Guide to Citizens’ Rights and Responsibilities

G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
M a l t a
theocracy: a state governed by its religious
leaders
cede: to relinquish political control of lands to
another country; surrender
■ ■ ■  

Meanwhile, partisan politics pervades most social affairs: Municipal government
is riddled with party-nominated candidates. A system of proportional represen-
tation elects five members of parliament from each of thirteen districts and cer-
tifies candidates and voters, which facilitates 
clientelism
and patronage—and
ensures the world’s consistently highest voter turnout for national elections of
around 96 percent.
Civil society is hardly present, except in a religious sense as the parish is
the only active community. Many non-governmental organizations exist
either to support religious activities or specifically to lobby
government. The largest and best organized secular bodies
are two trade unions: the General Workers’ Union (with
47,000 members) and the Union of United Workers (with
26,000). No religious or ethnic persecution takes place, but
the arrival of undocumented migrants is a sore sociopolitical
issue.
The Maltese economy has been geared over millennia to pro-
vide military and defense capability to successive colonial powers.
After 1957, the islands switched successfully to other economic
mainstays, particularly export-driven manufacturing fueled by for-
eign investment and technology, as well as all-year tourism. Malta
has been a neutral and nonaligned country since the closure of
the British military facilities on March 31, 1979. Malta has been a
member of the European Union since May 1, 2004.
See also:
European Union.
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
Aguis, Carmel, and Nancy Grosselfinger. “Malta.” In The Global
Expansion of Judicial Power, ed. C. Neal Tate and Torbjörn
Vallinder. New York: New York University Press, 1995.
Bezzina, Joseph. Religion and Politics in a Crown Colony: The Gozo-
Malta Story 1798–1864. Malta: Bugelli Publications, 1985.
Boissevain, Jeremy. Saints and Fireworks: Religion and Politics in
Rural Malta, 3rd ed. Malta: Progress Press, 1993.
Camilleri, Frances. Women in the Labour Market: A Maltese
Perspective. Malta: Mireva Publications, 1997.
Frendo, Henry. Party Politics in a Fortress Colony: The Maltese
Experience. Malta: Midsea Books, 1979.
Frendo, Henry. Malta’s Quest for Independence: Reflections on the Course of Maltese
History. Malta: Valletta Publishing, 1989.
Hirczy, Wolfgang. “Explaining Near Universal Turnout: The Case of Malta.” European
Journal of Political Research 27 (1995):255–272.
Koster, Adrianus. Prelates and Politicians in Malta: Changing Power Balances
Between Church and State in a Mediterranean Island Fortress: 1530–1976.
Assen, The Netherlands: Van Gorcum, 1981.
Mallia Milanes, Victor, ed. The British Colonial Experience (1800–1964): Its Impact on
Maltese Society. Malta: Mireva Publications, 1988.
Mitchell, Jon. Ambivalent Europeans: Ritual, Memory and the Public Sphere in Malta.
London: Routledge, 2001.
Pirotta, Godfrey, A. The Malta Public Service 1800–1940: The Administrative Politics of
a Micro-State. Malta: Mireva Publications, 1997.
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
129
M a l t a
Benghisa
Point
Marfa
Point
Wardija
Point
¯
MEDITERRANEAN
 SEA
MEDITERRANEAN
 SEA
Marsaxlokk
Bay
Grand
Harbour
Saint Paul's Bay
Mellieha
Bay
¯
GOZO
M A L T A
Filfla
COMINO
Cominotto
Mosta
Mgarr
Naxxar
Saint
Paul's Bay
Zebbug
Dingli
Mdina
Rabat
Hamrun
Gzira
Zabbar
Zejtun
Luqa
Birzebbuga
Zurrieq
Siggiewi
Paola
Mellieha
Zebbug
Xaghra
Xewkija
Nadur
Mgarr
Victoria
Sliema
Birkirkara
Qormi
Valletta
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
¯
Malta
W
S
N
E
MALTA
8 Miles
0
0
8 Kilometers
4
4
Dingli Cliffs
787 ft.
240 m.
clientelism: a system of personal relations in
which clients exchange services, money, or
votes for protection or favors
■ ■ ■  
(MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/ THE GALE GROUP)

