CIAO DATE: 05/02

Sustainable Peace as Democratization: The Experiences of Haiti and Guatemala

Executive Summary

This comparison of international efforts to encourage and sustain peace in Guatemala and Haiti derives from the heavy involvement of the international community in peacebuilding in both countries during the 1990s. Civil conflict in both countries has resulted from a combination of exclusionary politics and domination by predatory economic elites. The conclusions advanced below should assist in the assessment of international strategies for addressing political and economic turmoil in similarly distressed countries in the future.

Guatemala and Haiti have embarked on processes to build peace over the past two decades that seek to end years of civil strife and human rights abuses against a backdrop of systemic inequality, weak state institutions, and political violence. This comparative study examines the history, actors, outcomes and prospects of the processes. In both cases, peace has been sought through a deliberate and at times forced process of democratization. The assumption has been that building formal democratic institutions—political parties, legislatures,and elections—is the best guarantee of sustainable peace. The study analyzes the success of this approach, examines the challenges that face newly democratizing countries emerging from violent conflict, and asks to what extent the formally democratic institutions in these countries are capable of managing the numerous tensions evident in both societies before further conflict erupts.

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