COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT

OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT CORSE OF POLITCS AND GOVERNMENT
OF ETHIOPIA
CHANGES AND CONTINUITY OF POLITICAL POLICY OF EMPERIAL REGIME OF
HAILE SILASSIES TO MILITARY GOVERNMENT

SUBMIT TO INS.MARKOS..

Name ID
Aman faiz 1203575

Sub. Date 25/5/2015 E.C

Abstract

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 Table contents page

Abstract i
Introduction 1

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 Introduction

The Derg was established in June 1974 as the Coordinating Committee of the Armed
Forces, Police and Territorial Army, by officers of the Ethiopian Army and Police led
initially by chairman Mengistu Haile Mariam. On 12 September 1974, the
Derg overthrew the government of the Ethiopian Empire and Emperor Haile
Selassie during nationwide mass protests, and three days later formally renamed itself
the Provisional Military Administrative Council. In March 1975 the Derg abolished the
monarchy and established Ethiopia as a Marxist-Leninist state with itself as
the vanguard party in a provisional government.
The abolition of feudalism, increased literacy, nationalization, and sweeping land
reform including the resettlement and villagization from the Ethiopian Highlands became
priorities. Mengistu became chairman in 1977, launching the Red Terror (Qey Shibir)
political repression campaign to eliminate political opponents, with tens of thousands
imprisoned and executed without trial.

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 There were a number of
factors that converged to bring the final over throw of Hail Selassie‟s government.
Among these factors were:-
 Lack of democracy and human rights protections;
 Deteriorating economic conditions (lack of infrastructure, little modernization
in education, health and other services);
 The increasing poverty in the country etc.
Upon deposing Emperor Haile Selassie on 12 September 1974 and seizing its power,
the Derg adopted title such as "committee", consisting provisional administrative council
of soldiers which has socialist and military ideology. Initially, the Derg was popular after
they came to power with slogan "Ethiopia First", "Land to the peasants", and
"Democracy and Equality to all". All means of good nationalized, including land,
housing, farms, and industry. In January and February 1975, the regime nationalized all
banks and insurance firms and seized control of practically every important company.

In September 1987, Mengistu Haile Mariam proclaimed Ethiopia as the

Ethiopian People's Democratic Republic and the Derg became the Ethiopian Workers
Party (EWP). Following an attempted coup in 1989 against Mengistu, socialism was
abandoned in 1990 following the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. Mengistu's
government lost access to cheap fuel and its arms supply. This led to free marketing
policies allowing opposition groups to join unity party. By March 1990, socialism entirely
waned and the ruling party Workers Party Ethiopia (WPE) was renamed the Ethiopian
Democratic Unity Party (EDUP), with membership open to non-Marxists
The Radical Measures of the 1974 Revolution
The following were the initial revolutionary achievements made after demise of the
previous [Solomonic] imperial regime.
I. The land Reform Proclamation No.31.of March 1975
The proclamation nationalized all rural land and brought to end feudal relations in
rural Ethiopia. Although the reform had different impacts on the peasants and
pastoralists, it emancipated the tenants from the yoke of landlordism. The
measure eliminated the old private ownership which allowed for the sale, exchange
and inheritance of land and proclaimed a system of usufractury /use-right only.
The proclamation also provides for the formation of peasant associations. The
powers and functions of these associations were further consolidated through the
proclamation of December 1975. Aggrararian reform was a central achievement of
the revolution because it affected the life of 90% of the Ethiopian people.
II. An ambitious program of rural transformation (development)
The program was also called as national development through cooperation
campaign, with the philosophy of “Ethiopia Tikdem” and later „Ethiopian

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Socialism.‟ Ethiopian Socialism was supposed to include a host of principles:-
equality, the primacy of the collective will, the right to self-determination within

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the framework of a united Ethiopia, and non- alignment. Its initial aim was to
explain the objectives of the “Ethiopia First” movement to the people in rural
areas. Later the specific tasks of promoting functional literacy, agricultural
education, improved health and sanitation conditions, and community self help
organization were added.
Another objective of the Zemecha (Edget Behibret) was to implement the land
reform proclamation. To this effect, 60,000 students, teachers and men in uniform
sent to the countryside. The proclamation abolished all forms of private land
ownership and prohibited the sale, lease or mortgage of rural land. Peasants were
to enjoy only usufrutory right over land ownership. Land litigation, an all too
common feature of pre-revolution Ethiopia, was terminated. The proclamation
provided for the setting up of peasant associations, which would assume primary
responsibility for the implementation of the proclamation and the administration
of the periodic redistribution of land, to handle land litigation, to administer public
property, and to promote cooperatives and development projects The major
historical significance of the land proclamation was that it put an end to
landlordism. Its greatest beneficiaries were the tenants and the land less.
III. Nationalization of financial institutions, Urban Land and Extra
Houses, industries, services
More than 200 institutions were nationalized and made public property. Urban
dwellers associations were formed to administer housing and neighborhood affairs.
This step eliminated speculation in urban land and real estate business and
brought under control the problems of high rent and housing.
IV. Declaration of Economic policy
In Feb.1975, the Derg issued the first statement on economic policy entitled
„Declaration on Economic policy of Socialist Ethiopia‟. The statement envisaged a
three-tired economy with state ownership of basic industries, resources and
utilities; a state-private joint sector in exploration and mining of mineral wealth,
paper, plastics, large construction and tourism, that is Ethiopia cannot hope to
develop without foreign capital; a private sector of considerable extent which
includes wholesale and retail trade and export and import ,surface transport other
than railway, food processing, hotels, small manufacture and lesser enterprise.
V. Issuance of labor proclamation
Labor legislation proclamation No.64/1975 was also declared with the objective of
ensuring the rights of workers to organize. During the reign of the feudo-bourgeois
government, one of the most exploited and an oppressed segment of the society
was the working class. The labor proclamation restores to the working class all its
organizational rights. It affirmed the dignity of labor; it provided job security and
assures all the necessary facilities to maintain the well-being of the working class.

