ABSTRACT
The author states that many global theories explain about the causes and processes of political violence and revolution should be relevant to the explanation of political riots, revolts, and revolutionary movements in Africa. The rebellion at first was led by Eritrean Muslims, who were almost completely excluded from regional politics after Eritrea's reluctant union in 1952 with the empire. Pamela Ann Arthur has interpreted the process and political outcomes of the Ethiopian Revolution as an example of "Revolution from Above" (1982). It is sensitive to the conditions that distinguish among African societies and regimes: the extent of intergroup inequalities, patterns of ethnic dominance, and the kinds of conflict-minimizing policies that should be followed by states. These systematic policies contrast sharply with the almost random uses of state terror sanctioned by Idi Amin in Uganda and Jean-Badel Bokassa in the Central African Empire during the 1970s.
