue to endure. (Gardner)
A difficult read. Making sense of the recent history, the players, the societal pressures and the links to the past is no mean feat. Of course, there will always be different perspectives of what happened in Ethiopia in the recent civil war. However, this account is well researched and gives the reader the chance to make up their own minds. The lengthy bibliography is a must read in all its entirety. The losers ultimately are the man and woman and child in the street, and those people who have grafted and worked hard all their lives to see their dreams and security and sense of belonging and family be challenged to the core.
If large-scale war returns to Ethiopia, particularly to Tigray, the country in its current form might not survive much longer.
Further fragmentation is not unthinkable. Even much of Amhara, the part which historically identified most strongly with the Ethiopian state, is now up in arms against it. If there is hope, it will likely be found beyond Ethiopia’s fractious elites. Over the course of years reporting on the country’s myriad conflicts, it was among ordinary people that I found the most powerful evidence that patches of Ethiopia’s social fabric continue to endure. (Gardner)
A difficult read. Making sense of the recent history, the players, the societal pressures and the links to the past is no mean feat. Of course, there will always be different perspectives of what happened in Ethiopia in the recent civil war. However, this account is well researched and gives the reader the chance to make up their own minds. The lengthy bibliography is a must read in all its entirety. The losers ultimately are the man and woman and child in the street, and those people who have grafted and worked hard all their lives to see their dreams and security and sense of belonging and family be challenged to the core.
January 5, 2026
The defining textbook of what has happened in Ethiopia in the last few years.
November 5, 2024
Brilliant. This sort of narrative journalism is essential, and I'm grateful to Tom Gardner for producing this compelling book covering Ethiopia from 2018-2024. He was in Ethiopia for this whole process, and though he mostly maintains objectivity, the book does make it seem like he's lived through a horror movie. Abiy Ahmed came to power in Ethiopia in 2018. Everybody, most of all Abiy himself, seemed to think he was the solution to the country's massive problems of development, ethnic tension and political disfunction. Six years later Abiy is still Prime Minister, 100s of thousands of people are dead, millions have been displaced, the constitution is in tatters, and the continued existence of Ethiopia as a state is now more in question than it has ever been.
It would be unfair to blame Abiy for all of this, and Gardner doesn't do that. He ably documents just how cursed the problems facing anyone trying to run Ethiopia in 2018 were. Ethiopia, though a heroic resister of empire, is an empire itself. When a few drops of mass prosperity and security finally trickled down to Ethiopia under the government that ruled the country from the early 1990s to 2018, the many nations that made up the empire started to pull apart. Abiy was selected as Prime Minister in part to placate the largest ethnic group. His titanic self-regard, and real skills as a politician convinced everyone it could somehow work. The unstated, but fairly clear message of this book is that it did not work.
Like all politicians, Abiy Ahmed seems to be a bit of a monster. His delusions and capabilities, combined with the scope of Ethiopia's problems have combined to create a hellish situation. Over six years in power he has turned Ethiopia's ethnicities further against each other. He has pretended to champion the cause of one against the other, until the group he is championing gets too powerful and he turns against it. I suppose it's possible to claim that this is just good politics, or somehow necessary to keep Ethiopia together, but Gardner makes a pretty persuasive case that Abiy has made most things worse.
I followed most of these events, and the Tigray war in particular, fairly closely at the time, and I learned a ton from this book. It was an open question for me whether or not what Abiy and his allies did to the Tigrayans was a genocide. That question has been resolved in the affirmative. One white Economist correspondent's perspective on what has happened in one of Africa's biggest and most strategically important countries is not the final word. On anything. But it is a tremendously accomplished and persuasive first draft of history. Highly recommended.
It would be unfair to blame Abiy for all of this, and Gardner doesn't do that. He ably documents just how cursed the problems facing anyone trying to run Ethiopia in 2018 were. Ethiopia, though a heroic resister of empire, is an empire itself. When a few drops of mass prosperity and security finally trickled down to Ethiopia under the government that ruled the country from the early 1990s to 2018, the many nations that made up the empire started to pull apart. Abiy was selected as Prime Minister in part to placate the largest ethnic group. His titanic self-regard, and real skills as a politician convinced everyone it could somehow work. The unstated, but fairly clear message of this book is that it did not work.
