Introduction

This introductory chapter primarily aims to highlight the plight of marginalized peripheral peoples inhabiting the ecologically vulnerable lowland territories of Ethiopia (the periphery). These people largely faced discrimination and social exclusion in the state-building efforts in Ethiopia, and this is believed to have contributed to profound horizontal and vertical inequalities that appear to have significantly explained the present unfavourable trends in their welfare status. The chapter briefly indicates sets of factors that need to be noted in understanding the critical underlying causes of present welfare trends in the periphery, which include the behaviour and dynamic internal operations of the pastoralist societies themselves, the external ecological and environmental influences, and the external economic, institutional, and political forces that are fundamentally tied to the mode of conduct of the modern state in the centre-periphery relationships. It points to the inherent structural contradictions between the state and the people in the periphery. Some brief remarks are made concerning an attempted crafted policy direction and apparent setbacks at the African level. The organization of the book is outlined in this chapter as follows: Part One is devoted to descriptions and technical discussion of the world of pastoralism, relevant theoretical insights, and critical explanations of perspectives and narratives associated with the management of common-property pastoral rangelands in Africa. Chapters in Part Two are directed to critical examinations of secular trends in the welfare of Borana pastoralists, with a detailed empirical focus on the setting, household economy, climate change adaptation, poverty and vulnerability to poverty traps, food insecurity, and resilience to shocks.