This book is a structural and hermeneutic analysis of civil-military relations in Haiti. The equilibrium theory of civil-military relations developed here postulates that the stability of a political system capable of preventing military intervention is the result of three sets of balanced relationships: those obtaining between the military and civil society, between the military and civilian government, and between the civil society and the civilian government. An unresolved conflict in one or more of the relationships is potentially capable of offsetting the balance of forces and leading to military intervention. This study clarifies our understanding of key issues that have plagued the political stability of the state. It shows that military intervention cannot succeed without civilian cooperation. The Haitian political system has evolved so that civil society increasingly has the means of forcing the military into the barracks. The ability to achieve this end depends on the political will of civil society to organize itself so as to fulfill its own democratic mission.

Former President of the Republic of Haiti, former Commander-in-Chief of the Haitian Army, former scholar at at the US Marine Corps Schools (Quantico, VA), and the United States Naval Intelligence School (Anacostia, VA), qualified in law, career officer during 30 years which coincided with a deeply tormented period of national history, Prosper Avril brings the opinions of a privileged witness, a meticulous observer, an inquisitive researchist, and a leading actor to the debate about a subject that concerns all Haitians and creates much interest with foreign researchers, historians and observers -- the recent dismantling of the Haitian Army. From Glory to Disgrace: The Haitian Army - 1804, 1994 is an in depth study of the Haitian military institution, the oldest of Haiti, not viewed as a disjointed member of the Haitian social body, but rather as an integral part of a society which is in constant change. By undertaking this work, the author proposes answers to two fundamental questions: does the Haitian Army deserve the fate of its radical and final dissolution? is the future of Haiti secure without an army dedicated to the defense of the integrity of its national territory? By the wealth of its documentation and its close analysis of the events in which the Haitian Army has been involved, this book will certainly help the Haitian or foreign reader make a reasoned and impartial judgment about this important matter. In this work, the author maintains a commitment to one noble ambition -- to begin a patriotic and objective debate on one of the most controversial issues for Haiti today.

Democratic Insecurities focuses on the ethics of military and humanitarian intervention in Haiti during and after Haiti's 1991 coup. In this remarkable ethnography of violence, Erica Caple James explores the traumas of Haitian victims whose experiences were denied by U.S. officials and recognized only selectively by other humanitarian providers. Using vivid first-person accounts from women survivors, James raises important new questions about humanitarian aid, structural violence, and political insecurity. She discusses the politics of postconflict assistance to Haiti and the challenges of promoting democracy, human rights, and justice in societies that experience chronic insecurity. Similarly, she finds that efforts to promote political development and psychosocial rehabilitation may fail because of competition, strife, and corruption among the individuals and institutions that implement such initiatives.

The U.S. invasion of Haiti in July 1915 marked the start of a military occupation that lasted for nineteen years--and fed an American fascination with Haiti that flourished even longer. Exploring the cultural dimensions of U.S. contact with Haiti during the occupation and its aftermath, Mary Renda shows that what Americans thought and wrote about Haiti during those years contributed in crucial and unexpected ways to an emerging culture of U.S. imperialism. At the heart of this emerging culture, Renda argues, was American paternalism, which saw Haitians as wards of the United States. She explores the ways in which diverse Americans--including activists, intellectuals, artists, missionaries, marines, and politicians--responded to paternalist constructs, shaping new versions of American culture along the way. Her analysis draws on a rich record of U.S. discourses on Haiti, including the writings of policymakers; the diaries, letters, songs, and memoirs of marines stationed in Haiti; and literary works by such writers as Eugene O'Neill, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston. Pathbreaking and provocative, Taking Haiti illuminates the complex interplay between culture and acts of violence in the making of the American empire.

A structural and hermeneutic analysis of civil-military relations in Haiti. The equilibrium theory of civil-military relations developed here postulates that the stability of a political system capable of preventing military intervention is the result of three sets of balanced relationships.

- The catholic church