Today Ethiopia is ranked 173rd of 187 countries on the Human Development Index.1 The country has struggled with civil wars within the country, and conflicts in neighboring states. Not only have the people suffered due to civil war, but the agriculturally based economy has been caught in the middle of the wars and droughts which lead to famine. The political coalitions are the legacy of Ethiopia having been a pawn in the cold war. There are many factors that have caused the current state of Ethiopia. The military conflicts with Eritrea combined with disputes within Ethiopian borders have weakened the country, led to starvation and inhibited progress. Furthermore, Ethiopia's government under the cold war - the Derg - was inept and through its economic and land reform policies hindered development and devastated the country. Lastly, Ethiopia’s infrastructure for its agricultural economy is very poor. It lacks proper means of transportation and communication which are essential to economic and social development. The current state of post-independence Ethiopia is a result of mostly internal forces. The absence of proper infrastructure in the country to support its economy, detrimental policies by the government, and a number of armed conflicts have led to an underdeveloped and poverty stricken Ethiopia.
Modern Ethiopia began under the reign of Menelik II, who defended the empire against an invasion by the Egyptians and established Addis Ababa as the capital.2 In 1889 Italy invaded Ethiopia in order to establish it as a colony. However the Ethiopian army managed to drive out the Italian invasion force, therefore making Ethiopia one of the few countries to successfully defend against a European power.3 The Italians invaded once again in...
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Michigan State University. “Ethiopia: History of the Derg.” Global Edge. Accessed November 25, 2013. http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/ethiopia/history.
“The Search for Peace: The Conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.” In Scholary Conference on Ethiopia-Eritrea Conflict, 1-96. Oslo, Norway: Fafo. PDF.
Tucker, Josephine, and Leulsegand Yirgu. Small Scale Irrigation in Ethiopia.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: RiPPLE, n.d.
United Nations Children and Armed Conflict Unit. Ethiopia: Refugees, Drought, and Famine. Accessed December 17, 2013. http://www.essex.ac.uk/armedcon/story_id/Ethiopia-%20Refugees,%20Drought%20and%20Famine.pdf.
United Nations Developmental Indicators. Ethiopia. Human Development Report
2013. N.p.: n.p., 2013. Accessed December 16, 2013. http://hdr.undp.org/en/
countries/profiles/ETH.html.
Since Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia were very large superpowers at that time Menelik II from Ethiopia wrote a letter to these countries. He was terrified that these countries were not going to protect Ethiopia any longer because they were very engrossed in dividing up Africa. In addition Ethiopia’s boundary on the sea fell into the hands of Muslims. Menelik hoped that through “Jesus Christ Ethiopia will regain its ri...
There have been many famines that have greatly impacted Ethiopia. One of the famine that is very famous in Ethiopian history and World history is known as the Great Famine. Due to the lack of the support of the government and other organizations, about one million people died of starvation. The conditions of Ethiopia in the beginning of 1984 were not well. “The Ethiopian government predicted that the agricultural yield of the nation was going to be considerably lower in at the beginning of 1984 because there had been less rainfall than expected. However, preventive measures were not taken by either the government or the rest of the world to prevent the mass starva...
Thesis & Preview of Main Points: I will discuss the culture of Ethiopia and its geography
In response to the recent failure of the international community to prevent the famine crisis in the Horn of Africa since July 2011, Suzanne Dvorak the chief executive of Save the Children wrote that, “We need to provide help now. But we cannot forget that these children are wasting away in a disaster that we could - and should - have prevented” she added, “The UN estimates that every $1 spent in prevention saves $7 in emergency spending.” (Dvorak, 2011).
World Food Programme. (2013). Comprehensive food security and vulnerability analysis (CFSVA): Uganda. Retrieved from http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/ena/wfp256989.pdf
After the Italian second defeat, Haile Selassie led Ethiopia by the vision of modernization and advancement of his people live. Emperor Haile Selassie established modern schools, universities, and military, naval, air force and police academies. He even donated one of his palaces to the first university in th...
