Haiti Alternative
A JOURNAL OF HAITIAN POLITICS
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Strenghtening Haitian Institutions is good way to begin structural reforms
The literrature on democratization is enormous and impresive. Scholars of different schools of thought have used primarily three major theoritical approaches: modernization, transitional and structural to explain why, how, when, and whether a country achieves democratization.
Many times these scholars focus on modernization as an explanatory factor. In the Haitian case, we believe that political reforms must be given priorities because problems of disunity and weak institutions will pose more obstacles to Haiti's fledgling democracy. Instead of economic, we favor political reforms first because when we look at the trajectory that led many European and Latin American traditional dictatorships, such as Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Chile to democracy, we notice that those countries started first with political reforms of their political regime.
Because these countries gradually opened the system by negotiating with outside groups and incorporating more participants with the support of mass mobilization, by the time the transition completed, democracy was the only game in town. Yet, economic reforms did not begin in these sountries until the democratic transition was complete.
This is not to say that Haiti needs to wait until its democratic transition is complete to initiate economic reforms. It simply means that a viable economy is not a mandatory prerequisite for political stability, as the democratic path of Spain, Portugal and other traditional dictatorships suggests.
Haiti can and must emulate these successful reforms.
The time has come for Haitians to take charge of their country to improve the situation in Haiti. As we know, the history of Haiti is proud and sad. The concept of national identity is absent from most Haitians. While most people put their country first, native Haitians have been active players in preventing Haiti from passing from an agricultural backward society to a modernized and industrialized country. The National identity problem is related not only to culture but also to weak political institutions and lack of economic development.
