so it would not be possible ? waht if ethiopia tries to become more centralized ? Maybe they wont join in WWI, but i would like to see Ethiopia as member of the central power in WWII perhaps or generally a stronger ethiopia which acts as superpower in Africa and is stronger than OTL Ethiopia was.
They tried all the time, but it wasn't really working that well. There were powerful Rases from landowner families that pretty much had monopolized power in their parts of the empire (a remnant from the age pf princes), the southern recently conquered lands were ruled by adventurers and robber barons, and of course Ethiopia is multi-ethnic and multi-religious. There was no trust between the different ethnic groups.
The main conflicts were
1) Shewan Amhara nobility vs. Tigrean and Amharan nobility from other provinces
2) Amharas and Tigreans vs. the Oromo (especially the Wollo Oromo)
3) Reformers (Ras Tafari and his allies) vs. Reactionaries (Zauditu, Hapte Giorgis, Ras Gugsa, Ras Hailu etc.)
4) Sub-states vs. crown (Sultanate of Jima, Sheikhdom of Bela Shangul...)
And then we of course have the whole slavery issue, as well as the gabbar system...
All in all, Ethiopia was built on such structures that completely made sense in a feudal/ tribal environment. A network of loyalties and betrayals between princes, sub kings, nobles and chieftains.
(There were not a year when there wasn't a small rebellion somewhere, and some times there were quite big ones.)