The Politics of Language Equilibrium in a Multilingual Society: Mauritius

Language is political. Yet the politics of language rarely determines elections or changes of government. In late 1995 rulership in one of greater Africa's two continuously performing democratic systems became unhinged over a proposed change in language policy. Ramifications of the fall ofAnerood Jugnauth's government extend well beyond the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius. They highlight the delicate nature of linguistic balance in pluralistic, including democratically pluralistic, societies and the importance of language equilibrium. The Mauritian experience also sheds light on the danger in introducing linguistic and educational reform to achieve partisan ends, particularly in quasi-mandarin systems in which school certification is an indispensable condition of elite class status.