Compiled by L. A. Kartashova, Moscow: Luch, 2006, 175 p.

Today's older generation remembers how half a century ago, not a single student party, hike, trip to pick potatoes and other similar events, which were attended by a person with a guitar, could not do without a collective performance of the song "Madagascar". Her simple words, wrapped in a veil of romance and mystery, were easy to remember. When one of those present asked a question about the author of the words, the answer of more knowledgeable colleagues was always the same-R. Kipling, and the music is folk. Last name of the real author of the song -

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Yu. Visbora - became known to the general public about two decades later. In any case, his song about Madagascar inspired some to travel to the island when possible, and others to explore the island's history, culture, languages, and other areas of life. Therefore, I consider it quite justified to include in the reviewed collection a special essay by I. Sid " The Song of Yuri Vizbor "Madagascar"".

The collection opens with greetings from the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Madagascar to Russia, Elua A. Makim Duva, and a foreword by the compiler of the collection, L. A. Kartashova. In total, the collection includes 24 articles and essays, bibliography, information about the" Club of Friends of Madagascar", about the most important events of 2005 on the island and about memorable dates in its history, written by domestic and Malagasy authors. Articles and essays are organized in seven thematic chapters: "History and modernity"; "Russia and Madagascar"; " Towards a Christian State?", "Culture, Art, Science"; "Literary Life"; "In the world of nature"; "Travel, tourism".

Thus, the structure of the collection covers the most diverse aspects of Malagasy reality. In his greeting, Mr. Elua A. Makim Duvu writes not accidentally in this regard: "If I'm not mistaken, this is the first book in Russia about the most diverse aspects of our life - about history and modernity, about the unique flora and fauna, about our music, literary innovations... I would very much like to see the romance that started the acquaintance of our countries not completely disappear. We Malagasy people are deeply moved by the fact that someone in Russia is interested in how we live" (p. 3). However, this collection is far from the first book published in our country about different aspects of Malagasy reality. Similar books have been published before ¹. So it is better to say that the book under review continues the glorious tradition of publications about an island that is both far away and close to Russians.

As for the articles and essays of the reviewed collection, the central," core " due to its socio-economic content can be considered the article SM. Shlensky's "45 years Later" is about the years that have passed since Madagascar gained independence, and I will focus mainly on the analysis of this article. This time was not years of progressive and even development. Neither were the assessments given to this period by various authors, including Soviet and Russian ones, objective.

The author of the article gives a clear periodization of Madagascar's development over the years.

The period from 1960 to 1972 is known as the First Republic. During this period, the Constitution of 1959, as amended in 1962, was in force, and the country was called the Malagasy Republic. In particular, the author emphasizes that "the most significant factor that determined the development of the country during this period was the signing in April 1960 of a series of bilateral agreements between France and Madagascar, which provided the French side with the possibility of broad control and influence in all spheres of activity of the young state and maintaining its position on the island" (p.25). The economy grew only slightly and was dominated by foreign capital. 10% of the population accounted for 80% of the country's total income. The deterioration of the situation of the majority of the population led to an acute political and socio-economic crisis in the early 1970s, which ended with a change of Government.

The next period in the history of independent Madagascar was the period of military transition regimes, which lasted from May 1972 to June 1975. The author gives a detailed description of this period, in particular noting that during it the tax system was revised in favor of low-income citizens; changes were made to the labor code to improve the situation of workers and employees In June 1973, agreements with France that violated Madagascar's sovereignty were revised. Restrictions on the activities of foreign companies and the establishment of state control over key sectors of the economy have begun.

In June 1975, the Second Republic period began, which lasted 17 years. Although a number of fundamental and radical measures were carried out during this period, it was also not a simple and serene one. In the course of it, in particular, banks and insurance companies, the largest commercial and industrial, transport and oil enterprises were nationalized. In August 1975.

¹ I will mention just a few of them: S. V. Datlina. Malgash Republic, Moscow, 1961; L. A. Korneev. Education of the Malgash Republic, Moscow, 1963; V. I. Trubitsyn. Economics of the Malagasy Republic, Moscow, 1969; Yu. Ya. Bardina. Malagasy Republic: problems of socio-economic development, Moscow, 1972. Madagascar. Guide. 2nd ed. / Ed. by Yu. N. Vinokurov, Moscow, 2005.

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The Charter of the Malagasy Socialist Revolution was published. Its main components were national unity, decentralization and socialism. However, as the author rightly notes, the constantly growing economic and political difficulties on the island led the country's leadership first to a gradual departure from the course proclaimed in the Charter, and since 1986-to abandon it. In March 1990, the Government announced the transition to a multi-party system. In August 1992, a referendum on the island approved a new constitution based on political pluralism and democracy. The adoption of this constitution marked the transition to a new period in the history of the independent country, to the Third Republic, which became officially known as the"Republic of Madagascar".

But this period of development also turned out to be complex and contradictory, which the author clearly and argumentatively shows in his analysis. Economic difficulties led to social upheavals, which led to further political changes. "In 2002, the country once again found itself involved in a struggle for supreme power between the discredited apparatus of the Ratsiraki regime and the broad bloc of various social forces headed by M. Ravalumanana, in which the leading role was played by business and church circles. On December 16, 2001, presidential elections were held in Madagascar, with President D. Ratsiraka and Mayor M. Ravalumanana as the main candidates " (p. 28). The elections did not produce any definite results, but gave rise to an acute political crisis and de facto dual power.

After a difficult political struggle, M. Ravalumanana became president. In his election program, he focused "on criticizing the existing system of public administration in the country, putting forward slogans for a radical reorganization of the inefficient and corrupt state apparatus and improving executive discipline at all levels" (p. 29).

In December 2002, the country held parliamentary elections, which were won by the presidential party TIM ("I love Madagascar"), which won an absolute majority in the National Assembly. This gave the President a reason to start implementing a number of reforms, including administrative, customs, and land. However, they did not bring any tangible positive results. The author states: "The country still cannot escape from poverty. Moreover, the level of poverty is increasing: in 2000, 69% of the population was below the poverty threshold, in 2004 - 73%" (p. 31). In addition to economic and social problems, the environmental situation in Madagascar has sharply worsened. The process of deforestation is proceeding at a catastrophic pace. Currently, according to the author, "virgin forests make up only 5% of their original area, 12 million hectares of forest were lost between 1960 and 2000" (p. 32).

In the face of growing social and economic problems in the country, discontent with the new government is growing, and the number of anti-government protests is growing. All this suggests that new shocks and changes may await Madagascar in the near future.

On the" core "of the monograph, the role of which is performed by SM. Shlenskaya's article, essays on historical, religious, literary, biological, travel notes and other topics are" strung", each of which is a description of a specific aspect of the life of the Madagascar people. In these essays, African scholars and anyone interested in various aspects of Madagascar life can find a lot of interesting things for themselves. Therefore, the collection can be considered a kind of "mini-encyclopedia" about Madagascar, which gives rise to new similar publications in the future.

The lack of a geographical map, index of names and geographical names can be considered a disadvantage of the publication. All this would help readers to better visualize the materials published in the peer-reviewed collection.

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