Returning Aristide: the contradictions of US foreign policy in Haiti

In: Race & class: a journal on racism, empire and globalisation, Band 39, Heft 2

Abstract

Maintaining a stable climate for foreign investments and limiting the opening of political space were the 2 objectives which shaped US policy towards the Duvalier regime during the early 1980s and towards the CNG in the late 1980s. Internal responses, shaped in part by economic liberalisation, further complicated matters. The US found itself in a predicament where regulating internal politics in Haiti meant risking the investment climate, but promoting the investment climate was cultivating unrest throughout all levels of Haitian society. The case of Haiti demonstrates that security and economic interests often conflict and can cause deadlock or a revision of how to implement objectives.