Echoes of the Malagasy Uprising: Estimating Long-Term Effects of Political Repression on Political Attitudes in Madagascar Leonard WANTCHEKON * Denis Alexandre LAHINIRIKO ** Omar GARCIA-PONCE *** August 2009 Abstract This paper examines the long-term effects of the repression of the Malagasy Uprising (1947-1948) upon current political attitudes and behavior in Madagascar. Drawing data from the most recent wave of the Afrobarometer (2008), we prove that the legacy of violent political repression negatively affects Malagasies’ freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom to vote. Likewise, exposure to this legacy of repression positively influences self-censorship, and fear of political hostility (intimidation, violence, and punishment). According to the regression analysis, these traumatic consequences are strongly linked to the geography of the repression. At a broader level, the results suggest that the scope and/or the intensity of the repression matter. A comparison with the repression of the rebellion of Kaba in Benin (1916-1917) suggests that both the geographic extension and the degree of violence play a crucial role in determining the long-term effects of the repression. 1. Introduction Political repression in its different manifestations has given rise to a large body of research. A number of studies have examined state repression from a descriptive or * Professor of Politics, New York University. ** Professor of History, Université d'Antananarivo. *** Ph.D. Student, Department of Politics, New York University.