New constitution for the country, extending voting rights further. However, he still maintained close control over the main facets of government, with all the key figures of authority, including the prime minister, acting almost as his royal court. These policies struck a peculiar balance - on the one side stretching out the hand of modernity and progress, while with the other maintaining a vice grip over all the executive power.
By the turn of the Sixties, Selassie was becoming an elderly man, but some of his most turbulent years still lay ahead of him. While the Emperor was on a state visit abroad, a group of disgruntled students, along with members of Selassie's own bodyguard, attempted to form a coup and take over the government. Though the plotters failed due to hopeless planning, it rocked the royal boat and gave the country a taste of mayhem to come. The very intelligentsia he had created through his reforms had turned against him.
Undeterred, Selassie continued to build his legacy, founding the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, a body designed to bring together the continent's nations and end colonisation, as well as making numerous state visits all over the world. He visited America several times, a country he greatly admired and relied on as an ally, but perhaps his defining and for many people most memorable visit was to Jamaica in 1966.
From the moment of his crowning as Emperor, from 1930 onwards, a sect of dedicated followers had formed in Jamaica, known as Rastafari. The religious sub-culture was and still is entirely based around Selassie himself, taking his name before
Defining moment
World History
