When Social Science Concepts Become Neutral Arbiters of Social Conflict

This is a review of scholarly interpretations of the 1974 Ethiopian Revolution and its aftermath, that is, the regime it brought to power. It covers studies written during the life of that regime by Ethiopian and foreign scholars, and focuses on their interpretation rather than description, and specifically on their views on certain key issues. These include the nature of the imperial regime and the causes of its collapse; the protagonists in the political uprising that ended in the regime's collapse; the agents of the social revolution that followed; the nature of the Derg regime; and the scholars' own view of its prospects.