Government Reactions to Rural Famines in Three Consecutive Ethiopian Regimes, 1880s–1991: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Famines and starvations of rural peasantries were persistent for centuries in Ethiopian history. This article focuses on government reactions to such famines that occurred from the last decades of the 19th to the last quarter of the 20th centuries in Ethiopia. About three great famines and starvations took place in the country during those decades. The main objective of this study was to assess the nature of government reactions to rural famines during the three consecutive regimes (the last decades of the 19th to the last quarter of the 20th centuries) in comparison to one another. A number of archival sources, the direct products of the time, and other primary sources were consulted and analysed. Results showed that the reactions of the respective governments during those famines had been far from satisfactory; and were even deteriorating from the said had been better in the late 19th century to the worst in the 1970s and 1980s.