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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Economic Origins of the Absolutist State in Ethiopia (1916-1935)
Author:Zewde, BahruISNI
Year:1984
Periodical:Journal of Ethiopian Studies
Volume:17
Pages:1-29
Language:English
Geographic term:Ethiopia
Subjects:monarchy
history
1910-1919
1920-1929
1930-1939
Politics and Government
Economics and Trade
History and Exploration
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/41965913
Abstract:Much of the existing literature on the almost inexorable rise of Haile Selassie to absolute power between 1916 and 1935 is more concerned with the character of the man - or superman - of Tafari-Haile Selassie than with the circumstances which shaped him and the social forces within which he operated. Exceptions are Addis Hiwet (1975) and Joanna Mantel-Niecko (1980). The present author continues their line of analysis, demonstrating that the State that has been labelled modern can justifiably be characterized as absolutist (in the strictly defined form in which it is elaborated by Perry Anderson, 1974). Focus is on the economic origins of the absolutist State in Ethiopia, in particular the increasing privatization of land ownership and the growing central control of revenue. From this perspective, there is little that could be described as mysterious or superhuman in the rise of Haile Selassie to absolute power. Notes, ref.
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