Political Parties in Madagascar: Neopatrimonial Tools or Democratic Instruments?

Political parties enhance democracy because of their role in recruiting candidates, mobilizing the electorate, articulating, aggregating and representing conflicting interests in society, and forming governments and making policies. Political parties also help maintain political leaders in power, but those that do so to the exclusion of the democracy-enhancement functions become tools for neopatrimonial rule. In Madagascar, political parties have historically served as tools of neopatrimonial rule and not as instruments of democracy. This paper first examines the roots of political parties in Madagascar to clarify why they have taken this form, and then assesses the direction of the newly formed Tiako i Madagasikara (TIM) and its potential for overcoming the country’s neopatrimonial legacy in favor of enhancing its new and fragile democracy.