Yasmine Shamsie (an assistant professor teaching Latin American politics and international relations at Wilfrid Laurier University) and Dr. Andrew S. Thompson (a historian and writer on questions of human rights and international governance from the University of Waterloo) have explored the situation in Haiti and in published their work and recommendations in Haiti: Hope for a Fragile State. We believe that the best way to help put an end to Haiti’s current migration and international labor problems with the Dominican Republic is by helping the country of Haiti help itself. In a series of essays first presented at the “Canada in Haiti” conference, Shamsie and Thompson laid out a set of multi-dimensional solutions for the situations in Haiti, a plan (also known as the 5 D’s) that we will base the remainder of this section on: Diplomacy, Defense, Development, Democracy, and Disarmament.
1. Democracy: Robert Fatton Jr., a professor of Government and Foreign Affairs in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia, authored Haiti’s Predatory Republic: The Unending Transition to Democracy. In his book, he contends that the democratization of Haiti is fundamentally dependent upon the explosion of popular civil society and the balance of class forces.
- In order to accomplish the seemingly unattainable goal of balancing class forces, Fatton discusses how the establishment of a constitution would help Haiti progress into democracy and be able to better defend itself, for a constitution would “create incentives for the surrender of weapons to the moral force of written pacts and documents."
- Without a constitution, Haiti is not likely to enjoy any meaningful democratization if there is no formal document establishing the importance and common goal of redistributing Haitian resources and wealth so they can have more equal social classes.
A change in government is necessary, but not sufficient for a change in state.
2. Development: This possibly includes actions like:
- The private sector taking a more active and public role in the rebuilding of Haiti.
- Example: October 2005, where 17 leaders of the Haitian private sector held an unprecedented meeting in Canada with then IDB president, Enrique V. Iglesias (NOT the music icon). Participants presented concrete ideas and plans for bringing economic growth about by promoting land titling and increasing access to credit for people in the informal sector
- The creation of public boards to oversee the management of crucial government services.
- Action from international development communities, who can create spaces for increased formal participation of the private sectors rebuilding Haiti.
3. Diplomacy: Church (This includes both Catholic and Protestant churches.)
- Haiti is a place that has three religious beliefs: Catholicism, Protestantism, and Voodoo.
- There is intolerance and violence between the three of them. Failure to work together will lead to more chaos for Haiti. It can also lead to another political failure capable of being exploited and turned into violence.
- There is intolerance and violence between the three of them. Failure to work together will lead to more chaos for Haiti. It can also lead to another political failure capable of being exploited and turned into violence.
4. Defense: Creation of a constitution for Haiti.
- A downfall of this is that Haiti is not likely to enjoy any meaningful democratization without a small quantity of something for the redistribution of resources and wealth.
5. Disarmament: This is the reduction in military forces.
- The military has taken control almost every aspect of Haitian life. Haiti is usually ruled by force.
