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Ethiopia Changes in Soviet Policy and New International Horizons
The Soviet Union policies changed toward its allies among
the developing countries in the late 1980s--changes that
appeared likely to result in significant reductions in it's
hitherto extensive support of Ethiopia. By then it was
evident that the Soviet-Ethiopian relationship had undergone
a fundamental reorientation. The change was partly the
result of the new directions in Soviet foreign policy
undertaken by Mikhail Gorbachev. But other contributing
factors were strong undercurrents of Soviet disapproval of
Ethiopia's conduct of its internal affairs and of Addis
Ababa's inability to make effective use of the aid that
Moscow sent. The implications of this changed policy for
Ethiopia were likely to be profound, inasmuch as continued
high levels of military assistance were vital to the pursuit
of Mengistu's military solution in Eritrea as well as to the
fight against other internal insurgencies.
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The literature on Ethiopia is relatively rich and deep, the
consequence of Ethiopia's indigenous written tradition,
mostly in Gi'iz, and of the extraordinary interest in the
country shown by Europeans over the last five centuries. For
the early historical period, two works are fundamental:
Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity by Stuart
Munro-Hay, and Church and State in Ethiopia, 1270-1527 by
Taddesse Tamrat. Each is the best work on its respective
subject and period and likely to remain so for the
foreseeable future. In nearly the same league is John
Spencer Trimingham's Islam in Ethiopia, a standard work and
a starting point for the history, culture, and religion of
Ethiopia's Muslim peoples, despite its age (published in
1952).
A comprehensive, up-to-date survey of the country remains
to be written, but an older work by Edward Ullendorff, The
Ethiopians: An Introduction to Country and People (1973), is
still quite useful, despite its emphasis on the northern,
Semitic-speaking population. As a supplement, the reader
might consult the relevant chapters in the eight volumes of
The Cambridge History of Africa, edited by J.D. Fage and
Roland Oliver. Two books by Mordechai Abir, Ethiopia and the
Red Sea and Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes, cover subjects
or periods otherwise almost totally neglected, including
trade, commerce, and the contributions of the Oromo. Richard
K. Pankhurst's Economic History of Ethiopia, 1800-1935
contains a wealth of information on a wide variety of
topics, as do other works by this scholar. Two books by
Donald N. Levine, Wax and Gold and Greater Ethiopia: The
Evolution of a Multi-Ethnic Society, provide stimulating and
at times provocative analyses of Amhara, Tigray, and (in the
latter volume) Oromo cultures but should be consulted only
after basics in the field have been mastered. A highly
useful reference is the Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia by
Chris Prouty and Eugene Rosenfeld, which provides a lexicon
of Ethiopian topics as well as an extensive bibliography.
Bahru Zewde's A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855-1974
surveys the last century of imperial rule, with an emphasis
on the twentieth century. Two biographical histories on
nineteenth-century emperors are recommended: Yohannes IV of
Ethiopia by Zewde Gabre-Sellassie, and The Life and Times of
Menelik II by Harold G. Marcus. The following are among
outstanding works on the reign of Haile Selassie: George W.
Baer's The Coming of the Italian-Ethiopian War; Christopher
S. Clapham's Haile Selassie's Government; John Markakis's
Ethiopia: Anatomy of a Traditional Polity; and Harold G.
Marcus's Haile Selassie I: The Formative Years, 1892-1936. A
new work by Gebru Tareke, Ethiopia: Power and Protest,
analyzes three major peasant revolts and the response of the
imperial government.
An excellent discussion of contemporary Ethiopia that
treats both the Haile Selassie era and the revolutionary
years is Ethiopia: Transition and Development in the Horn of
Africa by Mulatu Wubneh and Yohannis Abate. Among the best
sources on the military government and its policies are
Marina and David Ottaway's Ethiopia: Empire in Revolution,
still the basic source on the early years of the Derg, and
Christopher S. Clapham's Transformation and Continuity in
Revolutionary Ethiopia. Among periodicals, the Journal of
African History and Northeast African Studies are
particularly valuable for scholarly coverage of Ethiopia and
the Horn. (For further information and complete citations,
see Bibliography.)
Data as of 1991
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