Monarchy |
Clarifications for Sellassie Discussion List, regarding Ethiopian Constitution.The 1955 Constitution was the constitution of Ethiopia till the revolution of 1974.
Very much like in the first constitution (1930) HIM tried to provide the country with the law which could help during the troubled times. Both constitutions are the documents of Absolute Monarchy. The 1974 Constituion was intended to change it to the status of the Constitutional Monarchy (and could be very useful for a discussion of future of monarchy in Ethiopia)
In fact, initially the Military Provisional Government pronounced Asfa Wossen (not Yakob) as a constitutional monarch (after the arrest of HIM). [The English text of 1955 Constitution is in Schwab, Peter. Ethiopia & Haile Selassie 1972, FACTS ON FILE, INC. NY. ]
The Dergue Constitution (the latest of 1987) has no mentioning of monarchy and based on the Soviet Constitution (Brezhnev's 1975).
The present Ethiopian Constituition (1995) has no references to monarchy as well.
Unfortunately, there are no academic books devoted specifically to the subject (Ethiopian constitutional law), which HIM considered so important for the country. If you will read the text of the present constitution (see Ethiopian Embassy website at Sellassie Cyber University Diaspora Directory, "Contacts" Page), you might notice that the Federative Status of Republic is not fully developed and Ethiopia has all the potentials to follow the Soviet Union's break down into several small ethnic states.
Haile Sellassie was a student of history and sawill read the text of the present constitution (see Ethiopian Embassy website at Sellassie Cyber University Diaspora Directory, "Contacts" Page), you might notice that the Federative Status of Republic is not fully developed and Ethiopia has all the potentials to follow the Soviet Union's break down into several small ethnic states.
Haile Sellassie was a student of history and saw monarchy as a mechanism of preservation of Ethiopian unity through the statehood (Ethiopia wwas disintegrated for centuries, known as Era of Princes). Ethiopian neighbor Somalia has no central government -- the idea that army can hold the country together proved to be false.
The study of monarchy has more than an academic interest for Ethiopia. If Ethiopia would insist on American model, French Republican Idea or German Federation it has to be prepare for a long and painful jorney (if the last 25 years weren't enough). The German Federation model was questioned not long ago by what we know today as Nazism. Ethiopian should look beyond Haile Sellassie's name and the see his vision for the country as a statesman and maybe take some lessons from the others; Spain restored (constitutional) monarchy trying to solve its own ethnic conflicts (Basks).
I am receiving some angry mail from Oromo and Eritreans regarding the Amhara politics of the Ethiopian Imperial period (Haile Sellassie was only the last in this century long tradition), and I came to a conclusion that there a total confusion about cultural, societal and governmental matters. The biggest problem is that the dominant principle of (American) democracy been seen as a universal law.
Americans themselves have difficult time understanding and applying US Constitutional law and to think that it possible to implant into another very old culture stucks me as an absurd idea as much the marxist model before.
I'll rework this message and will post it @ Ethiopia101 http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/ethiopia
You're welcome to use it, too -- I volunteered to be an editor of this Canadian MS service to open Ethiopian problematics to a broader audience.
PS. I left the Sellassie list unmoderated and ask for your cooperation -- when you post the text from other websites, please indicate the source (the best is to put a link/URL).
Anatoly