Society, state and modernization: A comparative history of Ethiopian and Turkish modernization

Modernization is considered as a social change towards a modern way of life. Studying such societal changes by using comparative historical approach is the main objective this thesis by giving a special comparative analysis on the modernization processes of Ethiopia and Turkey. Since 19th century modernization began in the form of military modernization and later expanded to all aspects of life in both Ethiopia and Turkey. The thesis is organized in to five volumes. The first volume dealt about the meaning and historical evolution of modernization theory as well as the basic features of traditional and modern society. The second part deals about the main characteristics features of the traditional institutions in both Ethiopia and Turkey by giving due attention on the traditional social, economy, political and legal and other aspects of the society. The third part deals about the Ethiopian modernization that began by King Tewodros strengthened by the Multi-façade modernization reforms of Emperor Menelik and culminated by Emperor Haile Selassie I. Initially, the influence of the church and the traditional groups towards modernization was too strong but through time it was minimized and lastly became an integral part of the Ethiopian modernizing process. The failure of the Ethiopian modernization elites finally led to the 1974 Ethiopian revolution. Similarly, in the fourth volume, due to the continuous influence of the west accompanied by the gradual decline of the Ottoman Empire some modernist sultans like III. Selim and II. Mahmut tried their best to tackle the decline by introducing modernization reforms which were directly opposed by the Ulema, like Ethiopia. So that the interaction between the old and the modernist reformers in both Ethiopia and Turkey is discussed in this part. The failure of modernization as well as the decline of both the old empires were finally deposed by popular revolutions. In the fourth volume, the Young Turks and the Atatürk Revolutions of Turkey, as well as the 1974 Ethiopian Revolution and their outcomes, are discussed. At last a comparative historical analysis is made followed by a conclusion that generalized the socio-psychological change and modernization of the society was emerged due to the expansion of modern education and the birth of modern intelligentsia in both Turkey and Ethiopia.