Haiti in globalisation: between revolution, development and violence

Abstract

Based on field research, virtual conversations and document analysis, this article examines the corrosion of the Haitian social fabric associated with the 1994 and 2004 interventions, with the aim of shedding light on the current crisis. It argues that the 1994 intervention opened the door to the establishment of a humanitarian military complex whose actions were renewed and intensified in 2004 and the 2010 earthquake. In this context, the potential of Haitian forms of association were subsumed into an individualistic form of development modelled on international cooperation, at the same time as Haitian state institutions were neglected: an international military-humanitarian crisis containment system was set up. The convergence of the end of MINUSTAH in 2017, the decline of international co-operation and Petrocaribe all contributed to the collapse of this development simulacrum, resulting in the acceleration of the ongoing crisis.