Abstract
Three years after the earthquake that shattered the Haitian state and society, the country remains in a fragile state. Indeed, over 357,000 Haitians remain homeless. Recovery continues to be stifled by land and ideological disputes, logistical and contracting problems, and staffing shortages. Even the weather has conspired to hurt the recovery. Resources for recovery are available — and plenty. But the primary problem is Haiti’s lack of democratic institutions — infrastructure — necessary to facilitate positive change for the future. The closing decades of the twentieth century and the dawn of the twenty-first century can rightly be characterized as the era of democracy. Indeed, in the past forty years, a firestorm of democratization spread through most of Latin America and parts of Eastern Europe. It even touched, but just barely, the historically troubled Caribbean nation of Haiti. During the late 1970s, several southern European nations abandoned longstanding dictatorships and adopted democratic regimes. During the early 1980s, most Latin American nations repudiated their aged military dictatorships and instituted democracies. In the 1990s, another wave of democratization swept Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, destroying the so-called “Communist Empire.” Today, many former dictatorships, particularly Haiti, still struggle desperately to move away from authoritarianism and toward democracy.The process is often described as the transition to democracy. This terminology, however, conceals a serious ambiguity because it often refers to two or more distinct situations. The first is a process of adjustments of norms or institutions toward the strictures of the democratic rule of law. There are, of course, varying stages of conformity. These stages include different levels of competition between an ideologically broad spectrum of political parties and differences in the development of an independent, non-corrupt judiciary that is able to enforce a bill of rights. The second describes a situation where liberal democratic institutions exist in full force, but their stability is not yet completely secured. In this second situation, political, social, economic, and cultural actions and other measures are being taken or have been taken to achieve a necessary degree of consensus and social adhesion to those institutions.Whatever stage of development a nation may be in, however, the transition to democracy remains a difficult journey. In nations undergoing this transformation, economic, political, and social stability has not yet been fully achieved. The corporatist political and social structures have not yet been transformed to allow the vast, underprivileged majority access to the basic necessities that ensure a dignified life. Institutional structures of public life, such as a representative legislative branch, a competent judiciary, and an executive branch that adheres to its constitutionally imposed boundaries must be developed and stabilized. The rule of law — and thus the fundamental guarantees of due process — has to become an accepted, basic requirement of public life and private social interaction. All of this is necessary not only to protect human rights and the democratic process, but also to reach a satisfactory level of economic and social development.The key to Haiti’s future success is trust by the Haitian elite and the international community — trust of the Haitian people to effect democracy. Yet the only way to institute these formal, democratic elements is to reorient Haitian society. But this proves a challenging task. If corporatism controls all aspects of the Haitian state, then democracy cannot exist. Instead, a small elite holds total control. Thus, corporatism infects the electoral process, business, and the economy. The cleansing process, however, must involve institutions specifically designed to purge corporatism. At present, these institutions do not exist. This article examines how to create and maintain the institutions necessary to fortify Haiti’s democratic future, beginning with a look at corporatism, followed by an analysis of the major institutions that make a system democratic. Ultimately, this article describes Haiti’s current challenge of minimizing the negative effects of corporatism while maximizing the democratic process.