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It confirms the rights of workers to organize and be organized.
The Establishment of the People‟s Democratic Revolutionary
Ethiopia/ PDRE.
The Derg established a party known as Worker‟s Party of Ethiopia as a vanguard
party formed in 1984(a transition from a no-party system to the one party system
in Ethiopia).People‟s Democratic Republic Ethiopia (PDRE) was proclaimed and the
constitution promulgated by referendum in 1987.
Political system
Politically, the PDRE was a state of the working people founded on the alliance of
workers and peasants (guided by Marxism-Leninism) and the participation of
intelligentsia, the revolutionary army, artisans and other democratic sections of
the society. The people exercise their power through the national Shengo (a
unicameral parliament) and through referendum. Moreover, the organization and
function of the state organ is based on the principle of democratic centralism under the
direction and guidance of the worker‟s party of Ethiopia. The guiding
principle was “from each according to his ability to each according to his work.”
Economic Policy
Feudalism was a central tenet in the economic aspect of Ethiopia since the imperial
regime, where peasants were always positioned in the lowest social order.
Ethiopian peasants produced and depended on various economic activities such
as taxation, marketing infrastructure, and agrarian production. Their dependent
households and communities were visible to the wider social system in reciprocity
among kinship and associational groupings, and by collection and redistribution of
taxes, tribute, and political and religious leaders and marketing goods and services
in barter and cash economies.
During derg regime the economy was a socialist one (command economy). I.e. in a
socialist economy, the state is a guiding force of the economic and social activities
through central planning. The form of ownership of the means of production was
socialist, as realized by state (public ownership) and cooperative ownership. Natural
resources such as land, minerals, water and forests were exclusively state property.
Foreign policy
The military regime that took control of state power in 1974 adopted a foreign policy
largely oriented to socialist ideology. The primary objectives of the foreign policy were
survival of the regime and maintaining the territorial integrity of the country. Apart from
these, restructuring the society along socialist lines was also considered as the
foundation for the foreign policy motives at home. Since socialism was the guiding
philosophy of the country, friendship and alliance with socialist countries of the world
was considered as a viable strategy for realizing socialism at home and perhaps in the
world
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State Structure
During Emperial regimes Local Government Structuring There was a local government
structure instituted by decree no 1/1941. The fourteen provinces (Teklay Ghizat) were
sub- divided in to sub-provinces (Awraja Ghizat), which in turn were subdivide into
districts (Woreda Ghizat) which in turn were partitioned in to sub districts ( Mikitil
Woreda). The central government agent that controls & coordinates the activities of the
provincial administration was the ministry of Interior.While The PDRE was a unitary
state made up of 24 administrative and 5 autonomous regions (Eritrea, Tigray, Asseb,
Dire Dawa, and Ogaden)

Constitutional Experiance
The 1931 First Written Constitution It is often said that the key sources of legitimacy in
Ethiopia’s past were force (conquest, military expansion), religion (i.e. Orthodox
Christianity), and tradition (i.e. ‘right’ genealogy). This is also in line with the official titles
of the supposedly “Solomonic” Ethiopian Emperors which, roughly, are as follows;
“Conquering Lion [marking might, or force] of the Tribe of Judah [marking genealogy
and tradition], Elect of God [marking the vital importance of religious anointing to qualify
for the throne], … [the name], King of Kings, Emperor of Ethiopia.” Hence, these
indicate the importance of genealogy and tradition in Ethiopian past constitutional
experience. With promulgation of first written form of constitution on July16, 1931 by
Emperor Haile Selassie, the era of unwritten form of constitution came to an end. The
constitution reinforced the traditional position of the emperor as ‘Siyume Egziabiher,
Niguse Negast Za Ethiopia’ which literally means: Elect of God, King of Kings of
Ethiopia’ but on the other marked the end of the role of the nobility or at least the
gradual reduction of their role in local leadership, the traditional check against the power
of the king of kings, to insignificance.

 1931 constitution was revised and replaced by the revised constitution of 1955. There
were constellations of social and political events that urged the revision of the 1931
constitution. The revision of the 1931 constitution was urged by both internal and
external factors. The Revised Constitution continued to reinforce the process of
centralization. The sketchy provisions regarding the powers and prerogatives of the
Emperor were extensively elaborated in the new Constitution. The Constitution spent
one chapter settling the issue of succession on the rule of male primogeniture. Detailed
provisions vested in the Emperor wide powers over the military, foreign affairs, local
administration and so forth. Interestingly enough it also contained an elaborate regime
of civil and political rights for the subjects. In theory, the Constitution was the supreme
law of the land governing even the Emperor.

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conclussion

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Reference