Sustainable Peace as Democratization: The Experiences of Haiti and Guatemala

Drawing upon the experience of international attempts to build lasting peace in Haiti and Guatemala, and also upon IPI’s research and facilitation work in Haiti, the report offers some conclusions regarding the circumstances under which democratization and peacebuilding can become mutually reinforcing in fragile societies.
From the 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.