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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Caught in the Headlights of History: Eritrea, the EPLF and the Post-War Nation-State
Author:Reid, RichardISNI
Year:2005
Periodical:Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:43
Issue:3
Period:September
Pages:467-488
Language:English
Geographic term:Eritrea
Subjects:political conditions
social conditions
State-society relationship
Eritrean People's Liberation Front
1990-1999
nationalism
Politics and Government
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3876064
Abstract:A little over a decade after the achievement of independence, Eritrea is confronted by a range of social and political problems, which are rooted both in the nation's past and in the ruling movement's interpretation of that past. This paper is concerned with the widening gulf between the nation-State, as envisaged by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) during the liberation struggle and as currently 'imagined' by the government, and the sociopolitical reality. Eritrean society is now marked by widening divisions between the 'struggle generation' and the membership of the former EPLF on the one hand, and large sections of the remainder of the population, notably youth. The 1998-2000 war with Ethiopia, the root causes of which are as yet unresolved, has proved more destructive than was apparent even at the time, and has been used by the State as a vindication of the EPLF's particular interpretation of the past. Political and social repression, rooted in a militaristic tradition and a profound fear of disunity, has intensified since the war. In this paper the current situation is examined in terms of the deep frustration felt by younger Eritreans, the urban-rural divide, the State-level determination to cling to the values and the aims of the liberation struggle, and the position of Eritrea in international politics. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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