Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs - Haiti

Managing Risk in an Unstable World

Nicholas Burns — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 15:27:57 -0600

November 11, 2016

Dr. Ian Bremmer, expert in political risk and founder of the Eurasia Group, gave a seminar sponsored by the the Future of Diplomacy Project on Thursday, November 9 at the Harvard Kennedy School, titled “Managing Risk in an Unstable World."

Midnight in Moscow

Torrey Taussig and Kevin Ryan — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 13:12:14 -0500

A quarter-century after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, authoritarianism is staging a comeback. Nowhere is this trend more evident than in Russia, where Putin is progressing from consolidating power within Russia’s borders to projecting power beyond them. In response, the world continues to watch and react.

Later this month, members of the European Union will decide whether to renew sanctions against Russia in response to Putin’s continued aggression in eastern Ukraine. In July, NATO will convene in Warsaw for its annual summit to determine the most effective steps to take in the face of an encroaching Russia. What is not likely to be discussed in these deliberations, however, are the political conditions within Russia that are influencing Putin's actions abroad.

Gaëlle Rivard Piché: Gangs and Security in Fragile States

Jacqueline Tempera and Gaëlle Rivard Piché — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 07:07:08 -0600

Just last year, the work environment of one of the Belfer Center's newest fellows was a far cry from Cambridge's quiet campus full of fall foliage and quaint coffee shops.

Gaëlle Rivard Piché, now a Fulbright research fellow in the International Security Program, was working in El Salvador and Haiti studying public order and violence in communities often dominated by gangs.

Correspondence: Reevaluating Foreign-Imposed Regime Change

William G. Nomikos, Alexander B. Downes and Jonathan Monten — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 11:46:06 -0600

William G. Nomikos responds to Alexander B. Downes and Jonathan Monten's Spring 2013 International Security article, "Forced to Be Free?: Why Foreign-Imposed Regime Change Rarely Leads to Democratization."

The Entanglement of Energy, Grand Strategy, and International Security

Meghan L. O'Sullivan — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:07:27 -0500

Americans are pleasantly surprised about how their energy fate appears to have changed, in such a short time, with little notice or anticipation. Within the last five years, both actual US production of oil and gas and projections for future American production have changed dramatically. Whereas in the mid-2000s, experts predicted that the US should anticipate a future of severe dependence on imported natural gas, in 2012 Washington is debating the pros and cons of becoming an exporter of this resource. Even more quietly, domestic production of oil has increased, in large part due to the development of the tight oil in the Bakken formation in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas.

The Handbook of Global Energy Policy

Andreas Goldthau — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:00:18 -0500

This is the first handbook to provide a global policy perspective on energy, bringing together a diverse range of international energy issues in one volume.

UN's Cold, but Correct, Call on Haiti

Juliette Kayyem — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:38:04 -0600

"Putting aside whether the UN's attitude has been sympathetic enough, whether it should vet peacekeeping forces better before deploying them, and whether the organization has a moral obligation to give Haiti more help with its public health needs, Ban's decision will protect all relief efforts in the future. It is the only outcome that provides the necessary protections to those who are asked to work voluntarily in dangerous situations. Most importantly, it will maintain an incentive for nations to support UN efforts for assistance or peacekeeping missions that have, by any measure, done far more good than harm."

Haiti's Lifeline Runway

Juliette Kayyem — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:53:58 -0600

"The military's strength is in logistics, not humanitarian decision-making, a lesson that we seem to discover again and again. In the future, the United States should defer to the host nation, its neighbors, or the United Nations and give them the responsibility of establishing a priority list for flights. We shouldn't take on the ethical dilemma of deciding who comes in first."

Using Refugees as Weapons

Kelly M. Greenhill — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:04:17 -0500

"In 2006, and again in 2008, Qaddafi extracted from the E.U. additional financial aid and equipment (such as boats) that could be used for migration enforcement. In late 2010, the E.U. and Libya concluded a further £500 million accord, which succeeded in stopping, or at least demonstrably slowing, the flow of people across the Mediterranean — until the outbreak of unrest in Tunisia."

How Can US Help Haitians Rebuild Haiti, Not Flee It?

