When Westernization was introduced into Ethiopia at the beginning of this century, it was to fulfil the need of a modernizing autocracy aspiring to enter the Technological Age. But through Westernization also came a very intense Anglo-American cultural penetration. The first group of Western-educated intelligentsia integrated themselves into the feudal system, embraced western values and the American way of life. Haile Selassie hoped that the American free enterprise system would absorb those his bureaucracy could not. The missionary zeal that guided America's global policy of "containment" also created a situation whereby the U.S., in order to influence Ethiopian politics and particularly its youth, invested heavily in the ideological sector. Thus, the feudal regime, the U.S., and the first generation of Western educated elites became necessarily interdependent. / There was however, a seed of contradiction in this alliance and the ideological bond that tied them. American education which moulded the new Ethiopian intelligentsia is rooted in the liberal-utilitarian tradition which promotes the values of metropolitan market economies. Autonomy and individual freedom--which forms the core of this liberal-utilitarian ideology--was accepted at face value by the new intelligentsia, but these ideological values could not be implemented in Haile Selassie's Ethiopia which was a dependent, modernizing autocracy tied to a metropolitan nation. Due to the fact that dependency and autocracy are dialectically opposed to autonomy and individual freedom, the liberal education disseminated through the Ethiopian school system and the political ideals connected with it were negated by the prevalent political realities in Ethiopia. There was also a further paradox. Since Haile Selassie's authoritarian system was guided by metropolitan capitalism, the alienated elites came to reject the latter ideology and turned towards a Socialist Political Prism. Ultimately, these new breed of Western educated intelligentsia, who were mostly students and teachers, ignited the sparks of the revolutionary ferment in the country, and all the military had to do in 1974 was deliver a coup de grace to Haile Selassie's feudal regime.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.77158 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Creators | Milkias, Paulos. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Administration and Policy Studies in Education) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 000153275, proquestno: AAINK61047, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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