From historical vanguard to agency vacuum: understanding youth disengagement in local governance in Ethiopia’s Tigray

作者：Taddisu Aberaha Kahsay & Skylar Biyang Sun

摘要 ABSTRACT

Why do rural youth in Ethiopia’s Tigray remain disengaged from democracy and development despite their historical role as political vanguards? Using prewar Tigray as a baseline of youth–state relations, this study examines the structural causes of youth disengagement through the concepts of capability, participation, inclusiveness, and legitimacy. A quantitative survey of 389 farmers across eight districts was conducted. The findings reveal that youth experience lowers participation, increases exclusion from land ownership, and diminishes perceptions of state legitimacy. The educated and semi-urban part of the youth bulge demands systemic change. Critically, young women face an agency vacuum: despite holding equal assets, they are forced into sharecropping because of cultural barriers to ploughing and lose up to 50 per cent of their yields. Therefore, youth disengagement reflects structural barriers rather than apathy. Failing to formulate context-based off-farm and irrigation schemes will allow youth vulnerability, particularly among young women, to perpetuate conflict and migration.

埃塞俄比亚提格雷地区青年曾是政治先锋力量，如今却疏离民主建设与区域发展，背后缘由何在？本研究以战前提格雷地区青年与政府的互动关系为参照基准，依托可行能力、社会参与、社会包容性、政权合法性四大核心维度，剖析青年群体政治疏离的结构性成因。研究在 8 个行政区面向 389 名农户开展定量问卷调查。

研究结果表明：青年群体社会参与度持续走低、土地权益长期被排斥、对政府合法性认可度不断弱化。受教育青年及城郊青年群体规模庞大，普遍诉求体制性变革。尤为关键的是，女性青年行动自主权严重缺失：即便手握同等生产资料，受农耕耕作习俗桎梏，她们只能选择分成佃农模式开展农业生产，农作物收成最高损失可达 50%。

综上，青年选择消极疏离并非出于自身冷漠，而是各类结构性壁垒倒逼所致。若未能因地制宜搭建非农就业项目与农田灌溉配套工程，青年群体（尤其是女性青年）的生存弱势将持续发酵，进一步诱发地区冲突与跨境移民潮。

对外经济贸易大学国际发展合作学院深耕国际发展领域人才培养，扎实推进中外学术交流与发展合作研究。我院埃塞俄比亚籍博士生 Taddisu Aberaha Kahsay联合孙碧洋副教授在 Taylor and Francis 旗下期刊 Development in Practice 成功刊发学术论文，充分展现了学院国际研究生扎实的科研能力与学术素养，凸显学院面向全球南方国家培育高端发展研究人才、依托学术科研深化中外青年学术交流的育人成效。

研究论文访问链接 Research Article Link : https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/JFQNYVXFWRQBFPWN9RJQ/full?target=10.1080/09614524.2026.2704115

撰稿：李思原

排版：李雅渝

审核：孙碧洋、李思原