Federalism and the Governance of Contested Capital Cities: Comparing Addis Ababa and Brussels.

This article examines the governance of contested federal capital cities through a comparative analysis of Brussels, Belgium, and Addis Ababa (Finfinne), Ethiopia, both of which serve as seats of multiple intranational and supranational governments. It highlights how, contrary to federal theory that promotes the diffusion of power across multiple capitals, these cities remain dominant primate capitals marked by historical linguistic and ethnic contestations—Frenchification in Brussels and Amharization in Addis Ababa—rooted in their unitary state legacies. Brussels functions as a bilingual city-state hosting four federated entities and the European Union, operating under a consociational democracy, while Addis Ababa is a monolingual, hybrid federal capital located within Oromia Regional State, governed through authoritarian power-sharing and hosting the African Union. The article argues that the presence of supranational institutions complicates traditional federal capital classifications and suggests that both cities could benefit from more inclusive language policies and greater local autonomy to ease intergroup tensions and better reflect federal principles.