Traditionally，the “developmental state” represented by East Asian countries is considered an inevitable choice for the development of late-developing countries. At the beginning of the 21st century，Ethiopia creatively adopted a “democratic developmental state” model，established an ethnic-based democratic system under the leadership of political strongman and a strong political party，and vigorously promoted the construction and development of the national economic system through national plans，showing the effectiveness of this model. However，with the differentiation of ethnic groups and the slowdown of economic growth，Ethiopia’s “democratic developmental state” faces big challenges，which requires deeper construction to its state capacity.