Description
Almost 200 years ago, the Haitian people launched a revolution which ended slavery and established the world’s first independent black republic. However it used to be a country “born in ruins”. Once a source of plunder for the French colonial power, the national economy has since been a source of personal enrichment for a series of rapacious rulers. Essentially the most latest of these, “Papa” and “Baby Doc” Duvalier, have between them ruled Haiti for the last 30 years, turning the country into a virtual Circle of relatives business. Repression, punctuated with occasional periods of liberalization, has sustained a social order during which an estimated 75 per cent of the rural population continue to exist the edge of starvation.
Haiti: Circle of relatives Business traces the historical orgins of the “Duvalier system” and shows how and why it has survived until now. It examines the brand new Haitian economy, the country’s social structure and the role of america, for most of this century a key actor n Haitian political life. The book also looks on the forces for change in a country which has in latest years undergone some economic modernization and assesses the future prospects of the “Duvalier system”.