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Haiti, Rising Flames from Burning Ashes: Haiti the Phoenix | 
 enlarge | Author: Hyppolite Pierre
Publisher: University Press of America
Category: Book
Buy New: $49.00
New (11) Used (6) from $15.00
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 1399070
Media: Paperback
Pages: 390
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0761833692
Dewey Decimal Number: 972
EAN: 9780761833697
ASIN: 0761833692
Publication Date: April 28, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Haiti, Rising Flames from Burning Ashes is a brutally honest and precise historical analysis of Haiti and a discussion of how the political system can be reformed to promote democracy, a vibrant economy, and cultural integration. In contrast to traditional theory, Haiti, Rising Flames from Burning Ashes explores the distribution of powers rather than the separation of powers as a solution to Haiti's political and cultural chaos.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Pierre Scores A Big One July 1, 2006
G. Amoth (Annapolis, Maryland)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Approaching this work from a direction other than scholarly, I found the book to be engaging from a historical perspective and certainly thought provoking on an overall basis. If one knew nothing about Haiti, other than "it's somewhere out there by Cuba," as did I and your only point of reference was Papa Doc Duvalier, who was certainly a newsmaker in his own right, after digesting this book your knowledge base will expand dramatically. This is not a light, or easy read; however, anyone that has any interest in history or politics should find this to be a fascinating book. Haiti seems to be a pot that has been just below the boiling point in one manner or another for a number of years. Pierre examines the reasons for unrest, political chicanery over the years and gross miscues on the part of other governments that have been involved in and with Haiti. This leaves the reader with a solid foundation of what was, what happened and what could be if Haiti develops along the lines of thought he weaves into the book. Highly recommended from a lay persons point of view; politically astute throughout and very thought provoking. I'll give it an "A."
 A Passionate Portrait of Haiti July 24, 2006
Adam Minson/Dan Erikson (Washington, DC)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Hyppolite Pierre has emerged as one of the most thoughtful and provocative young Haitian scholars in the United States who have been trying to advance to solutions to the plight of their home country. In his new book, Pierre investigates Haitian history to identify the origins of the country's current political situation. Not surprisingly, he argues that Haiti's development has been crippled by the embrace of predatory political traditions, and he offers fresh historical examples that Haitian leaders might follow.
Pierre's diagnosis of Haiti's political ailments is dead-on. This battered country has suffered from the repeated triumph of opportunism over pragmatism, resulting social and political mistrust, the reliance on violence as the ultimate problem-solver, and the centralization of power. But is Haiti really that unique? While Pierre's coverage of the political history is exhaustive and well-analyzed, his insistence on Haiti's historical uniqueness fails to explain why many now-successful post-colonial republics were also born in violent revolution and struggled through years of brutish, mistrustful, and corrupt politics.
Why does Haiti's history hang so heavily around its neck? What truly sets Haiti apart from much of the developing world isn't its frequent political upheaval, but rather its harrowing economic backslide and economic degradation over the last 200 years - exacerbated by the episodic intervention of the great powers in the affairs of this small state created by freed slaves. Throughout its history, the notion of Haitian sovereignty has been a notably flexible concept both within and outside Haiti. Pierre makes this link between the political and economic roots of violence when he writes that "the obsession with political power resulting from the weaknesses in the economy has always been so intense that vital questions are rarely explored."
Pierre's book was published just a few months before Rene Preval was inaugurated for a second time as Haiti's president, thus earning a second chance to become the most democratic and perhaps the most pragmatic head of state in modern Haiti. But in the absence of a new social contract or a viable political compromise, populist appeals will continue to resonate with the millions of Haitians who live on less then $2 a day, yet Haiti desperately needs a political pragmatist who can make peace with the country's fractious elites and win the confidence of the international community to maintain the flow of foreign aid. The electoral victory of Rene Preval may offer the chance for greater democratic stability, but it remains to be seen whether the U.S. and the international community can break the cycle of intervention and neglect and work effectively with the new Haitian leadership.
Pierre concludes his book by writing that "Haiti is like a Phoenix buried under her own ashes, barely visible and looking vile. But under these ashes hides a dim but brash, unyielding and consuming fire." Pierre means the metaphor as a symbol of hope, but it can be easily be seen as one of despair. Are the Haitian people doomed to choose between ashes and fire? The author closes the book by invoking the words of former Haitian leader Alexandre Petion that "freedom means freedom." But Petion's political career began with the assassination of Haiti's first leader, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, in 1806. As Pierre passionately argues in his new work, although more than two hundred years have passed since gaining independence, most Haitians can barely perceive their freedom in the midst of the lawlessness and deprivation that threatens to keep both democracy and development at bay.
A fascinating book and easy to read September 13, 2006
N. Rossier (USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
In February 2004 Haiti lived its 33rd bloody coup d'etat in 200 years and
its second one in less than 15 years. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the
constitutionally elected president was overthrown on February 29, 2004 by a
band of paramilitary thugs carrying US made M16 and supported by the United
Sates, France, Canada and the Haitian opposition. He was replaced by a
brutal puppet regime, led by a prime minister nominated by a council of
notables. The regime held on until June 2006, during which thousands of
Haitians were killed and hundreds opponents were jailed without receiving
any judgment.
