Haiti since 1804

Leading scholar Alex Dupuy investigates themes of class, power, and gender in Haiti in the capitalist world-economy—from independence and indemnity to the US occupation and current crisis after the assassination of President Moïse. This book provides new perspectives on Haiti’s political economy since independence and demystifies major forces that shape Haiti today.

In addition to the controversial indemnity, Dupuy looks at how the United States supplanted France as the major power occupying Haiti from 1915-34 and influenced Haiti’s economic and political development. Its policies and those imposed by international financial institutions transformed Haiti into the supplier of the lowest-paid labor, particularly in export assembly industries comprised mostly of women. In the present day, criminal gangs have plunged Haiti into an unprecedented political, economic, and security crisis since the assassination of Moïse, and Prime Minister Ariel Henri has called for foreign intervention to restore order.

"Alex Dupuy is today's leading scholar on Haiti. This volume builds on his critical understanding of Haiti's tortured colonial and neo-colonial histories and links the country's current crisis to the ongoing actions of imperialist forces and its continuing underdevelopment along lines of class, race, and gender. The failed state and endemic crime situation are brilliantly treated. A must read!"-

"This book presents a brilliant analysis of the neoliberal policies imposed on Haiti by international institutions. Dupuy skillfully connects decades of extractive foreign interventions in Haiti, from the US occupation to the aftermath of Jovenel Moïse's assassination. Haiti since 1804 points the way toward a future in which Haitians might finally regain sovereignty over their own economy and government."

Alex Dupuy, one of the most influential Haitianists of his generation, has written a powerful and trenchant work that undermines widely held assumptions about Haiti's political and economic history. Clearly written and unencumbered by fashionable theoretical trends, Haiti since 1804, deserves a wide audience. Its arguments are persuasive and will challenge many out of their comfort zones.

This very important book revises Haiti's history. Dupuy cogently argues that Haiti's first presidents agreed to France's demand for a large indemnity for the ousted slave owners, not because they feared further war but because they wanted to secure the transfer of property rights from former plantation owners to the new Haitian elite. Thus, he contends that it was not the large ransom Haiti paid France that incapacitated its economic growth prospects; rather, it was the failure of the Haitian upper classes to re-create Haiti's prerevolutionary plantation system (mostly sugar and indigo). Moreover, the ruling elites fought among themselves so much throughout the long 19th century, seeking enrichment by aggrandizing the state, that economic development prospects were sidelined. Dupuy also arrestingly analyzes the 20th-century battle for power between Black Haitians and mulatto interests, which led almost directly to the 29-year dictatorship of François and Jean-Claude Duvalier, Papa Doc and Baby Doc, respectively, which consumed the energies of the people and greatly retarded Haiti's prosperous emergence in modern times. Dupuy's final chapter deals with the 2023-24 eruption of gang violence, which destroyed Port-au-Prince and plunged Haiti into deep hunger and despair. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

Alex Dupuy is John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology, Emeritus at Wesleyan University. He is an internationally recognized scholar and specialist on Haiti and has given interviews and written commentaries on local, national, and international radio and television networks, including Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN and The Agenda with Steve Parkin on Toronto Public TV.

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