Regional tradition dictates expelling foreign patrons once they outlive their usefulness

Evidence

But if, with this Russian-controlled aid, Mengistu finally succeeded in quelling the Eritreans and restoring and consolidating his authority in the other dissident provinces as well as in the urban centres of Ethiopia, it would also be in the Ethiopian tradition for him to try to dispense with his foreign patrons once they had served his purpose. Whether and when this would happen were speculations which only the future could resolve. Certainly it is in the tradition of the region to repulse foreign intervention as insistentiy and urgently as it is requested. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 577

Categorization

• DEFINE: Lewis articulates a recurring analytic lens of his: the region’s cyclical embrace-and-repulse pattern toward outside powers.
• XREF: connects to: Political patrons can be used by radicals and then discarded.

Broader Connections

• Political patrons can be used by radicals and then discarded. #exemplifies (0.75)