Paper short abstract:

Even if the alliance between the EU and Ethiopia officially proclaims human security in Ethiopia as its primary strategy, in realty the human security is compromised.

Paper long abstract:

Ethiopia finds itself in a balancing act between state security and human security. Ethiopia's national security strategy, its cooperation in the global war on terror, and its role in the regional security structure often contradict the different components of human security such as political or community security. Ethiopia is one of the key allies of the EU in Africa. Even if this alliance officially proclaims human security in Ethiopia as its primary strategy, in realty the human security is compromised. This is mainly because Ethiopia is an ally which the EU can count on its fight against terrorism. Moreover, the Ethiopian government has been securitizing the economic growth. Any environmental, political or economic criticism of its economic strategies such as hydropower investments or its cooperation with large scale agribusiness corporations is often interpreted by the government and its supporters as anti-patriotic and subversive to Ethiopia's national security strategy. Some of its economic strategies such as its cooperation with agro-investment giants like Karuturi Global are causing more food insecurity and displacing local communities. This is most probably going to initiate political conflicts between the government and the local communities. Moreover, the agro-investments are leading to health and environmental insecurities due to increased use of pesticides, contamination of ground water and sickness of the employees. The EU hails Ethiopia's economic performance but looks away from its poor democratic records. This paper attempts to explore how the combination of the Ethiopian and EU security strategies affect the materialization of human security in Ethiopia.