Historicizing Contemporary Growth

This article aims to historicize the current conjuncture in Ethiopia, which is characterized by rapid economic growth. It aims to do so by using a historical and political economy perspective to analyze the social-structural transformation that the Ethiopian revolution entailed, the nature and dynamics of the social structures that emerged as a result of the Ethiopian revolution, and the manner in which those structural transformations relate to the current phase of capitalist growth in the country. It is argued that the Ethiopian revolution, by eliminating the rentier landlord class; by elevating in its place a modern petit bourgeois category to the commanding positions of the state apparatuses and of the economy; by creating an internal market out of the freed peasantry; by enhancing and deepening the relative autonomy of the state, along with its ability to intervene in the economy and act as an agent and promoter of accumulation; and by thoroughly subjugating labor, created a social structure conducive to capitalist development and laid the foundations for the current spurt of rapid capitalist growth.