This study of popular protest and resistance in Ethiopia focuses on three important peasant-based rebellions that occurred between 1941 and 1970. The author attempts to uncover certain key features of popular protest in pre-revolutionary Ethiopia. Drawing upon ample evidence, he concludes that these revolts were not a consequence of capitalist exploitation, as was usually the case in most Third World countries, but were connected with the rise of a modern, bureaucratic, multi-ethnic national state. Ethiopian peasants were neither conservative nor compliant, as is often assumed, although their defiance was nevertheless essentially non-revolutionary. These interesting and fresh findings also suggest a possible explanation for the eruption and intensification of armed conflict in rural Ethiopia after 1974. On a theoretical level, the study makes a significant contribution to the ongoing analysis of social movements in agrarian societies.

"...a major contribution to the understanding of the role of peasants in African revolts and revolution... It is must reading for students of peasant revolution as well as African political history." -Edmond J. Keller, University of California, Los Angeles

"Gebre Tareke's book, Ethiopia: Power and Protest, ... is a penetrating analysis, written with a rare combination of passion and balanced assessment... Gebru's interpretation is subtle and persuasive and his arguments break new ground." -Carolein Orwin, The Times Higher Education Supplement

"Professor Gebru has done much to clarify the role of place of the peasantry in Ethiopia. He has linked his subject to the public record of events and situations, something no other social historian of Ethiopia has accomplished." -Harold G. Marcus, Michigan State University

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GEBRU TAREKE was born in Ethiopia and taught at Addis Ababa University between 1994 and 1972. He received his Ph.D. from Syracure University in 1977. He is presently a Professor of History at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York.

CATEGORY
History, Politics/AFRICA