Juliette Kayyem — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:13:02 -0600

"The last major Haitian exodus was not related to poverty, health, education, or a natural disaster. It was, as mass migrations so often are, related to politics. The 1991 military coup deposing Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, resulted in civil unrest and armed rebellion. Haitian migration went from a mere trickle to over 60,000 cases from 1991 to 1994, when Aristide returned to power due to American intervention. And in the decades since, for all of Haiti's problems, it has been a country whose citizens believe in it."

U.S. Interagency Regional Foreign Policy Implementation: A Survey of Current Practice and an Analysis of Options for Improvement

Robert S. Pope — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:17:08 -0500

The United States has a complex, multi-agency structure to plan, synchronize, and execute foreign policy and national security. By statute, the State Department is the lead agency for foreign policy. However, in practice, the much larger and better-funded Department of Defense conducts much of America's foreign policy activity, often with little coordination with the State Department or other relevant agencies. Over the past two decades, the military's Geographic Combatant Commands have taken an increasing lead in planning and executing foreign policy activities around the world. This has often effectively put a military face and voice on America's foreign policy, sometimes to the detriment of broader U.S. goals and relationships. More effective U.S. foreign policy requires greater interagency coordination at all levels and a greater role for the State Department as America's lead agency for foreign policy.

Belfer in Brief

Sharon Wilke — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:00:24 -0600

News briefs related to activities of Belfer Center faculty, fellows, and staff.

Harvard energy fellow assists disaster relief in Haiti

Justin Dargin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:12:21 -0600

January 20, 2010

EarthSpark International, a U.S.-based nonprofit that operates in Haiti, co-founded by Dubai Initiative Fellow Justin Dargin, is raising money to send solar lamps to the country to assist in disaster relief efforts. The organization is working with a coalition of fellow Clinton Global Initiative members to coordinate the supply and distribution of solar-powered products in Port-au-Prince.

Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict

Maria Stephan and Erica Chenoweth — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:24:05 -0500

The historical record indicates that nonviolent campaigns have been more successful than armed campaigns in achieving ultimate goals in political struggles, even when used against similar opponents and in the face of repression. Nonviolent campaigns are more likely to win legitimacy, attract widespread domestic and international support, neutralize the opponent's security forces, and compel loyalty shifts among erstwhile opponent supporters than are armed campaigns, which enjoin the active support of a relatively small number of people, offer the opponent a justification for violent counterattacks, and are less likely to prompt loyalty shifts and defections. An original, aggregate data set of all known major nonviolent and violent resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2006 is used to test these claims. These dynamics are further explored in case studies of resistance campaigns in Southeast Asia that have featured periods of both violent and nonviolent resistance.

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Ashton Carter appointed to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s International Security Advisory Board

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

November 6, 2006

At a November 6, 2006 swearing-in at the State Department, Preventive Defense Project Co-Director and Kennedy School of Government professor Ashton B. Carter became a member of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) which is charged with providing advice on a wide range of issues affecting national security.

Weak and Failing States: Critical new Security Issues

Robert Rotberg — Wed, 30 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0500

Rotberg argues that failing states are a particular worry to the security of the twenty-first century.

From the Opinion Pages…

Tue, 20 Apr 2004 10:13:19 -0500

Notable quotes from opeds and testimonies.

To Save Haiti, Aristide Must Go

Robert Rotberg — Sat, 28 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0600

February 28, 2004

To Save Haiti

Aristide's Failed Promise

Robert Rotberg — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0600

January 12, 2004

TWO HUNDRED years old and still suffering -- that is the sad tale of Haitiand Haitians during this poignant bicentennial month.

State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of Terror

Robert Rotberg, Nasrin Dadmehr and Erin Jenne — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0600

December 31, 2002

The threat of terror has given the problem of failed states an unprecedented immediacy and importance. In the past, failure had a primarily humanitarian dimension, with fewer implications for peace and security. Now nation-states that fail, or may do so, pose dangers to themselves, to their neighbors, and to people around the globe. The contributors to this volume develop an innovative theory of state failure that classifies and categorizes states along a continuum from weak to failed to collapsed.

Haiti's Turmoil: Politics and Policy Under Aristide and Clinton

Robert Rotberg — Tue, 31 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0600

December 31, 2002

The New Nature of Nation-State Failure

Robert Rotberg — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 00:00:00 -0500

Nation-states fail because they can no longer deliver positive political goods to their people.