The Roots of Haitian Despotism

With all the news of Haiti's economic, social, and political crises these last few years, we have decided to revisit Robert Fatton's The Roots of Haitian Despotism. Borrowing from Bourdieu and the notion of an authoritarian habitus embedded in Haitian governance since the 1801 Constitution of Toussaint Louverture, Fatton seeks to elucidate Haitian political despotism or authoritarianism as part of a repertoire of practices, attitudes, and behavior grounded in the material foundation of society. Fatton traces this to the heritage of white colonial absolutism and the coercive slave labor of the plantation economy of Saint Domingue. He defines habitus as a "structured structure" in which the conditions for despotism and corruption could become so rife. Due to the unique conditions surrounding Haitian independence, despotism was almost inevitable because of external factors that necessitated the militarization of society, further eroding civil institutions and aligning the fate of the young nation with its elites who benefited from caporalisme agraire to revive plantation agriculture, Haiti's export economy, and protect independence. 

In this context, it becomes no surprise that politics in Haiti is that of the belly (politique du ventre). The mangeurs use the state to increase their own wealth and power under a system Fatton terms presidential monarchism. Presidential monarchism entailed widespread corruption and repressive practices to stay in power and retain the loyalty of dependents. Paradoxically, these regimes also encouraged rebellions, uprisings and conflict as other contenders seek the power and wealth linked to political control. Unsurprisingly, paternalism and the discourse of the president as "father" of the people sought to mask the cruel face of the various presidential monarchs and dictatorships of Haiti while exploiting the color question could also be used to appeal to the masses without any reforms or end to corruption and authoritarian rule. Fatton cites examples of this under Soulouque and Papa Doc while these aforementioned rulers and Aristide additionally used parastatal forces to supplement their power and terrorize the population (zinglins, macoutes, and gangs under Aristide). 

Of the various heads of state, Duvalier appears to have been the master of employing messianic overtones, paternalism, use of the macoutes to terrorize the population and opposition. His redistribution of the spoils of power cleverly created more profits for the top of the power pyramid while the macoutes were cheaply paid for their services. Fatton refers to this as the gangsterization of politique du ventre (107). However, he disagrees with Trouillot classifying Papa Doc's regime as totalitarian since he lacked a mobilizing mass, party ideology, and advanced bureaucracy to qualify as totalitarian (194). Of course, how many totalitarian regimes actually do achieve complete totalitarianism or fascist control, especially in a places like Haiti without a history of mass political parties? Perhaps "creole fascism" is a more accurate term for something that acquired aspects of the worst 20th century states but lacked other features. 

The rest of the book focuses on various other factors in the growth and maintenance of Haiti's authoritarian habitus. The US Occupation in the 20th century furthered the trend and revealed the deep divisions within Haitian society. For Fatton, the caco rebellions failed because Peralte and Batraville did not create alliances with the urban poor and progressive intelligentsia and failed to call for other changes for the rural population. This would seem to be a result of the various failed, coopted caco or piquet uprisings of the 19th century which never led to systematic reforms or democratic power sharing between the peasantry, urban poor, and the elites (both civil and military). The increase in political centralization during and after the Occupation strengthened the hold of the authoritarian regimes (either US military or subsequent Haitian administrations) in the countryside with more powerful section chiefs in the countryside and later administrations continued the authoritarian habitus. Under Baby, Doc, some liberalization was introduced but only followed by low-level democracy under neoliberal conditions imposed by the US and dominant world system. Neoliberalism's anti-democratic effects led to "low intensity democracy" under Aristide and Preval (205). Thus, Haiti after Duvalier became a ceremonial democracy within the same habitus, so corruption, despotic governance, lack of accountability, and the reliance on gangs, death squads, and violence continues today. 

How does one make sense of the Haiti of today, over a year after the assassination of Moïse? The habitus described by Fatton seems just as relevant today though the apparent independence of some gang leaders and the breakdown of state authority suggests the state has some of its enforcement capabilities. Today's Haiti retains aspects of the authoritarian habitus in a state with a weaker monopoly on violence. To what extent the notion of habitus is a useful heuristic can be debated since it does resemble culturalist arguments of Haitian underdevelopment, even if the primary origin of the phenomenon is the plantation economy of Saint Domingue. Nevertheless, we feel that this is an important book that endeavors to move away from blaming Haiti's woes on its allegedly "African" influences of "primitive" Vodou and progress-resistant cultural impulses.