Haiti is among the poorest and less politically stable countries of the
Western Hemisphere, ravaged by extreme unemployment, almost total
deforestation and many infectious diseases. On the other hand, Haiti has one
of the richest culture in the Americas and its diaspora is flourishing
everywhere in the world. This paradox deserves all our attention and
Hyppolite Pierre has done a great job in trying to make us understand it.
In the beginning of his book, Pierre talks about the historical failure of
compromise between political leaders. He explains that the death of
Toussaint who tried to compromise with the French" as he says, "was a
devastating blow to the spirit of compromise in the heart and soul of the
successive leaders after the revolution". He cites as modern examples, the
electoral controversy of eight Lavalas senators which would not resign in
May 2000 and the criminal stubbornness of the opposition which refused twice
the power sharing plan agreed by Aristide before the 2004 coup. But in the
case of Aristide it should be noted for instance that his government was one
of the most inclusive that Haiti had known. Aristide for instance accepted
in his government former political opponent Marc Bazin as minister of
planning, former Duvalier minister Stanley Theard as minister of industry as
well as many members of the mulatto elite such as Lilas Desquiron or Leslie
Voltaire. He was much criticised for this by part of the intellectual left
and some of his own party members.
The ideas and suggestions in Part III are very interesting, especially the
part on the executive branch where Pierre defends with conviction the
importance of stability in the political process. He argues that "a system
that can not allow a president to finish his term will not inspire
confidence and that the only way to end a presidence's term is through the
process of impeachment allowed by the constitution". Political stability is
key to stimulate developpement and investment and one can easily argue that
the last two years following the coup have been among the worses in all
Haiti's history. Realities in Haiti are often very confusing and people,
even well educated on paper, are trapped in trying to look only for quick
fixes.
Chapter 24 deals with the diaspora and is one of the more interesting and
hopeful for me. Pierre shows with strong evidence how the Haitian diaspora
has been neglected and how its resources have not been tapped constructively
for the best interest of Haiti. He argues that its members who pay each year
an average of twenty to thirty percent of their revenue in remittances
(total of one $ billion a year) to their family back in Haiti should be
fully included in Haiti's political life and shows how that could be done.
Although I did not agree with every of his critics against Aristide's last
government, his attempt to be constructive, honest and balance should be
applauded. Not much has been written recently in the press or in academia
that tries to go beyond partisan hatred. His book is fascinating and offers
glimpses of hope by telling us how the political system could be reformed to
promote peace democracy and economic prosperity in Haiti. Besides, he makes
us understand how Haiti's struggle for its identity is profoundly rooted
into its complicated and troubled past. I believe that the reasons for
Haiti's failures may lie mostly in the lack of historical knowledge of the
many politicians, commentators and international leaders who have been
involved in Haiti's decision making process. Hence, Pierre's book is
extremely useful and I would highly recommend it to schools, universities,
people working in politics, and anybody who wants to understand Haiti
and its complex and rich history.
[Nicolas Rossier - director of Aristide and the Endless Revolution..]
Review of Hyppolite Pierre, Haiti: Rising Flames from Burning Ashes June 14, 2006
George A. Rosso Jr.
I enjoyed reading this book from a former student. It is a great personal accomplishment and its argument timely and necessary. Pierre argues in clear and unequivocal terms that the Haitian government should be reformed into a rational, law-based system of checks and balances that both insures a level of independence for the judiciary and legislative branches from the executive branch and enables them to work together for the good of all citizens. He brings impressive historical knowledge to the task and deftly uses the context of Haitian independence, both its triumphs and failures, as a theoretical model for what is right and wrong in Haitian politics today. And he supplies a fascinating account of the post-colonial power structure dominated by traditional elites, whose French-identified class bias and racism continue to divide Haiti.
The author also shows admirable courage in taking on the orthodox Left by refusing the argument for revolution. Although I think he idealizes and portrays U.S. democracy uncritically in many places, Pierre's strategy of grounding his argument in the unfulfilled revolution of 1804 is insightful and wise. He stretches the historical analogy perhaps too far into the 20th century, but it works rhetorically and politically. His grasp of Haiti's long history also is strong and assuring, lending resonance and credibility to his account of the political failures of revolution in each generation. Being equally critical of traditional elites helps provide analytical balance and turns the argument into a model of rational and moderate negotiation between political extremes. The treatment of Aristide is exemplary in this regard and, while I think it would strengthen the argument to explain more fully and clearly how Aristide brought the masses into the political arena, I believe Pierre's insistence on building a stable civil society through rational, predictable, and enduring structures of governance is a mature and valuable addition to Haitian politics.
