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Institutional theory has arguably become a popular and powerful explanatory tool for studying various organisational issues, including those in the context of higher education. However, little is known about the efforts of higher education researchers in tracing the development of organisational institutionalism and applying the theory in their research for a better understanding of the nature of universities and colleges. The purpose of this chapter is thus to fill the gaps by analysing nine leading higher education journals. The results indicate that the application of institutional theory in higher education research is dominated by the concepts of new institutionalism developed in the 1970s and 1980s. In spite of a growing tendency to utilise the recently developed insights of institutional theory in higher education studies, the full potential of institutional theory has not been fully exploited by higher education researchers. We therefore propose some directions for further institutional analysis in higher education studies.

Ethiopia was under the rule of monarchies between 1811 and 1974, a reign long enough to create good value for Ethiopia. The emperors came from eight dynasties, and 86 emperors ruled Ethiopia from these dynasties. Apart from 1936 to 1941, when the Italians occupied Ethiopia, the nation was never under colonial rule. Vices such as concentration of power, inequity, favoritism, expansionist drive, and the marginalization of the population were prevalent during the reign of the emperors. Most of the emperors preferred a positive external reputation over internal respect. They maintained legitimacy despite their negative contributions because of their link to the gods, reinforced by the national religion. In the end, the emperors achieved marginalization and expansion, leading to wars, and draining the nation's natural and human resources. They did not create or leave behind any sustainable and effective legacy, and all they did ended with the termination of monarchical rule in 1974. In other words, in 1974, Ethiopia started from ground zero because what was left by the emperors had no use in the modern nation.

Post-monarchical Ethiopia covers the period between 1974 and present-day Ethiopia. Ethiopia was ruled by the socialist government, the federalists, and the democrats. The socialists terminated the reign of the monarchs and instituted the Marxist ideology with the help of the former USSR and Cuba. They took advantage of the people's dissatisfaction with the aristocracy and the divide and rule tendencies of the monarchs. When the socialists took power, they gradually installed a system like what they had condemned. They became unpopular with the same people whose support brought them into power. Within the juntas, division arose, so killings and counter-killing gave power to some of the juntas. Ethiopia's subsequent forms of governance followed the same path as the socialist government. Hence, Ethiopia ended up with very poor WGI compared to other sub-Saharan African countries. This chapter tried to explain what happened and the lessons from this. Ethiopia was well-positioned to grow, but the monarchy started badly, and subsequent regimes followed their path.