Like all politicians, Abiy Ahmed seems to be a bit of a monster. His delusions and capabilities, combined with the scope of Ethiopia's problems have combined to create a hellish situation. Over six years in power he has turned Ethiopia's ethnicities further against each other. He has pretended to champion the cause of one against the other, until the group he is championing gets too powerful and he turns against it. I suppose it's possible to claim that this is just good politics, or somehow necessary to keep Ethiopia together, but Gardner makes a pretty persuasive case that Abiy has made most things worse.
I followed most of these events, and the Tigray war in particular, fairly closely at the time, and I learned a ton from this book. It was an open question for me whether or not what Abiy and his allies did to the Tigrayans was a genocide. That question has been resolved in the affirmative. One white Economist correspondent's perspective on what has happened in one of Africa's biggest and most strategically important countries is not the final word. On anything. But it is a tremendously accomplished and persuasive first draft of history. Highly recommended.
August 16, 2026
Tom Gardner is a reporter for the Economist and spent several years in Ethiopia writing The Abiy Project. He sees the recently re-elected PM and founder of the Prosperity Party as more of a continuation of past authoritarian leaders rather than a true "democratic reformer." Ethiopia has had strong armed leaders from emperors Menelik II to Haile Selassie to military strongman Mengistu to weak federalist socialist Tigrayan leader Meles Zenawi and finally PM Hailemariam until 2018.
Abiy grew up in a modest home from a Christian Amharic mother and a Muslim Oromo father who was a farmer. He was always personable, a bit flighty, very ambitious and analytical. He dropped out of high school, spent 10 years in the federal army as a radio operator and experienced the 1998 war with Eritrea first hand. He always picked valuable allies who promoted him inside the government and in his Oromo Party alliance, part of the overall ruling EPRDF government.
He was very lucky to get the nod to lead the party when his boss was unavailable and learned in take advantage of opportunities even by dividing and conquering opponents and threats. He became a devout pentecostal and avoided backing any one tribe consistently, bouncing back and forth trying to gain advantage.
His management of the 2020 war with Tigray was perilous but masterful. He had to check and balance allies and enemies alike, especially Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki who today has a complex relationship with PM AA. Tens of thousands died in the Tigray war including thousands of starvation. But this is nothing new for Ethiopia. The author grudgingly admits this in is inevitable condemnation of the regime.
Gardner correctly admits AA is not doing anything novel but rather is simply staying in power by whatever means necessary. AA's admiration of Machiavelli is obvious. AA has longer and stronger allies in the UAE, China and Eritrea, but tries to appease the US and Europe if needed. He seems to do better with the Trump Administration than with Democrats, showing little regard for the Biden foreign policy team.
Gardner, a non-academic, shows his political preferences, preferring an internationalist, multilateral antinationalist view, very typical of Economist journalists. He does present a ton of information mostly well but overuses the passive voice. However, the reader should overlook these stylistic gaffes and his subjective and "unrealistic" Judgements of AA. After all, the PM deported him to Kenya so there is little love lost here. Recommend.
Abiy grew up in a modest home from a Christian Amharic mother and a Muslim Oromo father who was a farmer. He was always personable, a bit flighty, very ambitious and analytical. He dropped out of high school, spent 10 years in the federal army as a radio operator and experienced the 1998 war with Eritrea first hand. He always picked valuable allies who promoted him inside the government and in his Oromo Party alliance, part of the overall ruling EPRDF government.
He was very lucky to get the nod to lead the party when his boss was unavailable and learned in take advantage of opportunities even by dividing and conquering opponents and threats. He became a devout pentecostal and avoided backing any one tribe consistently, bouncing back and forth trying to gain advantage.
His management of the 2020 war with Tigray was perilous but masterful. He had to check and balance allies and enemies alike, especially Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki who today has a complex relationship with PM AA. Tens of thousands died in the Tigray war including thousands of starvation. But this is nothing new for Ethiopia. The author grudgingly admits this in is inevitable condemnation of the regime.
