Non-state actors in Madagascar: From support for local development to support for governance
This series of briefs is designed to facilitate an exchange of information on the role played by non-state actors (NSAs) in implementing the Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the ACP and the EC. Their aim is to cite examples of innovative practices and to demonstrate the challenges facing NSAs as development partners in different countries.
Since independence in 1960, Madagascar has had three Republics, the last two of which were established after institutional crises leading to relatively long transitional periods in some cases requiring intervention by the armed forces. The Third Republic, inaugurated in 1992, is a parliamentary regime. Constitutional reforms in 1995 and 1998 successfully introduced a semi-presidential system. Proper polling methods, a policy of decentralisation of authority to municipalities and provinces which moved decision- making powers closer to citizens, and a genuine desire to consolidate the rule of law, helped to usher in a degree of political stability that lasted for a number of years.