I found part I to be the most successful, especially chapters 2-5, which are very solid and launch the book nicely, setting the tone and establishing the credibility of the author's argument. His treatment of the post-independence power consolidation is sharp and makes a significant contribution to the period. Although the book could benefit from engaging, however critically, the classic arguments of C.L.R. James's Black Jacobins (l938), Pierre's account of the dynamic struggle between Christophe and Petion and of Boyer's ultimately disastrous policies is worth consideration by scholars writing in the field of both Haitian and post-colonial studies.
Part II on the U.S. occupation is also good. It tells the truth about U.S. aggression and does not gloss over the responsibility of Haiti's elite and the people in general in provoking such action. But this part raises a key intellectual and political problem that the book does not adequately deal with: and that is the question of agency (in terms of the means of exerting power or influence). The issue is not easily explained or resolved. Even in the United States, Pierre's model democracy, it is questionable whether common citizens actually have power or the means to influence government. Although this question also emerges forcefully in part III on how to reform Haitian institutions, it appears starkly in relation to the occupation by the U.S., which may with France exert more economic and military power over Haitian politics than Pierre allows. But that is open to debate. What he does say in chapter 7 (particularly pp. 88-9) is that the U.S. stabilized the country while "failing to install a systemic backbone to ensure that Haiti would not again fall into the trap of its history" (89). How can an occupier install a system and that system be the historical exertion of the Haitian people? The question is doubly difficult to understand when the author does not state what were the strategic goals of the U.S. at the time. Pierre's treatment of Estime and Papa Doc are very good and make the chapter strong, with excellent work on Lavalas and Aristide as they relate to Pierre's "all-or-nothing" thesis about Haiti's political culture. But the material on Baby Doc needs more analysis (110ff) in relation to the economics of U.S. intervention: since he suggests that the U.S. really was in control of the Haitian economy in the 1970s, which in turn structured the political behavior of Haiti's rulers, then he needs to lay out more clearly the nature and goal of U.S. overlordship in this period (and others) as well. Further, while this question of agency in relation to the United States would force Pierre to deepen and complicate his analysis of the U.S. as a model democratic society, the concluding paragraph to part II raises the issue purely within the Haitian context: who is in charge of the "carrot and stick" policy? Pierre says that "Reason" must be at the center of all political decisions, but how do you manifest such an abstraction, particularly since revolutionary change must be subordinated to a U.S model of pragmatism? This question makes part III of the book very important.
That Pierre understands the importance of a broad-based and comprehensive reformation of Haiti's institutions of governance is a credit to his foresight and courage in tackling the hard questions. It also shows a deep-seated and genuine love of his country. Having recognized its value, though, I think this is the least successful part of the book.
The ideas in Part III are encouraging but lack the requisite concreteness to be of pragmatic use. Who is to carry out these suggestions? More crucially, what obstacles must be faced? In terms of the military (whose reform would be instrumental in changing Haiti), what entrenched resistance might arise from traditional elites, rival factions, or U.S. and French interests? These considerations involve agency and who will inaugurate and guide the reforms, especially in terms of distributing power more widely than the three branches of government. The basic idea is good, to open up more political space for the media, interest groups, professional associations, and the like. But these chapters speak of organizing different interest groups under an "umbrella" and of establishing a "set of accepted legal structures" without saying who would carry out this activity (190). How do you institutionalize the two national parties? What would the CEP need to do to become more powerful? The author mentions "incentives" (223) without saying what they are or how the CEP would become more organized, powerful, and relevant. At this stage, he simply asserts that they should be so. The CEP's autonomy is important but how to engineer such independence, particularly in light of the majority party getting 4 members on the CEP (239)? What "smart, pointed, and relevant legislative decisions" does the author have in mind (256)? Perhaps the point is simply to get the idea out there, especially in view of the dominance of "egos" in the present system, but without some sense of the specifics of the proposed changes Pierre's argument remains abstract.
The executive branch chapter (21) is refreshing because the historical analogy returns to bolster the argument; but the next chapter on empowering the people needs to consider more fully, as I suggest above, what role Aristide's brand of populism would play in the reform of Haiti's institutions. Again, the question of agency is central to this concern and no single writer has all the answers to these questions. It is valuable that Pierre raises them. And he does so as a patriot in exile, which makes the chapter on the Diaspora (24) one of the best in the book: it benefits from the author's personal experience and knowledge and provides more grounded discussion than the chapters on state institutions. Finally, I think it would help the structure of the book to separate chapters 22-25 into a part IV, especially since part III is over-crowded.
My criticisms may appear to overshadow my praise for the book, but that is not my intent. Hyppolite Pierre has written an important and provocative book, one that should enhance his reputation as a voice to be reckoned with in Haitian political circles. While I believe the press was negligent in not ensuring a better scholarly presentation, and in producing typographic and allowing grammatical miscues, I was inspired by the book and look forward to his continuing contributions to the science of politics and to the improvement of his beloved Haiti.
Professor G.A. Rosso
Department of English
Southern Connecticut State University
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