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DICTATORSHIP & UNDERDEVELOPMENT.
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Discusses autocratic & oligarchial systems. Post-Colonial history of Gabon & Bongo regime. Haiti & Duvalier.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses autocratic & oligarchial systems. Post-Colonial history of Gabon & Bongo regime. Haiti & Duvalier.
Paper Introduction:
DICTATORSHIP AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT
Dictatorship, as a form of government, has fallen into opprobrium in the course of the 20th century. This was not always the case. "Dictator" was originally a Roman constitutional office, exercising absolute powers for a limited term during emergencies. Later, with repeated renewals of authority extending it to an indefinite term, it was used or abused by Julius Caesar before his assassination.
In modern times "dictator" has come to mean an autocratic ruler whose power is not hereditary or otherwise traditional in origin; that is, in contrast to an autocratic monarch. This writer is not aware of any ruler of modern times who has self-adopted it as a title, but in the earlier part of the 20th
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1.19. There is little sign that thepopulation of the capital, Libreville, then just 17, ,[iv] showed anystrong reaction either way to news of their liberation. In its first century and more of independence, Haitiangovernments scarcely even tried to impose their authority in any systematicway throughout the countryside. 5-6.15. According to one writer, "a prominent feature of petroleum operationsin the developing world is that they lack a basic relatedness with theirsurrounding economic environments."[xiii] The reason for this disconnectis fairly simple and basic: Oil extraction is capital-intensive ratherthan labor-intensive, and most of the labor required is highly specialized. Moreover, most of the labor involved is in the very beginning of theprocess -- drilling wells. Ibid, p. and Afterword (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996), pp. All lines of authority randirectly to Duvalier himself; there was no command level within the Tontonsthat could acquire a collective sense of itself and thus become a potentialrival power center.[xxiii] The indiscipline of the Tontons, in any normal military orparamilitary sense, and their reputation for random violence, both werenotorious. By one estimate, the average moneyincome of an inhabitant of the capital, Libreville, is twenty-two timesthat of a traditional farmer in the interior.[xii] Such a comparison mayoverstate the poverty of the traditional farmer, who might well obtain manynecessities of life through subsistence production or local, non-monetaryexchange. The Haitian elitethus has the characteristics of a rentier elite, one that expects to usewealth to maintain a desired lifestyle rather than devoting life to theproduction of further wealth -- or, put in simpler terms, to enjoyingwealth rather than earning it. It is notable,however, that similar associations adhere to the modern West's supreme, andhomegrown, image of the tyrannical dictator: Adolf Hitler. Ibid., pp. (Gainesville: Florida Academic Press, 1998), pp. These may be considered contrastingcases of "responsible" autocratic rule as against purely personalist rule.Gabon, neocolonialism, and "responsible" autocracy The post-colonial history of Gabon has been largely shaped by eventsthat call into some question how "post" it is. Fascist leaders assumed titles, Duce andFuehrer, that plainly connoted autocratic personal rule. The rule of less personalist, more "responsible" autocrats maybe equally harsh toward those viewed as threats, but is typically governedby some degree of rationality as opposed to sheer whim. Upon the departure of the Marines, Haiti relapsed again into asuccession of ineffectual governments. Duvalier personally had previously shown someintellectual affinity toward "noiriste" ideas that sought to substitute theblack folk tradition for that of the old elite. Control over pricing shifted from the companies to thegovernments (and thus elites) of the oil-producing countries.[xiv]However, even if these governments and elites became quite sophisticated intheir management of supply and pricing, oil wealth remained fundamentally awindfall, isolated from the mainstream of the nations' economic lives. Nor did the Duvaliers really do so on aformal level; what emerged instead was a system that has been characterizedas government by franchise. Ibid., p. This development was, however,almost strikingly devoid of any revolutionary, anti-French, or evenstrongly anticolonial element. This writer is not aware of any rulerof modern times who has self-adopted it as a title, but in the earlier partof the 2 th century the connotations of the word were not universallynegative. The main work projectlasted until 1987, at a cost of some $4 billion -- twice initial estimates. It is true that, for reasons discussed earlier, oilproduction is exceptionally cut off