Centralization is why Ethiopia remained independent and decentralization is why our nomadic clan sultanates were picked off one by one.
If you honestly believe a small impoverished nation of less than 20 million (more people live in Shanghai than Somalis in existence) needs a half dozen clan fiefdoms with their own legislatures, currencies, armies, foreign policies, etc. you're an imbecile.
Ethiopia was never centralized. It was decentralized broken into a collection of landlocked rural fiefdoms.
Somali sultanates Majerteen/Hobyo/Warsangeli/Geledi on the other hand etc were far more centralized built on commercial/urban sedentary networks, with bureaucratic structures, with governors/ministers amirs/naibs, legal officials qadis, sharifs, councils under the Sultan/Garaad/Boqor, with a taxation/revenue collection system, standing/professional army and diplomatic relations/embassies in other countries.
And Ethiopia got picked apart very easily by the British . They invaded Ethiopia conquered their capital and besiegied their lands in 1868. Punished their king.
Ethiopia from then on basically rendered itself into a Vassal of the British Empire and worked with them against the Sudanis Mahdist and Somalis under Anglo-Ethiopian agreements. That's really why it remained with some level of autonomy which was rewarded by the British.
They however also sold off to Italy the northern Ethiopian territories of Bogos, Hamasen, and Akale-Guzai modern Eritrea and northern Tigray in exchange for a sum of money and the provisions in treaties to avoid their other lands from direct occupation in the Treat of Wichale.
Only fared a short victory against Italians who tried to enforce more land grab much like how the Dervishes were victiorious for a while with their interior movements, utilizing mobile land movement via mountains & terrains to their advantage, instead of getting their fixed coastal settlements bombarded from the sea like the sultanates. And that advantage was quickly narrowed with the use of arial combat, same with the Italians occupying them until the British bailed them out.
After that the British simply took advantage of their colossal military presence in Ethiopia to establish control over all its main economic sectors and national resources. They took all their military equipment of away from them and said ''
it should not be left for the service of blacks.'' . Took over their police office force and replaced it even.
Feudal Abyssinians only historical advantage was not centralization, it was forcefully mobilizing a big number of poor peasants away from resource production and economic activity into a war against their neighbors out of pure religious ideology/hatred while glorifying their nomadic illiterate feudal kings moving around in tents. That's why Ethiopia was an impoverished nation and still is.
Staying a float by being propt up by other western judeo-christian nations because they see them as regional strategic assets and ally against Islamists. Thats the only glue keeping it together from shattering into the next Yugoslavia.