How to Rebuild -- Remake -- Haiti Ongoing Coverage Haiti's History & Politics

How To Rebuild -- Remake -- Haiti

The Way Forward?
Aid experts say it's time to break with the past and rethink how aid works. Here's excerpts from those interviewed for FRONTLINE's report.

And for more from some of these experts, check out William Easterly's blog Aid Watch, New York Times Op-Eds by Paul Collier and Mark Danner, and Jeffrey Sachs' Q&A with The Economist.

Despite Years of Crushing Poverty, Hope Grows in Haiti
This PBS NewsHour report aired just a day before the quake and described a Haiti on the rise: violence was down, aid was being used to develop Haitian-driven business, and the international community was beginning to invest in manufacturing and tourism. According to correspondent Kira Kay, it was "a race against time for Haiti to convince its people and the world that this moment of promise can be made permanent." (Jan 11, 2010)

The Good Doctor
A 2000 New Yorker profile by Tracy Kidder on how Dr. Paul Farmer brought sustained medical care and education to Haiti. Some argue Farmer's organization, Partners in Health, is the most successful attempt at providing aid in Haiti and should be a model for the future.

Haiti: From Natural Catastrophe to Economic Security [PDF]
Commissioned by U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, this January 2009 report by Oxford University economist Paul Collier makes recommendations to expand Haiti's economic viability. Collier states that "for the maintenance of social order military security must rapidly be superseded by economic security" and advocates for "an economic strategy that is simple and realistic, yet powerful." This strategy would focus on four areas of development: jobs, basic services, food security and environmental sustainability.

Why Foreign Aid to Haiti Failed
This 2006 report by the National Academy of Public Administration "explains why, after consuming billions in foreign aid over three decades … Haiti remains politically dysfunctional and impoverished." The paper ultimately points to "Haiti's politics and American foreign policy" as well as the assumption that the country is "so dysfunctional, donors do not want to invest resources in it."

How to Help Haiti
"Five experts on nation-building, economic development, and emergency aid weigh in on how best to help devastated Port-au-Prince." Recommendations range from a multibillion dollar endowment fund, to better-coordinated NGOs, to changing the structure of aid delivery. (Foreign Policy, Jan. 19, 2010)

Rebuilding Haiti: The Work of Decades
In an interview with the Council of Foreign Relations, the International Crisis Group's Mark Schneider argues that recovery in Haiti "is a long-term reconstruction. People need to be thinking about decades" and billions of dollars to "create 'a new Haiti' with a new educational system and other changes throughout society." (Jan. 19, 2010)

Ongoing Coverage

The New York Times: Haiti
This portal page collects the Times' coverage, including a brief history, an interactive feature with photos and video after the earthquake, and an editorial on aid efforts.

NPR: Latest News
Here's NPR's ongoing reporting, and in addition, you can drill down on specific dates of interest with their timeline of coverage from various news organizations; for example, Jan. 13, 2010, the day after the earthquake.

The New Yorker: Haiti
Its collection of articles, includes this live chat with writers George Packer, Jon Lee Anderson and Tracy Kidder, and a blog post by Steve Coll on earthquakes and journalism.

Haiti's History and Politics

BBC Timeline: Haiti
A primer on the history of Haiti.

Beyond the Mountains
This three-part series by Mark Danner chronicles Haiti's political instability in the 1980s. The first article, linked to above, is an on-the-ground report of the bloody presidential elections of 1987 and '88 after the coup that ousted Jean-Claude Duvalier. The second is an in-depth history of Haiti that explores issues of race, revolution, and the ascension of notorious dictator Francois Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude. The third is on the 15-year rule of Jean-Claude Duvalier. (The New Yorker, November and December 1989)

Haiti on the Verge
Danner examines the life and political career of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in this November 1993 article in The New York Review of Books. Included are excerpts and references from several of Aristide's books, including his autobiography and several works of political theory. Also check out the other two articles in this three-part series, "The Prophet" and "The Fall of the Prophet."

Lives in the Balance
Amy Wilentz profiles Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1994, the year Aristide returned to Haiti from exile to continue his presidency. She focuses his almost impossible task: reconciling with those who supported the coup that ousted him in 1991 while also prosecuting those who committed crimes against Haitian citizens. Wilentz concludes: "It doesn't look like a place on the verge of a new era. … Haiti is still a country at the very end of its rope." (The New Yorker)