from the general economic life of ThirdWorld countries, and not a direct engine of development. Oil pricing,like oil operations, was in the hands of the companies, particularly the"seven sisters" international oil giants. These ended with the election ofFrancois Duvalier in 1957. Miners orplantation peasants in Third World countries may be harshly exploited, butthey are necessary to the operation. Ibid., p. Bongo'sGabon cannot be characterized as "lurid," a term all too applicable to theDuvaliers' Haiti. Moreover,the division between the elite and the mass of the Haitian people is astark one. Accounts of theHaitian elite almost invariably attest to its elegance and culturalsophistication, but never to its efficiency or drive. Weinstein and Segal, pp. 117.5. Unable to establish a tame local regime through which they couldmanage the country, the US resorted in 1915 to direct intervention, andHaiti was occupied by US Marines until 1934. The ambassador ofthe former colonial power, France, was aroused by the noise of even abloodless coup. Haiti's political history has been characterized by the division ofthe country into two clearly separate populations. Gainesville: Florida Academic Press, 1998.Matthews, Ronald. In contemporary eyes,"Haiti's newest president seemed a promising representative of the growingblack bourgeoisie of professionals, civil servants, and rurallandholders."[xxi] Such optimism soon proved to be misplaced. In the courseof the 19th century, some rival missionary efforts appeared, includingAmerican Protestants, but the French economic, cultural, and politicalinfluence gradually became predominant, leading by the late 19th century tothe incorporation of Gabon in the French colonial empire. Even the most autocratic and personalist leaders ofthe last half-century have tended to honor constitutionalism in the breachby adopting titles like president. 289.9. Yet oil revenuesdo provide capital, in desperately short supply in most other Third Worldcountries. Psychoses of Power: African Personal Dictatorships.Second Edition. Ibid.13. Oneof the rare exceptions was Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the Central AfricanRepublic, who elevated himself from president to "Emperor" -- an autocratictitle, certainly, but one with powerful traditionalist connotations. Making overtures to theAmericans has evidently been more a means by which the Bongo regime canincrease its leverage in dealing with France than a seriously consideredalternative to the French relationship. Ronald Matthews, African Powder Keg (London: The Bodley Head, 1966), p. The Haitian elite may pridethemselves on their elegant lifestyle, but both through the Duvalier eraand in the post-Duvalier era they have frequently been exposed toarbitrary, even whimsical political violence and terror. This writer was personally startled to discover that the tenureof his son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, was actually longer than thatof Papa Doc himself; the father ruled from 1957 till his death (fromnatural causes) in 1971, and the son from 1971 till 1986. Embarrassed,de Gaulle took action. This was not always the case. Butat the end of it, Mba was miraculously restored dto power.[vi] This restoration, however, was not a permanent solution to the problemof ensuring pro-French stability in Gabon. President Leon Mba was arrested, and compelled(evidently without great effort) to resign. Oil does not foster growth in that way. "The Rentier State in Gabon." Boston University: Working Papers in African Studies, no. Michael C. A subjective but practical operational test of thedistinction might be called the test of luridness. Much more lurid examples of dictatorship could be found in Africa, butwe will turn now to an example drawn from the Western Hemisphere: Haiti,especially under the Duvaliers.Haiti: rule by whim Haiti, like Gabon, shares an element of French cultural and linguisticinfluence, but modified by a much longer history of independence, underconditions that minimized direct French political influence. Samuel DeCalo, Psychoses of Power: African Personal Dictatorships, 2nded. The ruralmajority of Gabonese live in deep poverty, but probably less grindingly sothan for the peasants of Haiti, and with less exposure to random terror.The latter consideration is even more relevant for the privilegedminorities in each country. According to a near-contemporary account, "a period of thirty-six hours in February 1964 sawthe Republic of Gabon the scene of two successive and contradictory acts ofpolitical violence which have so far remained without parallel inAfrica."[iii] The first stage was a bloodless coup by the Gabonese army, aforce of just 4 men. 115.4. News of the coup was broadcast on the national radio station, alongwith promises of political normalization. African Powder Keg: Revolt and Dissent in SixEmergent Nations. p. What would now be called neocolonialism wasnot, however, the rule. Moreover, the Americans, forwhom Haiti was "in their back yard," were more disposed to pursue economicinterests there, and thus acquire a motive for active neo-imperialism. The radical ideas of theFrench Revolution, brought into that environment, triggered a slaverebellion. Duvalier did indeed haveties to the majority population and its tradition, but he used these tiesto strengthen his personal hold on power rather than to foster nationaldevelopment. 