Haile Selassie’s Imperial Centralism

Abstract After liberation, Haile Selassie managed to build a centralizing system around his absolute emperorship. It was applied all over the country and lasted effectively to 1974. It was only in Tigray that he compromised with local, old, traditional leadership. The province remained administered by the descendants of Yohannes, neglected and deserted. In contrast, Eritrean society underwent a quick process of politicization under the British administration. In September 1952 Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia, but combining the absolutism of Haile Selassie with an active society failed. On 15 November 1962, the Eritrean assembly was dissolved, and Eritrea was fully annexed to Ethiopia. The ensuing emergence in Eritrea of liberation fronts inspired by revolutionary movements in the Middle East and Africa, began the countdown to the 1974 fall of the imperial regime.