The place of intellectuals (in the broad sense of the educated elite) in society has varied in place and time. The higher the level of industrial development, the less influence they seem to exercise. Thus, while intellectuals may be sought as advisors and members of think tanks in the so-called First World, they are rarely seen exercising direct state power. The situation is different in the so called Third World, notably Africa. The educated elite has historically seemed destined - by social ascription or self-arrogation - to play a central role in the exercise of state power. In Africa alone, the first generation of post-independence rulers - Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania - provides us with ample evidence to appreciate this reality. In Ethiopia, too, intellectuals have played a role and exercised an influence disproportionate to their size. This can be divided broadly into two phases, with the Italian Occupation (1936-1941)...