Another contribution from elsewhere in Africa on the question of ethnicity, and federalism, is by the Madagascar historian D. Tovorina Rakotondrabe. He argues that ethnicity in Madagascar is partly artificial, partly a colonial creation but that it has an importance in people's lives. So does regional identity, which is not the same as ethnicity. His essay is a critique of two dominant political discourses in Madagascar, one of which insists on bolstering the power of ethnically defined regionalism, simply to enhance the role of local elites and party bosses while the other demands total central control. Unity from the top will not build a nation, he argues; regionalism is an essential developmental building-block but it cannot be based on ethnic claims to exclusive legitimacy.
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