Ethiopian Renaissance or How to Turn Dysfunctional into Functional

African Renaissance is a term which is used to describe new era in African his- tory and strongly serves propaganda reasons. The aim of the article is to analyse the role of this notion in terms of Ethiopia, i.e. how the term is being employed in Ethiopian politics and propaganda. It is stressed that even though the term it- self is a new introduction, the idea of building a strong state on the basis of grand tradition has been used in Ethiopian history on several occasions. Nowadays, the best examples of references to Renaissance by the state’s propaganda are to be found in symbolical meaning of the widely discussed and controversial project of construction the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Blue Nile. Other as- pects of how the term is being employed can be seen in a propaganda film mate- rial produced by the Foreign Ministry of Ethiopia in 2015 with the view to ad- vertise the achievements of the government.