 When politics to me means the administration of society through the use of coercive and non-coercive power. Democracy to me is a very subtle thing that has developed in the West over the last 500 years or so. It's a ladder that societies in the West have climbed where they have reached today and expect us to accomplish the same within a few years or a few decades. My academic background is sociology. I consider myself a teacher, a student, a researcher and a commentator in things that relate to society in general. I've been teaching at Addis Ababa University for the last 33 years or so. I am now transitioning from that to become an executive director of FSS, which is a think-tank organization, a civil society organization that specializes in promoting research, publication, dialogue on important issues that try to inform policy in this country. I know that there are many capable young scholars that universities employ, and I would like to promote the further training, the further development of such young scholars who are dedicated to serious work, who are passionate researchers and academicians, young academicians, to develop themselves, to develop their art by joining FSS as members, researchers and so on, and in time to be able to replace us, the elders of FSS.