Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / Abbas H. Gnamo -- General Introduction / Abbas H. Gnamo -- Democracy without State: Egalitarianism, Justice, and Leadership in an Oromo Polity / Abbas H. Gnamo -- The Making of Oromo Kinship Identity and Structure: An Anthropological Analysis / Abbas H. Gnamo -- The Concept of Empire: What Makes Ethiopia an Empire? / Abbas H. Gnamo -- The Arsi Oromo Resistance against Ethiopian Imperial Conquest (1880–1900) / Abbas H. Gnamo -- The Introduction, Expansion, and Impact of Islam among the Arsi Oromo / Abbas H. Gnamo -- Dar Ager: The Making of a Periphery and the Features of Ethiopian Feudal Colonialism in Arsiland (1886–1935) / Abbas H. Gnamo -- The Nature of Political Administration and the Structure of Domination in Arsiland (1941–1974) / Abbas H. Gnamo -- The Socio-Economic Condition of the Peasantry in Arsiland (1941–1974) / Abbas H. Gnamo -- The Politics of Transforming the Empire-State: Ethnic Identity vs. National Identity in Ethiopia / Abbas H. Gnamo -- Bibliography / Abbas H. Gnamo -- Index / Abbas H. Gnamo.

This work examines the philosophical origins of Oromo egalitarian and democratic thoughts and practice, the Gadaa-Qaalluu system, kinship organization, the introduction and spread of Islam and the consequent socio-cultural change. It sheds light on the advent of the Ethiopian empire under Menelik II, its conquests and Arsi Oromo fierce resistance (1880-1900), the nature and legacy of Ethiopian imperial polity, centre-periphery relations, feudal political economy and its impacts on the newly conquered regions with a focus on Arsi Oromo country. The book also analyzes the root causes of the national political crisis including, but not limited to, the attempts at transforming the empire-state to a nation-state around a single culture, contested definition of national identity and state legitimacy, grievance narratives, uprisings, the birth and development of competing nationalisms as well as the limitations of the current ethnic federalism to address the national question in Ethiopia.