Ethiopia In African Politics 1956-1991

The nature of Ethiopia’s involvement in the affairs of the continent has elicitedrnvarious interpretations. There have been rather polarized positions on the issue. For onerngroup, consisting largely of expatriate scholars, the country remained aloof from andrnindifferent to developments related to the Pan-African Movement in general and thernAfrican struggle for independence in particular. The other side, on the contrary, upholdsrnthe enduring commitment of the country to the cause well before fellow Africansrnthemselves came to the realization of their predicament. The complex realities of Africanrnpolitics, and hence inter-state relations, provide ample justifications for the positions ofrneach group. In this regard, the effort to unravel the level of the country’s achievementsrnand failures in concrete terms remains at a rudimentary stage. Ethiopia’s approaches tornregional as well as continental issues and the way successive regimes designed andrnimplemented their African policies still awaits comprehensive investigation.rnThe thesis attempts to assess the nature of Ethiopia’s involvement in African politicsrnbetween 1956 and 1991. In the process, the root causes of these divergent attitudes arernscrutinized. More importantly, efforts are made to present the evolution of Ethiopia’srnforeign policy directives on immediate security matters as well as general continentalrnixrnaffairs. The archival sources extensively employed in the process of reconstruction havernshed a new light on our understanding of the issue.rnThe thesis argues that there is a much wider dimension to the nature of Ethiopia’srninvolvement in African affairs other than securing immediate interests related to Eritreanrnsecessionism and Somali irredentism. In the mean time, though, the struggle to maintainrnthese interests at times forced successive Ethiopian governments to violate the principlesrnof non-intervention in the affairs of others and the territorial integrity of a nation state, therntwo main principles the country has steadfastly championed. Similarly, Ethiopia’s role inrnregional as well as continental activities reflects not only the country’s objectives but alsornexisting realities of inter-state relations between and among Africans. The thesis clearlyrndemonstrates that the inter-African contact entertained diverse issues other than the idealsrnof a Pan-African solidarity and African consciousness.rnContrary to the conventional wisdom, the findings of this research establish thatrnEthiopia’s relations with its immediate neighbors and regional entities was much morerncomplicated; its involvement in regional and continental affairs was fraught withrnconfusion and controversy; and the achievements in the African field that were so muchrnpublicized were not that much impressive. In spite of this, however, the fact remains thatrnthe nature and extent of Ethiopia’s involvement in African affairs goes deeper than therncustomary dismissal of the matter as off-hand and occasional contacts with regional and continental actors

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