Ethnic federalism, multi-ethnic or multi-national federalism, is a form of federal system in which the federated regional or state units are defined by ethnicity. Ethnic federal systems have been created in attempts to accommodate demands for ethnic autonomy and manage inter-ethnic tensions within a state. They have not always succeeded in this: problems inherent in the construction and maintenance of an ethnic federation have led to some states or sub-divisions of a state into either breaking up or resorting to authoritarian repression, ethnocracy, ethnic segregation, population transfer, internal displacement, ethnic cleansing, and/or ethnicity-based attacks and pogroms.
This type of federation was implemented from 1994 to 2018 by Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia. Meles Zenawi and his government adopted ethnic federalism with the aim of establishing the equality of all ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Features of ethnic federalism have been displayed also in other countries, including India, Nepal, Pakistan, South Sudan, Yugoslavia, and Apartheid-era South Africa (see Bantustans).
