Vulnerability and Causes of Fragility in Haiti

Summary: A case study in FRIDE's series on fragile states, arguing that Haiti's vulnerability and fragility are linked and that the extreme weakness and predatory character of the state has not been offset by efforts to build state-society linkages. It traces the Duvalier legacy — a regime acting as police and judge at once — through to present exclusion, denial of rights and generalised distrust of state institutions, and reads the democratic transition as opposition to a dictatorial and exclusionary regime rather than the adoption of a democratic culture. It notes that fragile states, unlike others, are not resilient to external shocks and often backslide on the way out of poverty.