Republicans on the Throne: A Personal Account of Ethiopia's Modernization and Painful Quest for Democracy

Republicans on the Throne is a memoir spanning the author Tekalign Gedamu's early life during the waning days of the old feudal order, his six-decade career in the United Nations, the African Development Bank, and the government of Ethiopia. The book describes the author's university education and early career as an international civil servant. It focuses on Ethiopia's modernization and her painful quest for democracy. For a brief spell, the author was privileged to be an eyewitness and a modest participant to that process. Republicans on the Throne offers a glimpse into the problems of a new educational system. The expansion of education left in its wake a demand for more fundamental reforms which Emperor Haile Selassie's government was increasingly unable to meet. The result was a coup d'etat in 1960 that failed and another in 1974 that succeeded and triggered a 'Marxist' revolution that promised a new era of equality, democracy, and revitalized nationalism. The book examines closely the fundamental forces behind the revolution along with its failed attempts to improve the country's fortunes on both the economic and political fronts.