- Collection:
- Atlanta University and Clark Atlanta University Theses and Dissertations
- Title:
- The politics of population relocation in Ethiopia: an exploratory study, 1989
- Creator:
- Engedayehu, Walle
- Date of Original:
- 1989-07-01
- Subject:
- Degrees, Academic
Dissertations, Academic - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
- Medium:
- theses
dissertations - Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- In this study, the population relocation program that Ethiopia has adopted in the aftermath of the 1984 devastating famine is examined. Using that crisis as a point of departure, the author analyzes both the villagization and resettlement schemes in relation to political, ideological, ethnic and development rationalities. Contrasting views by proponents and opponents of the program provided the bases for analyses. The study is premised on the contention that the population relocation program is in response to the environmental deterioration of some parts of Ethiopia and in conformity with Ethiopia's revolutionary attempt at mobilizing the rural masses in order to build a predominantly agrarian economy based on collectivism and cooperativization. The author traces the history of droughts and famine in Ethiopia and also examines the civil wars that have contributed to the crisis. Both man-made and natural factors are seen as having exacerbated the economic and social problems in northern Ethiopia, which, in turn, have necessitated the moving of people from the region to other areas suitable for self-sustaining agricultural production. A linkage between the ideology of the state and its policy of villagization and resettlement is found. It is argued that those who are opponents of Ethiopia's policy have ignored the program's aim with regard to the development needs of the nation by focusing only on its ethnic and social implications. The study suggests that since Ethiopia has adopted a republican political system and a new constitution with a Marxist-Leninist blueprint, the population relocation program can be carried out more vigorously. Yet it warns that the program's usefulness as a development policy remains precarious as much of it will depend on how the government can cope with the multitude of other economic and political problems it is facing.
Date of award: 7/1/1989
Degree type: dissertation
Degree name: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Granting institution: Atlanta University
Department: Department of Political Science
Advisor: Boston, Thomas D. - Metadata URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1989_engedayehu_walle
- Holding Institution:
- Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
- Rights:
-
