ABSTRACT
The effects of Haile Selassie's modernisation began to show in every facet of social interaction. The pillars of the Ethiopian polity, the monarchy, the Church and the nobility, gradually lost their influence in the wake of structural change in the society. Mter the Second World War, Ethiopia's ag~ld curtain of isolation was lifted. It opened up its doors to Western civilisation and values and did not hesitate to embrace them indiscriminately. The spread of modern education, a more liberal contact with the external world and the wind of change that was irreversibly affecting the political map of Mrica had their corresponding inputs in influencing the Ethiopian scene. The emperor was actively involved in the decolonisation process of Africa. He was respected and held in very high esteem by African as well as Western leaders as an elder statesman. He had immensely contributed in defusing the regional groupings of new independent African states, a factor which was leading to the polarisation of relations among states into the Monrovia and Casablanca blocs by proposing the formation of the Organisation of Mrican Unity (OAU).
