The Ethiopian Coup d'Etat of December 1960

In: The journal of modern African studies: a quarterly survey of politics, economics & related topics in contemporary Africa, Band 6, Heft 4, S. 495-507

Abstract

By contrast with many other African states, the Ethiopian Government has in recent decades been almost monotonously stable. The Emperor Haile Selassie reigns and rules through a political system which remains in essentials the direct descendant of the imperial Government as it has existed down the centuries.1 In the last quarter-century, only the attempted coup d'état of December 1960 has seriously challenged his régime. The purpose of this article is to disentangle the various elements present in the coup, in order to illuminate the themes of rebellion and attempted revolution in an indigenous African polity.