Building or Breaking the Polity? International Intervention, Statebuilding and Reproduction of Crisis in Haiti (2004 – 2019)

Abstract

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.

Racial Frontiers: Hemispheric Logics of Haitians’ Displacement and Asylum in the Americas

“…After a violent "taking over" of a particular territory, these tactics combine a permanent military or police presence with a (often limited) provision of social services and infrastructure for the local population (Schuberth 2019). While critics problematise this "security-first" approach as justifying police and military violence as a pre-requisite for peace and development (Parra 2020), under such framework even the provision of social services can have a military purpose. Ultimately, the MINUSTAH mission was represented as successful to Brazilian audiences, legitimising in turn the military's continued role in policing Brazilian civilians (Marques 2018).…”

“…The neighbourhoods of Bel Air and Cité Soleil, which Brazilian MINUSTAH commanders describe as favelas , were the basis of support for the recently deposed president Aristide's party Fanmi Lavalas. Critics have argued that MINUSTAH's focus on combatting “gangs” in these neighbourhoods, while overlooking the violence of paramilitary forces associated with Port‐au‐Prince's wealthier inhabitants in the aftermath of a coup, effectively meant “taking sides” in Haitian politics (Parra 2020; Pierre 2020; Pingeot 2019).…”