diff --git a/ovsdbapp/api.py b/ovsdbapp/api.py
index dd0b9243..61925e81 100644
--- a/ovsdbapp/api.py
+++ b/ovsdbapp/api.py
@@ -71,8 +71,9 @@ class Transaction(object):
 
 @six.add_metaclass(abc.ABCMeta)
 class API(object):
-    def __init__(self):
+    def __init__(self, nested_transactions=True):
         # Mapping between a (green)thread and its transaction.
+        self._nested_txns = nested_transactions
         self._nested_txns_map = {}
 
     @abc.abstractmethod
@@ -88,17 +89,23 @@ class API(object):
         """
 
     @contextlib.contextmanager
-    def transaction(self, check_error=False, log_errors=True, **kwargs):
+    def transaction(self, check_error=False, log_errors=True, nested=True,
+                    **kwargs):
         """Create a transaction context.
 
         :param check_error: Allow the transaction to raise an exception?
         :type check_error:  bool
         :param log_errors:  Log an error if the transaction fails?
         :type log_errors:   bool
+        :param nested:      Allow nested transactions be merged into one txn
+        :type nested:       bool
         :returns: Either a new transaction or an existing one.
         :rtype: :class:`Transaction`
         """
-        cur_thread_id = thread.get_ident()
+        # ojbect() is unique, so if we are not nested, this will always result
+        # in a KeyError on lookup and so a unique Transaction
+        nested = nested and self._nested_txns
+        cur_thread_id = thread.get_ident() if nested else object()
 
         try:
             yield self._nested_txns_map[cur_thread_id]
diff --git a/ovsdbapp/backend/ovs_idl/__init__.py b/ovsdbapp/backend/ovs_idl/__init__.py
index 9413c3d3..5a570c6f 100644
--- a/ovsdbapp/backend/ovs_idl/__init__.py
+++ b/ovsdbapp/backend/ovs_idl/__init__.py
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ class Backend(object):
     lookup_table = {}
     ovsdb_connection = None
 
-    def __init__(self, connection):
-        super(Backend, self).__init__()
+    def __init__(self, connection, **kwargs):
+        super(Backend, self).__init__(**kwargs)
         self.start_connection(connection)
 
     @classmethod
diff --git a/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/schema/open_vswitch/test_impl_idl.py b/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/schema/open_vswitch/test_impl_idl.py
index 54ab19d5..14a41c79 100644
--- a/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/schema/open_vswitch/test_impl_idl.py
+++ b/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/schema/open_vswitch/test_impl_idl.py
@@ -33,3 +33,10 @@ class TransactionTestCase(base.TestCase):
             transaction = impl_idl.OvsVsctlTransaction(mock.sentinel,
                                                        mock.Mock(), 0)
             transaction.post_commit(mock.Mock())
+
+
+class TestOvsdbIdl(base.TestCase):
+    def test_nested_txns(self):
+        conn = mock.MagicMock()
+        api = impl_idl.OvsdbIdl(conn, nested_transactions=False)
+        self.assertFalse(api._nested_txns)
diff --git a/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/test_api.py b/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/test_api.py
index 5dd8c670..9fcc11de 100644
--- a/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/test_api.py
+++ b/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/test_api.py
@@ -65,7 +65,9 @@ class FakeTransaction(object):
 
 class TestingAPI(api.API):
     def create_transaction(self, check_error=False, log_errors=True, **kwargs):
-        return FakeTransaction()
+        txn = FakeTransaction()
+        mock.patch.object(txn, 'commit').start()
+        return txn
 
 
 TestingAPI.__abstractmethods__ = set()
@@ -75,7 +77,6 @@ class TransactionTestCase(base.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         super(TransactionTestCase, self).setUp()
         self.api = TestingAPI()
-        mock.patch.object(FakeTransaction, 'commit').start()
         self.useFixture(GreenThreadingFixture())
 
     def test_transaction_nested(self):
@@ -84,6 +85,21 @@ class TransactionTestCase(base.TestCase):
                 self.assertIs(txn1, txn2)
         txn1.commit.assert_called_once_with()
 
+    def test_transaction_nested_false(self):
+        with self.api.transaction(nested=False) as txn1:
+            with self.api.transaction() as txn2:
+                self.assertIsNot(txn1, txn2)
+        txn1.commit.assert_called_once_with()
+        txn2.commit.assert_called_once_with()
+
+    def test_api_level_transaction_nested_fales(self):
+        api = TestingAPI(nested_transactions=False)
+        with api.transaction() as txn1:
+            with api.transaction() as txn2:
+                self.assertIsNot(txn1, txn2)
+        txn1.commit.assert_called_once_with()
+        txn2.commit.assert_called_once_with()
+
     def test_transaction_no_nested_transaction_after_error(self):
         class TestException(Exception):
             pass