86-88.24. Coates, Trans. Samuel DeCalo, Psychoses of Power: African PersonalDictatorships, 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988.Aristide, Jean Bertrand. On the face of it the project was not unreasonable, butthere was little proportion of means to objectives. The French ambassador might well have been taken to have named anacceptable provisional president, easing this delicate decision for themilitary coup leaders. At the end of the process, in 18 4, the French and the whitesettlers had been expelled or killed and Haiti was an independent country,with the mixed-blood (mulatto) population now elevated to the rulingstratum.[xix] For the next 111 years, the history of Haiti was one of almostconstant turmoil, alternating between periods of strong-man rule andanarchic intervals when no strong-man succeeded in establishing himself.For most of this period, politics was confined almost entirely to the post-independence mulatto elite. 7.3. Ibid., pp. Douglas Andrew Yates, "The Rentier State in Gabon." Boston University: Working Papers in African Studies (196), 1995, p. The initial line of developmentwas toward more closely integrating the colonial territories with France.The indigenat, the repressive legal code applied to Africans, was relaxed,and regular French procedures extended to the full population. 21-28.21. But this dissociation is particularly characteristic of oil-producingstates, for reasons largely rooted in the technology of the oil industry. "Jean-Claude's most striking characteristic, however,and the one that indelibly marked his slovenly regime, was his overwhelminglegarthy, a laziness so profound, constant, and all-pervasive that itprovoked more wonder than contempt in his friends."[xxv] His tenure ofoffice was in fact best noted for the extravagance of his marriage toMichele Bennett, and her Marie-Antoinette-like love of very publicdisplay.[xxvi] (On one occasion, she put on a feast of Neroniandimensions, nominally to support her charities, and had the event televisedacross Haiti.) At last Baby Doc and the Duvalierist system became an embarrassment,and in 1986 the US arranged his flight into exile.[xxvii] The subsequentpolitical development of Haiti has not, however, shown exceptional promise. "Gabon: a Neo-Colonial Enclave of Enduring French Interest." Journal of Modern African Studies, 25 (1987), pp. Ibid., pp. All of this is in contrast to other extractive industries, such asmining (especially underground mining), or of plantation economies(essentially biological extraction through agriculture), both of whichrequire a much more extensive and ongoing labor input. Duvalier, by training a physician (hence hislater soubriquet, "Papa Doc"), was not a member of the old mulatto elite,but of a newer, blacker population subgroup which had gradually emergedinto some prominence. French involvement in Gabon began as early as the late 18th century,when a few French Catholic missions were established there. Its per-capita GNP is $4,25 , thehighest in sub-Saharan Africa.[xi] (The reference dates to 1987; no dateis given for the figure.) Such a high per-capita GNP would outwardly seemto class Gabon with the world's middle-rank economies -- those genuinelyemerging nations that are approaching industrial or post-industrial "take-off," as contrasted to those desperately poor nations for which terms like"developing" or "emerging" are bitter ironies. (Gainesville: Florida Academic Press, 1998), pp. These leaders weredismayed at France's casual attitude toward rulers it had often installed,and this dismay was made known to French President de Gaulle. London: The Bodley Head, 1966.Reed, Michael C. Throughoutthe post-colonial Third World, dictatorship or something close to it hasbeen more the rule than the exception: Sukarno and Suharto in Indonesia;Nasser, Assad, Saddam Hussein, Muammar Kadafi, and others in the Arabworld; Bokassa, Idi Amin, and a host of others in Africa; Peron, Batista,Castro, the Duvaliers, and more in the Western Hemisphere. 