The existence of vibrant civil society organizations does have the potential to make a positiverncontribution to the democratization process of Ethiopia. These organizations perform differentrnactivities such as limiting the power of the state more generally, challenging the governmentrnwhen doing wrong; complementing the role of the state, creating awareness in the community,rnpromote transparency and advocate on fair and free election. They can also reform the staternespecially by building the capacity of the various institutional settings. The purpose of this studyrnis to assess and examine the role of CSOs in the democratization of Ethiopia since 1991. Thernstudy is of descriptive survey type where both primary and secondary data were used. The studyrnalso used non-probabilistic, purposive sampling technique to assess the issue at hand.rnThe state civil society relation is an inherent feature of a certain organized society. Civil societyrnorganizations remain the watch dog of the public, though the role playing in and the strategiesrndiffer. When the state becomes powerful, it is CSOs that should check challenge and reform it.rnThus, the relation between the state and civil society should be smooth and governed by therncommon objective of democracy.rnA very close examination of data shows that Ethiopia's civil society is built around the povertyrncrisis facing the country in 1973/74, and 1984/85 and proliferated after the liberalization fromrnthe Dergue regime. In Ethiopia, the political reform was taken place as a result of the dismantlingrnof the authoritarian Dergue regime and the adoption of new constitution yvhich provides a legalrnprovision for the freedom of association, created relatively a favorable environment for thernemergence of civil society organizations.rnRight after the change of the regime in 1991, the legal provisions that ascertain the freedom ofrnassociations have instituted in both the transitional charter and latter in the 1995 FederalrnDemocratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) constitution that has laid the foundation for thernoperation of CSOs.