Introduction Ethiopia is one of the countries that experienced great hunger in the mid 1980s. The problem of starvation was quite common in many African countries and Kaplan wrote a book covering the African famine zones and the problems that existed in the zones. The famine in most parts of Africa was related to many factors such as technological-ecological factors, political factors, cultural and ethnic differences, etc. Some of the technological-ecological factors include: climate, types of crops, farming practices, technology, etc. This paper will seek to analyze the problem of famine in Ethiopia as seen in Kaplan’s book: Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea. Political Factors The political policies that existed in Ethiopia in the mid 1980s greatly contributed to the famine in the country. The African government officials were corrupt and services were offered in favor of those who supported the officials in their dubious deals (Kaplan, 2003, pg.34). Countries such as the United States gave foreign aid to support those Ethiopians who were suffering as a result of the famine. The distribution of the foreign aid money and other supplies were greatly affected by the politics where the foreign aid was distributed to those areas where the political leaders were supported and in their areas of origin. The foreign aid could even be distributed in areas where the famine was not intense in relation to other areas as long as the individuals in the areas were in support of the political leaders. The rebels never got any foreign aid from the regimes that they rebelled against. This means that the individuals living in the areas that did not support the political leaders or were not from the same regions as the political leaders continued suffering from the famine as the aid was being misappropriated. The ruling regimes used the food policies that existed to gain political advantage (Kaplan, 2003, pg.46). Food was withheld so that it could be used in some other time when these regimes needed the support of the citizens or to be used later by the areas that could be affected. Withholding of food when some people were suffering was quite unfair. The American government also had some lofty intentions when giving the foreign aid to the country. Differences occurred between United States and the USSR due to their interests in the region. This led to less foreign aid in the country. These differences led to more famine in the country. Technological-Ecological Factors The book by Robert Kaplan was written in the mid 1980s when technological advancements in Africa were not that intense as it was in the developed countries. The individuals’ interaction with the environment was also not intense leading to low production. The climate in some parts of Ethiopia does not favor farming in the regions considering the amount of rainfall and temperatures in the regions (Kaplan, 2003, pg.112). Some regions go for a long period of time without rainfall leading to great famine in such regions. Individuals from such regions had to rely on food relief in the 1980s bearing in mind that the food was not distributed fairly. The parts that had plenty of rainfall used practices th