Pirotta, Joseph M. Fortress Colony: The Final Act 1945–1964, 3 vols. Malta: Studia
Editions, 1987.
Scicluna, Edward, J. The Restructuring of the Maltese Economy. Malta: Federation of
Industry, 1993.
Spiteri, Edward, J. Malta: An Island in Transition. Malta: Progress Press, 1997.
Sultana, Ronald, G., and Godfrey Baldacchino, eds. Maltese Society: A Sociological
Inquiry. Malta: Mireva Publications, 1994.
Godfrey Baldacchino
Mandela, Nelson
S O U T H   A F R I C A N   P O L I T I C A L   A C T I V I S T   A N D   P R E S I D E N T
1 9 1 8 –
A life-long anti apartheid activist in South Africa who eventually rose to
become the first democratically elected, and first black, president of South
Africa, Nelson Rolihlala (meaning troublemaker) Mandela was born on July 18,
1918, into a home composed of three mud huts in the village of Mvezo.
Mandela, descended from Thembu (an important people in South Africa) royal
blood, was intended to become a councilor to the Thembu king and spent many
of his early years in school. Suspended from Fort Hare University in 1940 for
leading a student protest against bad food and facing the unwelcome prospect
of an arranged marriage, Mandela and a friend fled to Johannesburg, where he
soon started working in a law firm, hoping eventually to become a lawyer.
During the 1940s Mandela became active in the political struggle against
apartheid
, helping to organize the Youth League, on whose executive commit-
tee he sat. The Youth League, which was more militant and racially exclusive
than the African National Congress (ANC), propelled the anti-apartheid move-
ment toward more direct confrontation with the apartheid system. Though
initially racially exclusivist, it began cooperating with anti-apartheid organ-
izations of other races in 1947. In 1949 Mandela, along with others, led
the Defiance Campaign, a program promoting the deliberate disobedience
of apartheid laws, even to the point of intentionally allowing oneself to be
arrested—and indeed, Mandela was among the first to be arrested. Released
fairly quickly, Mandela and a close friend became the first blacks in South Africa
to open their own law firm in 1956.
The Sharpeville Massacre (in which the police fired on a peaceful demonstra-
tion against apartheid, killing sixty-seven and wounding over one hundred)
convinced Mandela that nonviolent opposition to apartheid, given the violent
lengths to which the South African government was willing to go, was no longer
enough. He helped form the Spear of the Nation, a militant group within the
ANC devoted to sabotage. Captured by South African forces in 1962, Mandela was
put on trial, and, following a dramatic four-hour speech, later reproduced around
the world, in which he pledged his willingness to die for his principles, he was
sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. Even while in prison, Mandela remained
a vigorous political activist and advocate of justice, helping to organize prisoners
and protest for better treatment by prison authorities.
As apartheid began to disintegrate under increasing internal and interna-
tional pressure, Mandela was moved from the notorious Robben Island Prison to
a prison on the mainland. Eventually, in 1990, at seventy-one years of age, Mandela
was freed as a result of the reforms of South African President F. W. de Klerk
130
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
M a n d e l a ,   N e l s o n
apartheid: an official policy of racial
segregation in the Republic of South Africa
with a goal of promoting and maintaining
white domination
■ ■ ■  

(b. 1936). His freedom was greeted with loud applause and celebration both
within South Africa and around the world.
Mandela would prove instrumental in paving the way for a peaceful transi-
tion from the system of apartheid to democratic government, an effort for which
he received the Nobel Peace Prize, along with de Klerk, in 1993. The first demo-
cratic elections in South Africa in 1994 swept Mandela into the presidency with
an overwhelming majority. In true ecumenical fashion, Mandela named de Klerk
a deputy president, and in Mandela’s only term as president, he proceeded to
confront the enormous problems and challenges produced by forty years of
apartheid. Mandela’s skill as a consensus builder helped him to form a coalition
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
131
M a n d e l a ,   N e l s o n
NELSON MANDELA SPEAKS TO LOYALISTS IN SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA IN 1990.
A historic
figure in the crusade against apartheid in South Africa, Nelson Mandela was convicted
of sabotage and sentenced to life in prison in 1964. Once apartheid came to an end
Mandela was released from prison in 1990, and in 1994 easily won the general
election to become the country’s first black president. 
(SOURCE: AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS)

