Author Short Biography

Bereket H. Selassie is an Emeritus Distinguished Professor of African Studies and Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was also Attorney General of Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie. As he relates in his memoirs, The Crown and the Pen (2007), he struggled for justice within an archaic system bedeviled with imperial intrigues as he insisted that the Emperor and his government follow the law and let him follow the dictates of his conscience. This occasionally landed him in trouble and finally led to his disaffection in disagreement over issues of liberty and people’s rights, particularly as it concerned the autonomy of Eritrea. He was banished to a distant province, and eventually escaped to his native Eritrea where he joined the armed struggle for independence.

Out of Africa, he settled in the United States of America and began an academic life, writing over a dozen books, including works of fiction. Defiance is his third novel. While doing academic work, he was appointed to head a Commission to write the Constitution of Eritrea, earning him the sobriquet “Father of the Constitution.” With respect to his academic work, a publisher of one of his books, “Words That Govern and Other Essays on Law and Politics,” wrote that he “has taught and mentored generations of Africans and Americans, including thousands of Eritreans and Ethiopians, over a period of five decades. The essays covered in the above-cited book were, for the most part, delivered as key-note lectures given at international meetings in different venues in Africa, America and Europe, where he is still a much-sought after key-note speaker.

The topics of his address cover subjects dealing with issues of national, regional and global significance, ranging from the problems of democracy, human rights, peace and the challenges of globalization. One of the chapters in the above-cited book —Crime and Punishment in America—is concerned with a persistently recurring social (and legal) problem in the United States that has eluded satisfactory resolution for generations. It concerns an issue that is historically grounded in America’s “original sin”—slavery—and its impact on social and economic as well as political life. The Essay raises more questions than it answers, challenging all thoughtful citizens to be continually engaged with the issues in an effort to help provide answers to the problem in the long run. The essay exemplifies the fact that Bereket H. Selassie takes his American (and world) citizenship seriously. As a review of his resume demonstrates, Selassie has lived a varied and rich life, crowned with some remarkable achievements. Evidently, his journey has not been a bed of roses.

His latest book is a portrait of President Donald J. Trump and “President” Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea. These two odious autocratic leaders with kingly inclinations are from two different continents, but they bear the same psychological make-up of despots.

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