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This thesis investigates the life of Wollie Chekol (1941-2005), a prominent Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Minister of Finance, Foreign Trade, International Trade Negotiator and statesman during the Derg Regime. As this study attempted to examine a political biography of an individual, discussion on fundamental issues related to biography became a significant academic endeavor. Therefore, the thesis tried to address essential disciplinary and historiographical issues in an attempt to integrate this study with the relevant body of knowledge and to give a full picture of Wollie Chekol in broader context. Born from an Agaw respected family in Agaw Midir in the mid of the twentieth century; he was acquainted with modern education in his home town of Injibara in the 1950s. Instrumental to this was his grandmother woizero Amarech Engida. Wollie completed his elementary education in Injibara, secondary education at Debre Markos Nigus Tekle Haimanot Secondary School and BA degree at Haile Selassie I University in Addis Ababa. Wollie has begun his government service at the Central Planning Commission in August 1970, at the Industry Section. After a short period of service, he went to the USA for his Masters’ education and obtained MA degree in economics from Williams College in Massachusetts, USA. After he returned to Ethiopia, Wollie spent a great part of his public service in preparing the Second Five Year Economic Plan. After the down fall of the imperial regime, Wollie assisted the newly coming military government from anti revolutionary forces and he was recognized by Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1975. Since 1974, he was engaged in diverse economic, diplomatic and cultural activities of immense national importance. As his educational training, the public responsibilities he took on and his personal successes and .failures had defined Wollie's individuality, his social background as a statesman also constituted his identity. The source materials for this research are collected from different government archives, private document collections and knowledgeable informants. The whole process of synthesis and analysis of the sources has empirically as well as logically proven the thesis of the study. In this thesis , I argue that Wollie Chekol, as all individual of noble origin from a periphery, adjusted himself to the new historical developments at the center and, more importantly, reinforced the political system enthusiastically with the new skills acquired in the process essentially as state bureaucratic functionary. 1n doing so, he followed the path that his fore fathers had pursued earlier on. The value of this thesis in historical study lies in its investigation to uncover novel empirical data and their logical interpretation, in its deliberation on the place individuals in history, and finally in its attempt to illuminate important themes in Ethiopian history through a biographical approach. These help to supplement the existing body of knowledge. |
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