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The article aims to investigate the role of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (Minustah) in the social and political landscape of the country, and how it failed to bring a sustainable contribution for peacebuilding and stabilisation, despite specific positive outcomes, especially for violence reduction and Security Sector Reform (SSR) during the period of 2006-2010. The intervention in 2004 based on violent coercion and the lack of a peace process and political settlement led the operation to aggravate, instead of treating, the social and political conflicts present in the country, contributing for the (re)production of predatory political economies, violent contestation and further social and political fragmentation. I propose that this outcome in Haiti, similar to other cases of countries with international interventions, can be better understood with a critical assessment of the peace-as-statebuilding paradigm of international interveners, and its disregard for the local legitimation of peace processes, political settlements and the building of state institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the aesthetics and politics of one of the key figures in the emergence of the Caribbean anti-imperial imaginary in the nineteenth century: the Afro–Puerto Rican activist Ramón Emeterio Betances (1827–98). Through a critical interpretation of Les deux Indiens (1857), a romantic novella about the conquest of Puerto Rico, and "A Cuba Libre" (1871), a biographical essay about Haiti's first president, Alexandre Pétion, the author explores Betances's vision of Caribbean unity and its connections to race, gender, republicanism, and decolonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that in Haiti, illicit income extraction is a constantly constructed mode of governance, helping to explain popular outrage surrounding the recent PetroCaribe scandal. It mentions that the Haitian government paid a firm from the neighboring Dominican Republic million to build 3,000 units to house survivors of a 2010 earthquake that had destroyed most of the capital city.

The article discusses the commemoration of centenary of Haitian independence in 1903 and highlights enthusiasm of the Haitian press and state actors in fostering nationalist sentiment. Topics include narratives of British observers, former Haitian president Louis Hyppolite's vow to end factionalism and conflict between Haitians and British over their role in the Caribbean.

Twenty-five years have passed since Haiti’s first free and fair elections. In that time, democratization has been slow and there have been many setbacks. This article offers some observations regarding Haiti’s democratization journey by examining how the government introduced a massive industrial park that required the displacement of a large number of farmers. In a departure from historical practice, when faced with opposition, the government deployed its security forces sparingly. Also, the levels of transparency and civil society engagement were not terrible. Although it is insufficient and superficial, movement is in the right direction. In contrast, local government officials may have lost status and legitimacy during the process, which could hinder future democratization. Finally, the footprint of outsiders in this project was massive, confirming how profoundly Haiti’s democratization is transnationalized. This makes tracking its democratic development extremely challenging and yet necessary given the country is not alone in this predicament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the use of imagery relating to food and culinary practices and their relation to colonial power dynamics and stereotypes in films set or filmed in post-colonial contexts. The colonial history of the Caribbean is particularly linked to the use of food imagery in the definition of colonial power dynamics and the representation of colonized and enslaved populations. The works of American-Haitian filmmaker Michelange Quay exploit this imagery as a critique of Haiti's colonial past and neocolonial present. The article focuses on Quay's Eat, for This is My Body (2007), an oneiric exploration of race, power, religion, hunger, food and freedom, set in France and Haiti. The film is analysed through the prism of "food metaphors" evoking cannibalism, starvation, and gluttony found in colonial discourses and which persist in post-colonial representations and imaginaries. The analysis shows how these metaphors are visually represented on film, and how they are used to constitute a new idiom with which to describe the postcolonial experience in Haiti. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the shifting manner in which paramilitarism has been reproduced in Haiti, examining how it has evolved from the Cold War into the era of capitalist globalisation. The central argument of this article is that paramilitarism has not disappeared but has been altered, and that this has occurred in part due to the changing strategies of elites in the global era. Rather than a permanent and widespread force, paramilitary groups are utilised in smaller numbers and only in certain ‘emergency periods’, serving a purpose of containment: targeting political threats and beating down those large populations whose social reproduction is not required by transnational capital. This has been a difficult situation for elites to manage, as they often have only limited control over such ruthless, corrupt and violent elements, which they sometimes require. Following the 1991 and 2004 coup d’états in Haiti, a military-paramilitary-bourgeoisie grouping has repeatedly worked to recover its impunity and revamp its coercive apparatus. Under these conditions, and even more increasingly in the wake of the 2010 earthquake, a variety of elites and technocrats (most importantly, US policymakers) have sought to politically remake the country alongside processes of economic restructuring promoted by transnational capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Considering institutional and geographic explanations for economic development, the institutional thesis is relevant to explain the historically weak governance structure, even as there have been robust foreign assistance efforts for development in recent years. Taken together, the weak role of the state and low levels of human development are evidence of the challenges. Reviewing the post‐colonial legacy of Haiti, and its impact on economic development, this article discusses the lack of an integral state resulting in weak institutions. Especially since the earthquake in early 2010, the international development community has been an essential partner for reform initiatives, which will require accountable and inclusive domestic institutions to be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the recovery of Haiti from the destruction of the 2010 earthquake. It discusses the announcement of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on November 20, 2017 regarding the termination of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians in July 2019. Also mentioned are the deportation of 60,000 Haitian immigrants, and President Jovenel Moïse's request to extend the program, and United Nations (UN) peacemaking forces.

This article examines the political and pedagogical role of the farm school in Haiti's largest and oldest peasants' movement, the Peasants' Movement of Papaye (MPP). It draws upon ongoing ethnographic research with MPP as well as documentary and historical analyses of agrarian politics in Haiti to situate the movement's land-based decolonial political praxis in a political ecology of education framework, centering concepts of participation, conscientization, and autonomy. I use three key pedagogical principles in MPP's agroecological education program to illustrate the micropolitical processes by which smallholders negotiate processes of agrarian transformation: decentralization, social process methodology, and the good acroecologist model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a speech by Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe of the Republic of Haiti, delivered during the opening ceremony of the 22nd Ordinary Session of the African Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Topics of the speech included strengthening and restoration of democracy in Haiti, ties between the peoples of Africa and the Haitian people, and agriculture in African economy.

The article analyzes the political and electoral crisis in Haiti after the catastrophic earthquake that devastated the nation in 2010. Topics covered include the reconstruction strategies implemented by Michel Martelly, president of Haiti from May 2011 until February 2016, the electoral controversies that marred the assumption of power of Martelly and the effort of the U.S. government to investigate the official 2010 election results in the country.

The article examines the issue of publicity and the public in the northern kingdom of Henry Christophe in post-revolutionary Haiti. Topics discussed include Pompée Valentin de Vastey being the best publicist of the kingdom whose volumes of pro-Haitian polemic was unrivaled in its eloquence in the history of Black Atlantic political discourse. Also mentioned is an examination the extent of which Vastey privileged form and political statements as a means to instantiate universal equality.

The article examines the thinking on the Haitian Atlantic of the 19th century Haitian journalist, diplomat and novelist Louis Joseph Janvier and theoretician, writer and politician Demesvar Delorme. Topics discussed include both Janvier and Delorme believing that Haiti represented the very sign and symbol of black sovereignty but recognizing that European or U.S. thought as central to the development of Haitian independence. Also mentioned are the two Caribbean race men's discourse analysis.

What makes certain dictatorships more likely than others to democratize? I argue that military dictators, as specialists in violence, often remain threats to their successors. However, when democratic systems replace military dictatorships, that expertise presents less danger to new incumbents. Because democracies select leaders through elections, they reduce the importance of military expertise--and the role of associated violence--in contests for office. Thus, military dictatorships should prove more likely to transition quickly to democracy; military dictators will expect a lower likelihood of punishment--including death--at the hands of their successors than if they are replaced by other dictators. Therefore, incumbent military dictators see democratic systems as less dangerous to them; they face specific incentives to ensure a quick and effective transition to democracy. I provide support for my theory with evidence from the post-World War II period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes theories of institutional trust in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, two developing countries that have shared some historical legacies but currently manifest divergent economic and political trajectories. The evidence confirms that conventional theories emphasizing participation and government performance help us understand institutional trust in both countries. In addition, the analysis emphasizes the analytical leverage gained by exploring the extent to which different facets of engagement have divergent effects on institutional trust. The findings build upon previous research to underscore the importance of considering how context shapes the precise ways in which performance and engagement influence institutional trust, particularly when analyzing the developing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the University of the West indies (UWI) Mona-Haiti scholarship initiative that focuses on the issues in education dealing with history of Republic of Haiti, education offered by Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MENFP), and Haiti's Education for All strategy supported by the World Bank. Topics include reduction of illiteracy, Accelerated Teaching Program funded by the International Development Association, and use of technological innovations in education.