Ethiopia in African Politics, 1956-1991
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Date
2012-04
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The nature of Ethiopia’s involvement in the affairs of the continent has elicited
various interpretations. There have been rather polarized positions on the issue. For one
group, consisting largely of expatriate scholars, the country remained aloof from and
indifferent to developments related to the Pan-African Movement in general and the
African struggle for independence in particular. The other side, on the contrary, upholds
the enduring commitment of the country to the cause well before fellow Africans
themselves came to the realization of their predicament. The complex realities of African
politics, and hence inter-state relations, provide ample justifications for the positions of
each group. In this regard, the effort to unravel the level of the country’s achievements
and failures in concrete terms remains at a rudimentary stage. Ethiopia’s approaches to
regional as well as continental issues and the way successive regimes designed and
implemented their African policies still awaits comprehensive investigation.
The thesis attempts to assess the nature of Ethiopia’s involvement in African politics
between 1956 and 1991. In the process, the root causes of these divergent attitudes are
scrutinized. More importantly, efforts are made to present the evolution of Ethiopia’s
foreign policy directives on immediate security matters as well as general continental
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affairs. The archival sources extensively employed in the process of reconstruction have
shed a new light on our understanding of the issue.
The thesis argues that there is a much wider dimension to the nature of Ethiopia’s
involvement in African affairs other than securing immediate interests related to Eritrean
secessionism and Somali irredentism. In the mean time, though, the struggle to maintain
these interests at times forced successive Ethiopian governments to violate the principles
of non-intervention in the affairs of others and the territorial integrity of a nation state, the
two main principles the country has steadfastly championed. Similarly, Ethiopia’s role in
regional as well as continental activities reflects not only the country’s objectives but also
existing realities of inter-state relations between and among Africans. The thesis clearly
demonstrates that the inter-African contact entertained diverse issues other than the ideals
of a Pan-African solidarity and African consciousness.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the findings of this research establish that
Ethiopia’s relations with its immediate neighbors and regional entities was much more
complicated; its involvement in regional and continental affairs was fraught with
confusion and controversy; and the achievements in the African field that were so much
publicized were not that much impressive. In spite of this, however, the fact remains that
the nature and extent of Ethiopia’s involvement in African affairs goes deeper than the
customary dismissal of the matter as off-hand and occasional contacts with regional and continental actors
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Keywords
African Politics