The Civilian Left and the Radicalization of the Dergue

Messay Kebede
Additional contact information
Messay Kebede: Messay Kebede is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dayton, Ohio. [email: Messay.Kebede@notes.udayton.edu]

Journal of Developing Societies, 2008, vol. 24, issue 2, 159-182

Abstract: This article attempts to explain the radicalization of the military committee in Ethiopia known as the Dergue. The committee brought down the monarchy and initiated far-reaching socialist transformations of the country. Yet the Dergue had not initially shown any propensity to radicalism. To explain this conversion to Marxist–Leninist ideology, scholars have thus far provided three prevailing views: (i) the Dergue radicalized to steal the revolution from the civilian left; (ii) objective conditions caused its radicalization; and (iii) radical officers initiated the radicalization. The article critically evaluates these views and shows their serious short-comings. It suggests a new explanation involving the quest for legitimacy and the need for political survival.

Keywords: absolute power; counter-revolution; legitimacy; nationalism; radicalization; scorched-earth policy; state capitalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0169796X0802400204 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:24:y:2008:i:2:p:159-182

DOI: 10.1177/0169796X0802400204

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Developing Societies
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().