cabinet representing diverse interests, transitioning South Africa to a majority
democracy. Mandela’s initiatives and policies also were designed to build up the
South African economy.
Mandela retired to the village of Qunu, where he was raised, in 1999.
See also:
Apartheid; Racism; South Africa.
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela.
London: Macdonald Purnell, 1994.
Sampson, Anthony. Mandela: The Authorized Biography. London: HarperCollins, 1999.
Andrew Costello
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands consists of 180 square kilometers
(70 square miles) of atolls and coral islands spread over 1.9 million square
kilometers (733,500 square miles) of Pacific Ocean. Two roughly parallel
chains of atolls, the Ratak (sunrise) and Ralik (sunset) groups, run along a
northwest to southeast axis around 3,200 kilometers (2,000
miles) west of Hawaii. In the northern part of the group, the
Bikini, Rongelap, Enewetak, and Utrik Atolls were affected by
sixty-seven U.S. nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958. Further
south, Kwajalein Atoll, which encircles the world’s largest
lagoon, is the site of a sizeable U.S. military base and missile
testing facility. Nearly 50 percent of the population, estimated
at 58,000 in 2005, resides on Majuro, the national capital,
and another 21 percent live on Kwajalein. The rest are dis-
persed across the remaining twenty-two inhabited atolls or
coral islands.
The Marshallese are a Micronesian people, believed to have
originally settled the islands from Southeast Asia around three
thousand years ago. Claimed by the Spanish in 1874, the Marshall
Islands fell under German rule after 1885 and then under
Japanese rule following the outset of World War I (1914–1918).
After Japan was defeated by Allied forces at the end of World War
II (1939–1945), the United States administered the islands as
part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands,
including also the neighboring Caroline Islands, Palau, and the
Northern Marianas.
In 1964, a bicameral Congress of Micronesia was established,
but Marshallese objections to the centralization of revenues
secured from the United States for occupation of the Kwajalein
base led to a breakaway from the rest of Micronesia in 1978, and
a separate Marshall Islands constitution was ratified in 1979. In
1983, a plebiscite backed a “Compact of Free Association” with
the United States. As a result, the country has had fully function-
ing internal government and significant authority over foreign
affairs since 1986, while the United States remains responsible for
132
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M a r s h a l l   I s l a n d s
NORTH
PACIFIC
OCEAN
FEDERATED STATES
OF MICRONESIA
KIRIBATI
Jaluit
Atoll
Kwajalein
Atoll
KOSRAE
POHNPEI
Wake I. (U.S.)
Taongi Atoll
Enewetak
Atoll
Bikini
Atoll
Bikar
Atoll
Utirik
Atoll
Taka Atoll
Wotje Atoll
Erikub Atoll
Maloelap Atoll
Aur Atoll
Arno Atoll
Mili Atoll
Knox Atoll
Rongerik
Atoll
Rongelap
Atoll
Ujelang
Atoll
Ujae Atoll
Namu
Atoll
Ailinglapalap
Atoll
Lae
Atoll
Ebon Atoll
Lib I.
Mejit I.
Jabwot I.
Kili I.
Kosrae
Pingelap
Atoll
Wotho Atoll
Ailinginae
Atoll
R a
l i k
C
h
a
i n
R
a
t a
k
C
h
a
i n
Majuro
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MARSHALL ISLANDS
500 Miles
0
0
500 Kilometers
250
250
(MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/ THE GALE GROUP)

defense and retains rights to deny military access to other nations. In return, the
United States provides substantial financial assistance, equivalent on average to
more than half of government expenditure.
The 1979 constitution provides for a 
unicameral
parliamentary system, but
with a president elected by members of the Nitijela (parliament), who serves
as the head of state. A consultative chamber for traditional leaders, the Council
of Iroij has an advisory role but no veto powers. The Nitijela is comprised
of thirty-three members elected from twenty-four constituencies for four-year
terms. Amata Kabua (1928–1996), the iroijlaplap (paramount chief) for Majuro,
became the first president of the Marshall Islands in 1979. He was returned to
office after elections in 1983, 1987, 1991, and 1995.
After Amata Kabua’s death in 1996, his first cousin, Kwajalein chief Imata
Kabua (b. 1943), was selected by the Nitijela as the new head of state. In
November 1999, Imata Kabua was defeated at the polls by the newly formed and
reform-oriented United Democratic Party. For the first time a commoner, Kessai
H. Note (b. 1950), was elected president. The United Democratic Party retained
office at the subsequent election in November 2003.
The 1979 constitution provides a strong bill of rights with substantial citizen
freedoms and protections. According to the U.S. State Department, there are no
recent reports of arbitrary arrest or detention, torture, or politically motivated
execution.
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
Constitution of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, 1979. 
Ͻhttp://www.vanuatu.usp.ac.fj/
paclawmat/Marshall_Islands_legislation/Consolidation_1988/Marshalls_Constitution.
html
Ͼ.
Fraenkel, Jon. “Strategic Registration from Metropolis to Periphery in the Republic of the
Marshall Islands.” Journal of Pacific History 37, no. 3 (2002):299–312.
“Marshall Islands.” CIA World Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency,
2005.
Ͻhttp://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rm.htmlϾ.
Pacific Islands Development Program East–West Center. Pacific Islands Report.
Ͻhttp://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/graphics.shtmlϾ.
Republic of the Marshall Islands. 1999 Census of Population and Housing, Final Report.
Majuro, Marshall Islands: Office of Planning and Statistics, 1999.
Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Site. 
Ͻhttp://www.smdc.army.mil/RTS.htmlϾ.
Stege, Kristina E. “Micronesia in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July, 2002 to 30 June 2003:
Marshall Islands.” The Contemporary Pacific 16, no. 1 (2004):126–132.
Stover, Philip. “Marshall Islands.” In Elections in Asia and the Pacific: A Data Handbook,
ed. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz, and Christof Hartmann. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2001.
Yokwe Online: Everything Marshall Islands. 
Ͻhttp://www.yokwe.netϾ.
Jon Fraenkel
Mauritania
Mauritania is located in West Africa and shares its frontiers with Senegal,
Mali, Algeria, and Western Sahara. Its population of under 2.3 million inhabitants
is an ethnic mosaic because of the country’s situation between North Africa and
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
133
M a u r i t a n i a
unicameral: comprised of one chamber,
usually a legislative body
■ ■ ■  

