Madagascar: Conflicts of Authority in the Great Island

by Philip M. Allen

Overview

The world's fourth largest island, with a unique biological and physical endowment, Madagascar is home to an extraordinary insular civilization that has struggled for more than a century against external domination. In this sensitive introduction to the Indian Ocean's "great island," Philip Allen shows how family affinities and community loyalties at the foundation of Madagascar's culture have influenced Malagasy nationalism and forged islandwide traditions. These same principles have nonetheless engendered social cleavages and resistance to economic and political change. In chapters on modern Madagascar, Allen analyzes the inability of a series of regimes to maintain authority among a people deeply bound to rituals of communication with their spiritual environment. He demonstrates how the first Malagasy Republic became stigmatized by its lingering identification with French colonialism and how the nationalist revolution in 1972 soon hardened into autocratic radicalism. Allen explores the complex challenges facing Madagascar's resurgent democratic forces–including a need to conserve the island's irreplaceable biodiversity and to facilitate authentic participation in public affairs without offending ancestral customs and local precedents. Finally, he discusses efforts to end Madagascar's economic and political dependence and to improve living conditions for its tragically impoverished population.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780429717994
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/02/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Allen, Philip M.

Table of Contents

1 The Virtue of Insularity 2 Politics: From Paternalism to Revolution 3 Ratsiraka's Republic: Revolution as Myth 4 Society in Modern Madagascar 5 Madagascar's Economy: Flight from Reality 6 Impacts and Transformations in Malagasy Society, Conclusion: Continuity as Revolution

Editorial Reviews

Shows how family affinities and community loyalties have influenced Malagasy nationality and forged island-wide traditions that have kept Madagascar free of foreign domination for a century, but how those same forces have also created social cleavage and hindered economic and political change. An introduction to the African country. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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