The Marxist concept of national question and the analysis of Ethiopian reality during the Derg regime (1974 to 1991)

Abstract

This article examines the Marxist concept of the national question and the analysis of Ethiopian reality during the Derg government (1974–1991). As the title indicates, this study explained the interplay between the Marxist concepts of national questions in general and analyzed how the nationalities questions in Ethiopia were treated under the Derg government (1974–1991) specifically. Since very recently, several studies have been done on nationalities questions particularly focusing on post-1991 ethnic-based federalism in Ethiopia. However, no attention is given to nationality issues in Ethiopia under the Marxist regime(Derg). To fill this gap, the researchers collected both primary and secondary sources. The collected data were then arranged, presented, and thoroughly examined. Ultimately, a qualitative research approach and a descriptive research design were used to interpret the data. Finally, the finding of this study concludes that the Derg regime failed to answer the nationalities question in Ethiopia based on Marxist-Leninist views. Therefore, although the Derg initially promised to answer the nationality question in Ethiopia, its promises did not go beyond words.

Keywords

• Marxist-Leninist Theory
• the national question
• Ethiopian condition
• Derg regime
• Haile Fida
• Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology College of Arts and Social Science, Kumasi, Ghana