Les pauvres, la démocratie et le marché : une analyse à partir de trois séries d'enquêtes auprès de la population malgache

Abstract

Abstracts Empowerment and the participation of the population in the decision-making process are nowadays considered as one of the conditions of the success of development programs. Following this objective, this study presents an analysis of the attitudes of the poor towards the double – political (democratisation) and economic (liberalisation) – transition process in which many developing countries are engaged today. The study draws on a series of three detailed surveys conducted in 1995, 1998 and 2003 in the capital of Madagascar. The most common belief to explain the difficulty to implement democracy and market economy relies on the idea that people, especially the poor, have a tendency to resist to any reforms. According to this theory, their reluctance is due to their lack of instruction. Our findings show a negative relationship between the level of poverty and the support to market economy. But, on the contrary, the poor are strongly in favour of democracy as the rest of the population. This finding invalidates the hypothesis of a systematic resistance of the poor to change and innovation. Besides, the low level of education or information is not sufficient to explain the attitudes of the poor. The state, in spite of its shortcomings, is considered to be more capable of guaranteeing the equality of opportunities than the market. Finally, those marginalised in politics and the victims of the malfunctions of some institutions tend to have less confidence in the state and to be against democracy. Then, in order to consolidate the democratic process, state institutions must be reinforced to be more reliable, efficient and able to guarantee that the democratic principles are effectively applied.