The Influence of Corporate Interests on USAID's Development Agenda: The Case of Haiti

Guy Metayer's dissertation, defended at Florida International University on April 2, 2012, applies the radical political economy approach, which assumes a link between a state's strategic interests and the interests of dominant multinational corporations located in its territory. Using the qualitative method of process tracing, it examines the past 30 years of development aid to Haiti, from the 1980s through the post-9/11 Washington Consensus period. The work is organized in five chapters.

The dissertation concludes that USAID implemented neoliberal policies in Haiti that conformed to the interests of U.S. multinational corporations. It argues that the 1980s export-oriented strategy, which USAID cosponsored with the World Bank and the IMF, promoted agro-industry and an assembly industry, neglected the rural economy and bypassed the Haitian state in favor of the private sector and NGOs. It also argues that USAID used the January 2010 earthquake to accelerate this agenda, and it calls for a new approach led by a legitimate Haitian state and aimed at the poorest Haitians.