A coup in Madagascar has the palace and central bank seized and president Ravalomanana hiding out in a palace on the outskirts of town.
Madagascar has been given a Freedom House rating of "partly free" with both political rights score and civil liberty scores of 3.
While the coup leader states the intent of establishing a democracy it is still early to say what will actually happen.
Madagascar has an extremly poor population even with the opening up of the economy to foreign investment, new wealth gained from the opening up of the economy has yet to reach the masses.
Is a coup really the means to establish a democracy? What do you make of the seizure of the central bank, an institution that is supposed to be independent?
ReplyDeleteMadagascar exports primary commodities, subject to price fluctuations. Will the wealth generated from liberalising the economy ever reach the masses? Or will it simply be siphoned off to the industrialised nations?