Thi: clissc rt;llioll is a comparati,'c Urb;1l1 policy re sca rc!l ill co nl e sled IllUI LicLlillic ciLies.rnII Irnadditiollrnto li H.: lI ille regio llal-states, Eliliopia also has two lCdcrall y gu vcrll cd COlllcstcd ll1ullicLhllic ei ti cs-rnAddis A haba alld Dire Dawa. By focLlsilig 0 11 Ihese cilies, this study illvestigates the C;IIJSCS alldrnd Yliamics or urba n cOllllicts, the exLcllts or cClllralizatioll and urban local auto llo mies, and urbanrnpoiicies/illsLiluLi0I1S of rcgulaLillg clllllo-llaliOilal di ve rsities. '1'0 lilis CllCi , combillaLiol ls of rcs earcllrnstrat.egies includillg comparative, Ili5.orica1 , illstituLio llal/slructu ral,rntlilcirnlTIulti-ctllllic/muILiculluralrnapproaches have beell e mployed . An illtegrated anal ytical IClls, through which both primary andrnsecoudary data are qualitaLi vely analyzed and inte rpreted, was constructed from three inte rwove nrnvariables: group cOililicts, local political institutiOiIS