Gardner correctly admits AA is not doing anything novel but rather is simply staying in power by whatever means necessary. AA's admiration of Machiavelli is obvious. AA has longer and stronger allies in the UAE, China and Eritrea, but tries to appease the US and Europe if needed. He seems to do better with the Trump Administration than with Democrats, showing little regard for the Biden foreign policy team.
Gardner, a non-academic, shows his political preferences, preferring an internationalist, multilateral antinationalist view, very typical of Economist journalists. He does present a ton of information mostly well but overuses the passive voice. However, the reader should overlook these stylistic gaffes and his subjective and "unrealistic" Judgements of AA. After all, the PM deported him to Kenya so there is little love lost here. Recommend.
May 16, 2025
My family visited Ethiopia at Christmas time in 2018 during the "Abiymania" period and there was a sense of exuberance and optimism in Addis Ababa. When we went to the rural south, that was not so true since most people there are mostly just trying to survive and politics is far away for them. Even amidst the optimism, I would pick up subtle (and sometimes not subtle) judgments by one ethnic group member about other ethnic groups, and the long history of differences and prejudice would surface. But overall it was an uplifting trip for us, so when we came home and started hearing stories of unrest and then civil war, it seemed unfathomable based on our recent experience. Then all eyes went to Gaza on October 7, 2023, and while there was still horrific conflict on a much larger scale in Ethiopia, the little media attention it was receiving disappeared. I deeply appreciate this book because it has helped me understand the background (recent and ancient), the course of events, and the narcissistic man at the center of it all. The first chapter alone is the best summary of modern Ethiopian history that I've read. I now am deeply worried for Ethiopian friends with whom I have lost touch.
And the fragmentation of the region under his rule is way too close to home for me as an American right now.
And the fragmentation of the region under his rule is way too close to home for me as an American right now.
March 24, 2025
I read this book whilst travelling in Ethiopia, without the dust cover on as it is not on sale in that country for obvious reasons.
I think as a primer for Ethiopian politics and understanding of the current situation you really can't do any better than this. I went in with a very basic grasp of the relationship between Tigray and Addis, and the personality of Abiy himself, and after reading this felt comfortable talking with locals about the TPLF (which had a leadership schism whilst I was in the region, resulting in people crowding round televisions in a way I have previously only seen for football matches).
It is fascinating to see the contrast between Addis Ababa, where Abiy is building a $10 billion palace on top of a hill, and Tigray where there are 10 vendors at tourist sites but not a single person to buy their wares. To understand this juxtaposition, and the state of Ethiopia itself, you really can't do any better than this.
I think as a primer for Ethiopian politics and understanding of the current situation you really can't do any better than this. I went in with a very basic grasp of the relationship between Tigray and Addis, and the personality of Abiy himself, and after reading this felt comfortable talking with locals about the TPLF (which had a leadership schism whilst I was in the region, resulting in people crowding round televisions in a way I have previously only seen for football matches).
It is fascinating to see the contrast between Addis Ababa, where Abiy is building a $10 billion palace on top of a hill, and Tigray where there are 10 vendors at tourist sites but not a single person to buy their wares. To understand this juxtaposition, and the state of Ethiopia itself, you really can't do any better than this.
April 12, 2026
Excellent, incredibly thorough book. Tom has done a staggering job of reportage, having spoken to just about anyone relevant to Ethiopian politics over the past decade and a half. My only critique is not something the author can do anything about: Ethiopian politics is overwhelmingly complex. Anyone interested in contemporary Ethiopia should read this book.
December 2, 2024
This was well done and I learned a lot. The first half was a bit slower but I found the last third to be very engaging.
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March 3, 2026This fucking guy.
August 3, 2026
interesting perspective
All in all a very profound and mainly accurate narrative. However, I feel that the author seems to be biased and supportive of EPRDF.
All in all a very profound and mainly accurate narrative. However, I feel that the author seems to be biased and supportive of EPRDF.
August 10, 2024
seems like an anti Abiy
My sense is that the Author is totally biased against Abiy. I don’t know this is a balanced and fair account.
My sense is that the Author is totally biased against Abiy. I don’t know this is a balanced and fair account.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews