The recent gang related events in Haiti have spiraled out of control. The state lacked the capacity and power to prevent such gang activity. Haiti has long had the formal structure of a democracy but was never able to become fully functioning. A lack of resources and political and institutional instability led to a democratic failure. Foreign intervention is always an option but that is rarely successful. Recent gang violence has forced the prime minister to step down. Police protection is nonexistent, and law and order are powerless. The corruption in Haiti begins in the economy. The major Haitian industries are controlled by the same dozen or so families. With such power, there is the ability to corrupt the government. The recent foreign aid that has meant to benefit the lower class, just benefits the upper class as the upper class does not allow for the money to reach the lower class. Politicians and elites are linked to the gang violence that is currently facing the country.
Since the 2010 earthquake, life in Haiti has been increasingly difficult. The earthquake damaged any promising infrastructure or economic prospect. Citizens have been frustrated with the lack of political and economic change. Something that should not go unmentioned is the lack of women’s and minority rights in politics. In recent years, sanctions have been placed on Haitian gang leaders, elites, and politicians who have contributed to gang violence and drug trafficking. As mentioned, Haiti’s economic and social struggles can be dated back prior to the 2010 earthquake. French colonialism and American occupation put the growth of Haiti’s economy on hold for decades prior to its independence. The U.S. seemingly has watched the current events unfold with indifference. While in the past, financial aid has been given in support of the governments war on drugs and gang violence, presently, there is not a stable government in place to provide aide to.
Democratically, Haiti has always struggled to uphold basic principles. As mentioned, there has never been a time frame in Haiti’s history where there has been enough economic and social stability for the government to withhold a democracy with limited corruption. With little to no infrastructure and a very weak structure of government in place it is very difficult to call this situation democratic backsliding, or even autocratic consolidation. Backsliding must occur when there is a democracy in power, but it is very challenging to ever call Haiti a democracy. It is also hard to claim that autocratic consolidation is occurring as the regime in power is more of a puppet government than anything. Freedom House considers Haiti to not be a free state. In its evaluation, Haiti is not considered to have free and fair elections and the functions of the government are not fair and open. Civil rights are not as controlled, with freedom of expression and religion. However, that freedom of expression and religion is the exact reason why gang violence and drug trafficking has ravaged the country. The diversity in culture has created a division amongst the people that has led to the crisis Haiti is facing today.
In relation to other examples around the world, we can look at the retreating of democracy in Hungary. In Janos Kornai’s article “Hungary’s U-Turn: Retreating From Democracy,” he writes Hungary is “free of civil war, popular uprisings, and terrorism.” However, they continue to retreat from democracy amid rising international tensions. This is an obvious case of backsliding. One in which a state retreats from the prior democratic state it once was. Many Eastern European countries that were once members of the communist bloc, have since become more democratic, with Hungary being the lone outlier. While this case of backsliding may be fairly obvious, this is not an obvious comparison to Haiti. Haiti had long been under French control and never had the opportunity to form its own independent governing body. There are plenty of examples of countries that have been under American watch, that have struggled to get their feet off the ground. Hungary had the help of the EU, while Haiti has recently had little to no financial support. This is a unique case of backsliding in that it differs from the status quo.
The argument in this case stems from U.S. and foreign involvement to prevent democratic backsliding. In many cases in history our attempts to prevent democratic backsliding have not been successful. Such intervention has only led to a negative international perception of the United States. Foreign aid has just landed in the hands of the corrupt and has not helped the issues at hand. The methods in which the world attempts to combat democratic backsliding have not been successful for decades. If the gap in wealth around the world is going to narrow, the methods in which we attempt to accomplish that must improve. In the case of Haiti, it is very challenging to recognize one method as the right one. Military intervention is a very risky method. If we refer to the classic example of American intervention in Vietnam, the Vietnamese people were not pleased with the extended American presence. However, in many cases the people of the country which is receiving that military support react depending upon the action of those soldiers and their purpose for being there. The gang violence in Haiti is out of hand. Innocent people are being murdered. It is very difficult to find a solution that would protect the people of Haiti and quickly somewhat restore order. Military intervention, but for a limited amount of time may be the only solution, but it is important to let Haiti form a government themselves and not impose a democratic solution.
Whether there was a democracy to uphold in the first place is an interesting question you raised in this piece. Although Haiti does have democratically elected leaders, the recent political situations you have mentions, such as violence and instability, have supposedly caused many postponements since 2019. My opinion is that Haiti is democratic to an extent, or at least has characteristically democratic institutions in place. The challenge lies in these institutions’ effectiveness in upholding people’s liberties and delivering public goods.
There is also the matter of military intervention as a possible solution to the gang violence-related unrest in Haiti. The recurrence of these events have induced much intervention already from international bodies, but have yet seen success in mitigating the problem. Would the solution be to intensify their presence in Haiti or look to other possibilities of mediation?