0000000000134672
AUTHOR
Luca Puddu
showing 17 related works from this author
We Had to Feed the People: The Italian Lira and the Political Economy of Currency in British Eritrea, 1941–1950
2021
Following the occupation of Eritrea in 1941, British authorities in London promoted a currency policy aimed at replacing the Italian lira with a sterling-based currency basket. In May 1942, they opted for the enforcement of the East African shilling as the new legal tender. The lire, however, did not disappear overnight. Their circulation was tolerated—and, in some cases, even encouraged—by British authorities in Asmara, which exploited the small deal of autonomy they enjoyed from London to adapt the new monetary system to the needs of local governance. The case study is a useful lens to analyse the multiplicity of interests that shaped the political economy of currency of the United Kingdo…
Ethiopia and international aid: development between high modernism and exceptional measures
2016
The chapter explores the relationship between aid, foreign investments and the failure of democratization in Ethiopia across historical periods.
A pragmatic high modernism? rural development and state building in the Ethiopian lowlands, c. 1960–2019.
2022
Large scale agricultural projects driven by a high modernist ideology have been closely interlinked with the process of state building at the Ethiopian lowland frontier since the second half of the twentieth century. This paper provides a diachronic analysis of the political economy of agricultural development and the associated frontier effect in the western and north-eastern lowlands of the country across three different political regimes. A comparative assessment of these patterns suggests that the high modernist paradigm should be applied with some qualification to the agenda of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the coalition that ruled Ethiopia from 1994 to…
A contested financial frontier: banking and empire building in Eritrea, c.1952–73
2021
AbstractThis article provides an account of the relationship between imperial Ethiopia and Eritrea in the realm of banking governance from the start of the federation to the last years of the imperial regime. It looks in particular at the relationship between the Ethiopian administrations and an Italian bank, Banco di Roma, which had its headquarters in Eritrea from 1948 to 1967 before moving to Addis Ababa. The struggle for control of the economic flows generated by the Italian bank is an index of the changes in centre–periphery linkages between Addis Ababa and the sub-regional centre of Asmara. Archival evidence highlights the multifaced nature of Ethiopian governance and the role perform…
The International Labour Organization
2019
The book chapter describes the relationship between the ILO and the issue of African labour during the twentieth century
Border diplomacy and state-building in north-western Ethiopia,c. 1965–1977
2017
In the first half of the twentieth century, the north-western lowlands of imperial Ethiopia were the typical interstitial frontier of the Ethiopian–Sudanese borderlands. Starting in the early 1960s, a cash crop revolution paved the way to the transformation of the Mazega into a settlement frontier and the emergence of a dispute with Sudan for demarcation of the international border. This article explores the entanglement between the political economy of frontier governance and border diplomacy in the contested area. It highlights how the management of the border dispute was deeply affected by the contradictory interests of the various layers of government and “twilight” entities that projec…
A Contested Internal Frontier: The Politics of Internal and International Borders in North-Western Ethiopia
2020
This article analyses the historicity of the process of state building at Ethiopia’s north-western corner. The contemporary conflict for control of western Tigray is the by-product of a long-standing struggle for control of natural resources and trading flows between sub-regional centres of power that played a prominent role in the political arena of the Horn of Africa since the late nineteenth century. In turn, the outcome of this competition is critical to understand the making of Ethiopia’s foreign policy toward its neighbours since the second half of the twentieth century.
Il Nomos della terra nel bassopiano etiopico
2015
Il capitolo descrive la connessione tra progetti di sviluppo agricolo e costruzione dello Stato nei bassopiani dell'Etiopia moderna
Of Capital and Power Italian Late-Colonial Policies in Eritrea at the Onset of the Federation with Ethiopia
2021
Scholars of African history have often inquired into the relationship between government and business in the making of North-South relations after decolonization. The neo-colonial thesis maintained that the metropolitan governments undertook overt and covert actions to preserve the dominant position of their own multinational corporations in the newly independent African nations. Historians of British Africa have partially revisited this thesis, suggesting a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between political and economic actors. This article seeks to test these arguments in relation to the Italian case, looking at the early process of decolonization in Eritrea. In 1952, the fo…
Eredità coloniali: il movimento indipendentista eritreo e il ruolo dell’Italia durante la federazione Eritrea-Etiopia
2019
The official narrative underpinning Eritrea’s nation-building project describes the path toward independence in terms of the struggle against three uninterrupted colonial projects: the Italian, the British and the Ethiopian one. This article aims to provide more complexity to this picture by taking into account the evolution of the Italian foreign policy towards Eritrea in the first years of the Federation with Ethiopia (1952-1962). It looks in particular at the relationship between Rome and two prominent members of the independence bloc: Woldeab Woldemariam and Ibrahim Sultan. Archival sources from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Banca d’Italia, Banco di Roma, and the National Arc…
The Border Dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea, c. 1998-2016
2018
The chapter explores the political and economic roots of the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea
Ragion di Stato e ragioni del capitale: il lungo crepuscolo della lira nell’Eritrea britannica, 1941-1952
2021
Il capitolo analizza le politiche monetarie adottate dal Regno Unito in Eritrea durante l'occupazione militare del 1941-1952, mostrando i conflitti interni all'amministrazione britannica e l'impiego delle riforme valutarie quali strumento di governo del territorio nello spazio coloniale.
Extraversion and development in north-western Ethiopia: the case of the Humera agricultural project, 1967-1975
2017
The book chapter explores the hidden political objectives and unintended economic consequences of a World Bank-sponsored agricultural development project in imperial Ethiopia, in the contested north-western borderlands with Sudan.
STATE BUILDING, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, AND THE MAKING OF A FRONTIER REGIME IN NORTHEASTERN ETHIOPIA, c. 1944–75
2016
AbstractCombining a set of grey literature and primary sources, this article analyses the rise and fall of the sultanate of Awsa, northeastern Ethiopia, between 1944 and 1975. Ali Mirah exploited the typical repertoires of a frontier regime to consolidate a semi-independent Muslim chiefdom at the fringes of the Christian empire of Ethiopia. Foreign investors in commercial agriculture provided the sultanate and its counterparts within the Ethiopian state with tangible and intangible resources that shaped the quest for statecraft in the Lower Awash Valley.
Terra e sviluppo nell’Etiopia imperiale: la dialettica tra forze della modernizzazione e autorità tradizionali nel Medio Awash
2013
The article explores the conceptual categories adopted by development practitioners to frame the social reality of the Awash Valley, Ethiopia.
Competizione allo sviluppo: armi, aiuti e diplomazia dell'Occidente nell'Etiopia di Hailé Selassié, 1941-1975
2018
Il libro analizza l'arena political della cooperazione allo sviluppo nell'Etiopia imperiale, mettendo in luce le divisioni in seno alla comunità dei donatori "occidentali" e le strategie di manipolazione dell'aiuto da parte dei poteri africani.