The military and social integration in Ethiopia

Ethiopia moved, in less than a decade, from the leading recipient of American military aid south of the Sahara to the leading recipient of Soviet military aid in the area; this assistance resulted from growing ideological affinity, overt problems of national unity, and Soviet calculation of significant geostrategic advantage. Ethiopia remains among the poorest of states in the poorest of continents, with military costs weighing heavily on a government faced by periodic drought and famine as well as regional rebellions. This chapter examines national socio-cultural cleavages, their reflection in the armed forces, the effects of military service on socialization, efforts at intra-military social integration, and the political and military consequences of current policies. For several centuries, the Amhara have counteracted endemic regionalism with a sense of cultural and political unity. In addition to the historical cultural continuity, however, new elements of military socialization have been introduced in the past 50 years.