4 .23. A striking example is the Transgabonais railroad, a project initiallyundertaken in 1972, and intended to cross the country and open the interiorto development. American racial attitudes, in the golden ageof Jim Crow, were scarcely conducive to forming closer relationshipsbetween many Americans and Haitians, even of the elite, who as mulattoeswere "black" in American eyes. (Indeed, they must necessarily do so; annual per capita incomesof $1 or less, if taken literally, could not sustain life at even themost impoverished level.) What is not overstated by such a comparison is the degree to which thetraditional farmers in the interior of Gabon are cut off from markets andfrom modern economic life in general. He retains significant respectability among African leaders. Endnotes -----------------------1. Elizabeth Abbott, Haiti: The Duvaliers and their Legacy (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988), pp. The Monroe Doctrine, long an emptyletter embraced by the British for their own convenience, acquired realteeth with the growth of the American navy. One is the rural massesfrom whom has emerged an original and vibrant culture, the wellspring ofHaitian identity. Not every "military dictator" is a personalistautocrat; sometimes the term has been used, as an exercise in opprobrium,of persons who were simply the chief members of juntas or committees, notautocrats at all. Since 1945, however, the use of such overtly dictatorial titles hasfallen out of fashion. Abbott, p. Thus, Haiti's poverty remains intractable;neither government nor private actions by the elite have ever made anysustained attempt to develop the potential of the land and its people.Such efforts are alien to the elite's outlook, and if successful could onlyupset their comfortable existence.The limits of "responsible" autocracy If one were given the choice of life as either a Gabonese or aHaitian, the former would surely be considered preferable. Ibid., p. Dignity. The regular army was weakened and marginalized, while a newforce was created to serve as Duvalier's power base: the notorious TontonsMacoutes.[xxii] The Tontons Macoutes -- the name comes from the boogeymen of Haitianfolklore -- were a combination militia and secret police, but either ofthese terms gives a misleading picture of their organization and flavor.They were recruited from the poorest segments of Haitian society, and thuswould associate their elevation to relative privilege entirely with theirloyalty to Duvalier. In greater or lesserdegree such a dissociation is common in much of the Third World, and isperhaps less devastating than the too-common alternative in which thetraditional rural sector declines and populations are forced into cities,or onto their fringes, which essentially no prospect of finding employment. Brutal arbitrariness was the rule in thecolonial slave state of Haiti, and it has never escaped that heritage innearly two centuries of independence. Ibid., p. By the turn of the 2 th century, however, British predominance hadgiven way to American predominance. Where an autocraticleader's career is surrounded by bizarre and horrific tales of personalwhim and capricious action, we are dealing with a pure, personalistdictator. For better or worse, "development"in Gabon has scarcely anything to do with them. Ibid., p. It may be useful here to introduce some distinctions among autocraticor oligarchical systems. Poverty remains endemic, and politicalviolence common, though arguably at a far less pervasive level than in theDuvalierist era or even under the 1991-94 military regime. 3 .11. The elites of both countries are essentiallyrentiers, collectively through the state for the most part in Gabon; asindividual landowners or monopolists in Haiti. 3-4.25. Haiti is notoriously, desperately poor; perennially the poorestcountry in the Western Hemisphere. 2ff.17. A highly idiosyncratic, brutal, and personalist system ofsocial repression set up by a civilian or military leader, tyranny is theepitome of personal rule unfettered by moral constraints or politicalstructures and unsupported by society.[i] A distinction, then, can be drawn between those leaders who -- howeverautocratic -- show some sign of regarding themselves as exercising a publictrust on behalf of their people, and those who show little sign of anymotive beyond personal gratification. The resulting line requires an operating subsidy of $6 million a year,with no prospect that it will be self-sufficient in the foreseeablefuture.[xvii] For all failings of the Bongo regime -- from the impracticality of itsdevelopment plans to its inability to shed French neocolonialism, or eventhe fundamental non-representativeness and non-accountability of anautocratic regime -- it does not emerge as one of the worst-case examplesof dictatorship. 38.22. All that changed with the riseof OPEC. 284.12. Belief in direct supernatural powers, as opposed to a more etherialreligion, is viewed in the contemporary West as a primitive trait, and thepolitical assertion of such powers thus has connotations of a primitivesort of rule. Theauthor cited above continues, quoting an Iranian observer: "'However onelooks at them,' Mahdavy observes, 'the oil revenues received by thegovernments of the oil exporting countries have very little to do with theproduction processes of their domestic economies'."[xv] Oil, in and of itself, is not an engine of development. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996.DeCalo, Samuel. 