After presenting the circumstances laying behind French diplomatic efforts from 2008 through 2013, the author investigates the foundation of France’s anti-establishment position in Madagascar: the actual French stance diverges from that of the greater international community and contradicts French diplomacy’s official doctrine, particularly as it was applied during the Madagascar’s previous crisis, in 2002. The author hypothesizes that geostrategic issues related to exclusive trade zones and to oil and gas reserves that are contested by the “scattered islands” in the archipelago drive this paradoxical hiatus. The author builds his future-oriented analysis on work begun in 2012; it has already had a significant impact in Madagascar, crystalizing important challenges for internal, as well as external, policies.