Can Haiti Be Governed? June 9, 2008

Host: Hudson Institute. In February 2004, an interim government took office in Haiti to organize new elections under the auspices of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Continued violence and technical delays prompted repeated postponements, but Haiti finally did inaugurate a democratically elected president and parliament in May of 2006. Two years later, this Caribbean nation of nearly 9 million people remains plagued by extreme poverty, violent gangs, and most recently riots over skyrocketing food prices. The challenge of coping many of these challenges has been a Haitian civil service weakened by years of chaos and political paralysis, corruption, and neglect. An innovative effort of the Canadian International Development Agency and the Province of Quebec has sent public administration professors from Quebec’s École Nationale d’Administration Publique (ENAP) to help train and professionalize Haitian civil servants. Professor Yves Poulin, Director for International Cooperation at ENAP will provide a progress report on Haiti and a comparative perspective based on his past work in such countries as Algeria, Benin, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Lebanon, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, and Vietnam.

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