Chapter 9 takes a closer look at how the party-state maintained control through village level case studies in Tigray – where the EPRDF’s hegemonic development project came closest to realisation – and Oromiya – where EPRDF control was most contested. The EPRDF utilised a combination of symbolic, distributive and coercive powers channelled through an increasingly elaborate and extensive party-state infrastructure to secure mass acquiescence. In particular, the chapter highlights that the party-state established control over the distribution of almost every necessary livelihood resource – including land, agricultural inputs, credit and social protection – effectively routing the survival strategies of the population through party-state structures. However, the distributive failings outlined in previous chapters – notably the shortage of land and employment – also exposed the limits of political control. The party-state had increasingly little to offer in terms of livelihoods for young adults, with the result that younger generations tended to have much weaker ties to the regime and increasingly escaped this strategy of enmeshment.