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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps and tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Map 1 The Horn of Africa
- Map 2 Administrative divisions
- 1 The background to the emergence of the structural crisis
- PART I THE COLLAPSE OF THE OLD-STATE (JANUARY–NOVEMBER 1974)
- PART II THE FORMATIVE YEARS OF THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY ORDER (DECEMBER 1974–FEBRUARY 1977)
- 4 The socio-economic reforms of 1975
- 5 The upsurge of political organizations
- 6 Scientific socialism and the structure of the government
- 7 From a junta to an autocratic dictatorship
- PART III CONSOLIDATION OF POWER (FEBRUARY 1977–SEPTEMBER 1987)
- Postscript
- Appendix: chronology of events
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- LSE MONOGRAPHS IN INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
4 - The socio-economic reforms of 1975
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps and tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Map 1 The Horn of Africa
- Map 2 Administrative divisions
- 1 The background to the emergence of the structural crisis
- PART I THE COLLAPSE OF THE OLD-STATE (JANUARY–NOVEMBER 1974)
- PART II THE FORMATIVE YEARS OF THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY ORDER (DECEMBER 1974–FEBRUARY 1977)
- 4 The socio-economic reforms of 1975
- 5 The upsurge of political organizations
- 6 Scientific socialism and the structure of the government
- 7 From a junta to an autocratic dictatorship
- PART III CONSOLIDATION OF POWER (FEBRUARY 1977–SEPTEMBER 1987)
- Postscript
- Appendix: chronology of events
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- LSE MONOGRAPHS IN INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
Summary
The main preoccupations of this chapter are the socio-economic reforms adopted by the Derg in the course of 1975. According to most writers these reforms (nationalization of land and financial, industrial and commercial undertakings) transformed the military coup d'état, examined in the previous chapter, into a revolution. Those reforms are discussed in sections A to C of this chapter. An attempt is made in the relevant sections to indicate which government departments were involved in the drafting of the measure of nationalization concerned although this has not always been easy due to lack of sources.
Haile Selassie's government had realized that the early 1974 popular uprising was not limited to corporatist demands like pay increases, dismissal of departmental officials and recognition of union rights but, more importantly, extended to reforming the government itself. It had, accordingly, established a constitution-drafting committee which completed its work in the summer of the same year by drawing up a liberal constitution. At the height of the uprising, Endalkachew's cabinet was, apparently, divided among those who sought to leave all questions of reform to the government which was to be formed in accordance with the new constitution, and those who sought to start adopting reforms right away. No doubt prevarications of the cabinet along these lines undermined its credibility and contributed to its downfall.
By the summer of 1974, the popular uprising had died down, and, with it, the pressure it had brought to bear on the government.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Ethiopian Revolution 1974–1987A Transformation from an Aristocratic to a Totalitarian Autocracy, pp. 85 - 122Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993