Civil-Military Relations

Abstract

The instability of the Haitian political and governmental system is often blamed on the army, which has been seen as a destabilizing force throughout the history of the nation. This general opinion has been held by both the Haitian populace and foreign analysts. It was partly with a view to restraining a pro-Kako (members of revolutionary bands who later engaged the US Marines in guerilla warfare) faction of the army from playing a ‘director role’ in Haitian politics that the United States intervened militarily in Haiti from 1915 to 1934, dismantled the old guard and replaced it with a professional army. The professionalization of the army, however, has not solved the problem of political instability. It has simply cast it in a different mode.