SLIDE 1 REWRITING ETHIOPIA’S PLACE IN THE WORLD: THE ETHIOPIAN AVIATION INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
Slides for ‘Global History of State Enterprises’ workshop Dr Joanne T
Post-doctoral Researcher Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS jt49@soas.ac.uk
SLIDE 2 UNDERSTANDING STATEHOOD THROUGH ARCHITECTURE PROJECT
- Research is part of a broader ERC-funded project
focused on ‘state building through the lens of state buildings’
- Includes government buildings, parliaments,
regional headquarters, schools and airports
- My research is about the international airports in
Ethiopia and Ghana.
- Both airports are owned by state-owned
enterprises - and in both countries these airports have long been intertwined with aviation histories in both countries
www.africanstatearchitecture.co.uk/
SLIDE 3
Home of Africa’s most successful airline – Ethiopian Airlines – which is also one of Africa’s most successful state-owned enterprises Formed in 1945 by Ethiopia’s last emperor Haile Selassie I Airline has grown into a vast ‘aviation industrial complex’ Long been a major aerial gateway to Africa, so a state enterprise with a long reach WHY ETHIOPIA?
SLIDE 4
AFRICA’S FIRST INDEPENDENT AIRLINE
SLIDE 5
Bahru Zewde (2001: p. 187) Ethiopian Airlines cut ‘the umbilical cord that had tied colony and ex-colony to the metropolis’.
PAN-AFRICAN AGENDA
SLIDE 6
GLOBAL AMBITIONS
SLIDE 7
GLOBAL REACH: 110 DESTINATIONS IN 5 CONTINENTS IN 2017
SLIDE 8
HISTORY: NAVIGATING SUPER POWER RIVALRIES: ITALY, BRITAIN AND US
Then-regent Haile Selassie inspecting the first aircraft to land in Ethiopia, 1929
Source: Institute of Ethiopian Studies
SLIDE 9
IMPERIAL ORIGINS: PARTNERSHIP WITH TRANS WORLD AIRLINE (TWA) 1945
SLIDE 10
1950s-1970s: STRUGGLES OVER ETHIOPIANISATION
SLIDE 11
DERG YEARS (1974-1991) TURMOIL AND NEGLECT
SLIDE 12
EPRDF (1991-2019): INVESTMENT , EXPANSION AND RAPID TAKE-OFF
SLIDE 13 EMERGENCE OF AN ETHIOPIAN AVIATION INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX Ethiopian Airlines Group
Ethiopian Airlines Ethiopian Airports Ethiopian Skylight Hotel In-flight Catering Ground Services Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Aviation Academy Cargo
SLIDE 14 OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENTATION AT THE ‘GLOBAL HISTORY OF STATE ENTERPRISES WORKSHOP , 26-27 NOVEMBER
- Provide history of key moments in the evolution of
Ethiopian Airlines and argue this history is not just a national history but a global one
- Show how the airline (and associated state
enterprises such as the airport) have been central to state-building efforts in Ethiopia since the 1940s
- Argue that these state enterprises have also been
key to internationalising the Ethiopian state, and thus a pivotal tool in Ethiopia’s international relations
- Suggest that this case study shows how significant
state enterprises can be in development in the global South, and highlight some key ingredients of success
- For further information please contact me at
jt49@soas.ac.uk
