ABSTRACT
In June 1992, when this article first took shape in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian society stood at a fateful crossroads. Ethiopia's cultural dilemma of the 1990s could be likened to that of France in the 1820s, when Auguste Comte diagnosed French society as suffering from acute moral anarchy. A condition of cultural identity crisis produces anxiety, which can impede the search for constructive solutions. It engenders a certain amount of magical thinking, including a search for salvationary figures. As Greater Ethiopia indicates, much symbolism that provided identity for Ethiopia up to the time of Menilek II was embodied in the its "national epic," the Kibre Negest. The lack of a widely shared collective identity continues to foster demoralization throughout Ethiopia. None of the collective symbolism that seemed hegemonic over the past century —the Orthodox Christian monarchy, the model of Japan, the oppressive class structure, the prison house of nationalities —is viable.