sub-Saharan Africa. The Maur (Arab-Berber or “Moorish”) community and the
black African communities (Haalpulaaren, Soninke, and Wolof ) were gathered
together by the French colonial administration. There is a controversy as to
which group is dominant, and there is no data available after the 1958 census
which estimated that black Africans represent only 20 percent. The demograph-
ic weight of this latter community is now stronger, and the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency estimated that 30 percent of the population is Maur, 30 per-
cent black African, and 40 percent mixed black-Maur.
Moktar Ould Daddah (1924–2003), a Maur, led the country to independ-
ence November 28, 1960. He founded a dominant single party, the 
Parti du
Peuple Mauritanien
, in 1964 and was overthrown by a military 
coup
in July 1978.
Mauritania has since had a succession of military leaders. Colonel Maaouya
Sid’Ahmed Ould Taya (b. 1943), army chief and prime minister from April 1981
to March 1984, seized power December 12, 1984. The political situation had
then dramatically deteriorated: Ethnic conflicts intensified because of the
increasing influence of the 
pan-Arabists
movements that favored a pro-Arab
134
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
M a u r i t a n i a
coup: a quick seizure of power or a sudden
attack
pan-Arabist: an advocate for the unity of the
Arab world
■ ■ ■  
S
A
H
A
R
A
 
D
E
S
E
R
T
Kediet ej Jill
3,002 ft.
915 m.
E l
     
  D
j o
u f
E r
g  
  I g
u i
d i
Cap
Timiris
Cap
Blanc
Île Tidra
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Senegal
Baie de
Lévrier
Lac
Rkiz
Fdérik
'Ayoûn 'Abd
el Mâlek
Al Bir Lahlou
Bîr Mogreïn
Dayet el
Khadra
Agmar
Néma
Lemoïlé
'Ayoûn
el 'Atroûs
Boutilimit
Bogué
Aleg
Kîfa
Nioro du Sahel
Niono
Maghama
Bakel
Bafoulabé
Sélibaby
Tidjikdja
Ouadane
El Mrâyer
El Moueïla
Chinguetti
Akjoujt
Tanoudert
Nouamrhar
Bir Gandús
Tîchît
Qualâta
Tijti
Médala
Diadé
Mbout
Zouérat
Atar
Awaday
Rosso
Chegga
Kayes
Nouakchott
Kaédi
Nouadhibou
A L G E R I A
M A L I
M A L I
S E N E G A L
W E S T E R N
S A H A R A
Mauritania
W
S
N
E
MAURITANIA
300 Miles
0
0
300 Kilometers
150
225
75
150
225
75
(MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/ THE GALE GROUP)

state. A part of the African community decided to organize itself and created the
Forces de Libération Africaines de Mauritanie (FLAM) to claim greater politi-
cal and social rights.
FLAM’s clandestine activism caused the government, influenced by
baathists and Nasserists, to react through a wave of arrests and imprisonments
of the African activists and the execution of three African officers. Later, the
1989 conflict with Senegal led to mass deportation of African Mauritanians
declared to be Senegalese. Subsequently, the international pressure due to this
conflict and the country’s support to Iraq during the first Gulf Crisis forced
Ould Taya to begin a 
democratization
process in 1991.
On April 12, 1991, a new constitution was adopted. The executive is dual:
The president is elected for six years and appoints the prime minister and his
ministers. The president holds the power to make regulations, promulgate
law, sign and ratify treaties, organize a 
referendum
, and dissolve the National
Assembly.
The legislature is composed of a National Assembly and a Senate. The
deputies are elected for five years by universal suffrage. Senators are elected for
six-year terms via indirect suffrage. The Constitutional Council is composed of
six members, each of whom serves for nine years. Islam is, in principle, the
unique source of right.
Since 1992 the ruling party has been the Parti Républicain Démocratique
et Social (PRDS), which is led by Ould Taya, who was elected in 1992 and then
twice reelected, on December 12, 1997 and November 7, 2003. The opposition
parties are in disarray and suffer seriously from repression. The elections are
not really free and fair, the press is often censured, torture is used against
opponents, and racial discrimination and slavery still remain, especially in the
Moorish community. Former slaves and Mauritanian human rights associations
fight the lack of human and political freedom and lead campaigns to denounce
the regime inaction in Europe and in the United States.
See also: 
Colonies and Colonialism; Shari’a.