Beyond the Gen Z Revolution: Investigating Foreign Interference and Strategic Interests in Madagascar's Political Turmoil

Abstract

Madagascar's 2025 political transition, precipitated by a wave of youth-led protests colloquially known as the "Gen Z Revolution," presents a complex intersection of internal socioeconomic dysfunction and external geopolitical machination. This paper examines whether the political instability engulfing the island nation represents a genuine democratic uprising or a strategically engineered destabilization linked to the global race for critical minerals. Drawing on political economy frameworks, historical precedent, and publicly available intelligence assessments, this study argues that while domestic grievances—including a 90% poverty rate, endemic corruption, and the recurrent famine condition known locally as "Kere"—served as the proximate catalyst for unrest, the perpetuation and exploitation of that instability reflects the competing strategic interests of the United States, France, and China in securing Madagascar's substantial graphite, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth deposits, as well as its commanding position along the Mozambique Channel. The paper applies the concept of "manufactured instability" and "extractive diplomacy" to analyze how great-power competition in the Indian Ocean littoral has historically undermined Malagasy sovereignty, and it concludes with a call for a Pan-African institutional framework to protect resource rights.