The following is excerped from the Country Studies--Area Handbook program of the U.S. Department of the Army. The original version of this text is available at the Library of Congress.
Full index of Country Studies-Madagascar
Madagascar
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Government: Constitution approved August 19,
1992 by
national referendum. Constitution establishes separation
of
powers among executive, legislative, and judicial
branches;
multiparty political system; and protection of human
rights and
freedom of speech. President elected by universal suffrage
for
five-year period with two-term limit. Prime minister
nominated by
bicameral parliament composed of Senate and National
Assembly,
and approved by president. Supreme Court has eleven
members and
forms apex of other judicial bodies. Local government
consists of
twenty-eight regions with decentralized powers in economic
field.
Politics: In first legislative elections of
Third
Republic in 1993 more than 120 political parties entered
4,000
candidates for 138 seats. Proportional representation list
system
encourages candidacies. Traditional village council
(fokonolona) system supplements modern political
system.
Foreign Relations: Good relations with many
countries,
particularly France and the West; in post-Cold War era
seeking
diversified ties with East and West, including Arab
countries and
Far East.
Data as of August 1994
This is excerped from the Country Studies--Area Handbook program of the U.S. Department of the Army. The original version of this text is available at the Library of Congress.
Full index of Country Studies-Madagascar
Almost all pictures on this site were taken with a Konica Minolta
Recent articles
Madagascar fires mapped with Google Earth in real-time Every year as much as one-third of Madagascar, one of the planet's most biodiverse islands, goes up in flames. Now a new tool gives scientists the ability to monitor and track Madagascar's fires in real-time through the Internet.
UNESCO lists rainforest parks of Madagascar as Heritage sites (7/2/2007) UNESCO has listed six rainforest parks in Madagascar as World Heritage sites. The announcement comes as the Indian Ocean island nation has moved aggressively to protect its biologically-rich forests from further degradation.
Conservation is saving lemurs and helping people in Madagascar (5/7/2007) Madagascar, an island nation that lies off the coast of southeastern Africa, has long been famous for its unique and diverse species of wildlife, especially lemurs--primates found nowhere else on the planet. In recent years, the island country has also become world-renowned for conservation efforts that are succeeding in spite of extraordinary pressures from a poor population that relies heavily on forest burning for basic subsistence. A large part of this success is due to the early efforts of Patricia Wright, a primatologist who has been working in the country for more than 20 years. Wright led the effort to launch the country's leading protected area and helped Madagascar become a leading global example of conservation despite its economic adversity.
