ABSTRACT
This chapter takes into account a case study of rural development in the Ethiopian borderlands and the points of contact with contemporary patterns of agricultural modernization. It uses a historical approach to the issue of foreign aid and rural development in Ethiopia to locate the argument within the framework of a longue duree trajectory of state building and to address the root causes of contemporary development policies in the lowlands of the country, where joint private–public intervention is more prominent. The chapter discusses the possibilities of applying the paradigm of extraversion to the trajectory of state formation in modern Ethiopia. It provides an overview on the process of political centralization undertaken by Haile Selassie after 1941. The chapter focuses on the Setit Humera region in northwestern Ethiopia and the intended outcomes of the World Bank-financed Humera Agricultural Project. It describes how the imperial regime appropriated foreign technologies and financial flows to realize goals other than those anticipated by foreign patrons.