De Waal, Alex, and Rakiya Omaar. "The Genocide in Rwanda and the International Response." Current History Apr. 1995: 156-61. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
The Web. The Web. 25 Sept. 2013. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/194084/Ethiopia>. The "Ethiopia" - "The World" Encyclopedia of the Nations.
In many parts of the world that are considered lower or middle-class countries, health disparities are cause of major concern that leads to unnecessary disease and possible death. Many variables affect how and why many citizens of lower and middle-class countries struggle to obtain adequate healthcare. One region of the world classified as a lower socio economic territory is Ethiopia. Many factors contribute to the lack of health care in Ethiopia such as access to care, high cost of care, and being uneducated, to name a few. One idea that hinders many citizens in Ethiopia to attain healthcare is the access to the healthcare system. This research project will entail the issue of access to the health care system; ways it is affecting the lives of those living in Ethiopia, and measures that can be taken to possibly increase the availability and attainment of healthcare.
Laura Smith – Spark on www.cnn.com writes, “Half of the 258,000 Somalis who died in the famine were children younger than 5.” (Smith-Spark et al. May 02, 2013) Somalia was once considered to be one of the most prosperous countries in Africa, but now is considered as one of the worse. How did this horrible transition occur to such a prosperous country? This horrendous result is due to the famine, lack of resources, and lack of trade. Oxfam International states, “Famines result from a combination “triple failure” ("Famine in Somalia: causes and solutions"). This triple failure includes production, access, and response failures. Somalia has been the victim of a two-year drought. Oxfam International states, “particularly in the expectation of the next harvest being 50% of normal.” ("Famine in Somalia: causes and solutions") Because Somalia cannot feed its people, this issue creates malnutrition and affects all ages, especially the young. This is a massive problem in their economic system. The young die too early, therefore creating a gap in the age distribution, which can affect Somalia’s work force in the future. This could also make the economic system weaker. If the only people living in Somalia are old, then there will not be any work done. One reason that they die so young is because of the lack of food. The availability of the food is minimal. Oxfam International states, “The drought has killed off the pastoralists’ prime livestock assets (up to 90% animal mortality in some areas), slashing further their purchasing power.” ("Famine in Somalia: causes and solutions") Somalia ‘s access to its food is limited because the people of Somalia cannot feed their animals. The people of Somalia also cannot trade for food, because dead...
Smith, Charles D. "The Geopolitics of Rwandan Resettlement: Uganda and Tanzania." Issue: A Journal of Opinion (1995): 54-57. <http://www.jstor.org>.
“Father of Africanism” Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia Haile Selassie I became emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. Throughout his reign Haile Selassie worked on various economic and social reforms for the progress of his country, and people. He issued the first written constitution of Ethiopia in 1931. During this period, Selassie undertook vast educational reforms throughout the whole of Ethiopia by building schools, giving incentives to children to go to school, and by sending Ethiopians abroad to study and learn in prestigious universities. Haile Selassie then worked to keep the various ethnic groups of the country together.
Ethiopia was one of the two countries that stayed independent when the Europeans conquered most of Africa; however, that doesn’t mean that Ethiopia didn’t have as many struggles as the other countries did. Ethiopia has a very diverse geography which many people live throughout. Many people living there have found ways to survive in the harsh climates when there were droughts; however, a famine came when another drought came into Ethiopia. Many people blamed the drought, however, the fault was in the government. The leader of the government, Selassie, annexed Ethiopia’s northern neighbor, Eritrea, which started a civil war. Inflation increase, corruption was high, and in 1972,
Overall Central Africa’s dependence on agriculture could improve the wellbeing of the people but a long history of corruption, violence, and prevalent transportation issues have hindered an improvement in the economy resulting in poverty among the region. Poverty will not subside unless these issues are dealt with and improved.