GETACHEW ABERA

This thesis investigates the historical survey of Bench people from 1941 to the present. 1941 is a turning point in the history of the Bench because of the restoration of the imperial regime while the year 1991 is a land mark due to the demise of the military regime and the post Marxist era were studied due to the present changes. Based on relevant archival, secondary and oral sources, this thesis focused on reconstructing the history of Bench people from1941 to 1991.It also offered background knowledge pertaining to the pre-1941 period. In short, the main objective of the thesis is to show the local changes that were observed in Bench areas in the context of change in policy and government at national level. The thesis showed how the traditional socio-economic and administrative system of Bench has been affected by the incorporation of Bench into the imperial state of Ethiopia. The restoration of the imperial rule and the subsequent reforms that imperial government had introduced especially in relation to administration and land and the subsequent reactions of the people of the Bench districts to the introduced changes are the main themes of analysis for the period between 1941 and 1974. Thus, this thesis argues that the socio-economic and administrative changes made by Emperor Haile Selassie’s government in the post-1941 period brought little improvement in the life of most of the local people of the Bench except local balabats in each Bench district. Meaning local Bench balabats were very advantageous by the system. The study also tried to examine developments that the Benchdistricts had witnessed during the Derg regime (1974-1991). The military regime’s attempt to place its power on a better position by introducing several measures at a national level had its own negative and positive effects in the socio-economic and political life of the people of Bench areas. Therefore, I argued that the political, economicand social policies and reforms that had been formulated and implemented by the Derg government brought better changes in the life of most of the people of Bench areas than the imperial government. After the downfall of the Derg government, there was the transitional government which proclaimed in 1991-1995 in Ethiopia. This transitional government and the proclamation no.1 /1995 paved the way for the coming into effect of the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Because of this new political reform at national government, in Bench areas new administrative and social changes are observed in the post-Marxist period, like “Self administration”.And also there are better social, economic and political changes in the Bench areas during the FDRE government. The methodology that this Thesis used was the Historical method or the qualitative research method.Generally, the findings of this research work showed the dialogue between “history of events” and a“ history from below”.