283.8. The classic example of thecapricious, "pure" dictator in post-colonial, sub-Saharan Africa is IdiAmin,[ii] whose bloody rule showed no sign of any agenda beyond self-aggrandizement. Indeed, "Baby Doc's" rule was in some way a coda to his father's;Duvalierism persisted with hardly any active participation by the newPresident-for-Life. However, Gabon's high per-capita GNP is a misleading figure, duelargely to oil production and sales. In the 19th century, in the near-total failure of successive Haitiangovernments to establish any real public presence in the countryside,Voodoo priests and priestesses became important figures in rurallife.[xxiv] Voodoo as such by no means deserves the image it conjures incontemporary American popular culture, where it is conflated with bothother traditions and wholly invented "black magic" rituals. The independent history of Gabon ismuch shorter (and much less independent), but its defining feature has beenthe "managerial" autocracy of Bongo. Aspart of the continuum of oligarchically controlled political power and ofthe quest for total societal subservience, dictatorships often differ onlyin degree from run-of-the-mill authoritarian systems. The remainder of this discussion will consider two instances ofautocratic rule, Gabon under the de-facto lifetime Bongo presidency, and ofHaiti, especially under the Duvaliers. Gabon, half the size ofFrance, but with a population of only perhaps one million, is nominally oneof the most prosperous states in Africa. The occupation was neverterribly popular in the United States, however, and was terminated by FDRtwo years before the initially promised withdrawal date.[xx] Nor did theUS occupation lead to the sort of close neocolonial relationship found inGabon. 12-13.2. Ibid., p. Until about 197 , the government and elites of the countries wherethey operated were nearly as incidental to the oil industry. Carrol F. 2.14. In the preceding year three regionalleaders had been overthrown, and others threatened. While there have beenno repetitions of the remarkable 1964 episode that led to the restorationof Mba, it could be said that none have been needed. In modern times "dictator" has come to mean an autocratic ruler whosepower is not hereditary or otherwise traditional in origin; that is, incontrast to an autocratic monarch. 2.16. Hewas ousted in a few months, however, and Haiti reverted to military rule,by leaders with Duvalierist associations, until Aristide was re-imposed byan American military intervention in 1994.[xxviii] The current conditionof Haiti is still unsettled. The swastika isrich with occult overtones, and in modern American society the imagery ofNazism, satanism, and black magic all merge easily together as symbols ofpop-culture evil. If the railroad was wasteful, it did not have thegrotesque quality of some African dictators' self-aggrandizement. Later, with repeated renewals ofauthority extending it to an indefinite term, it was used or abused byJulius Caesar before his assassination. The British, who had naval predominance in theCaribbean, had no wish to involve themselves closely in Haiti, and wouldnot permit any other power to do so. In the case of Haiti under theDuvaliers, as we shall see, this was improved to President for Life. In fascist ideology, personal dictatorship was fully embracedas superior to constitutionalism. andAfterword. Ibid., pp. In Marxist-Leninist theory the "dictatorship of the proletariat"was a necessary step on the road to communism (though the term implied theauthority of the Communist Party rather than necessarily an individualautocrat). Brian Weinstein and Aaron Segal, Haiti: Political Failures, Cultural Successes (New York: Praeger, 1984), p. BibliographyAbbott, Elizabeth. 196, 1995. Ibid., p. 296-33 .28. Gabon has thus remained in analmost purely neocolonial relationship with France. 219ff.27. 291-96.1 . A countrythat developed, say, a steel industry in the industrial age, or perhaps anelectronics industry today, could expect at least in principle that theeffort would lead to broader economic development: Suppliers and customerswould grow up around the target industry, themselves then fostering furthergrowth. So much largerthan life was Papa Doc, so horrifically vivid and colorful, that it seemedincongruous that his son could have been in power longer than he was. Weinstein and 1. French troops and combat jets were flown intoLibreville airport. Ibid, p. The Haitian elite, French- rather than English-speaking, retained acultural affinity to France. The next day they siezed key points in the capitalcity, and assaulted a nearby Gabonese army camp -- which put up a stiffresistance, costing a couple of French and a number of Gabonese lives. As such, it certainly cannot becharacterized as a rentier state along the lines outlined earlier forGabon. While theHaitian elite continues to affect French cultural ties, the dominantneocolonial power in modern times has been the United States. 7-9.18. Nor haveits repressions reached an extraordinary level. Jean Bertrand Aristide, Dignity, Carrol F. Thus, the oil economiestend to become rentier economies, landlord economies of a sort, living offincomes they do not "earn" through direct capital investment andentrepreneurship.[xvi] In the case of Gabon, the elite have largely found employment forthemselves in the government and related sectors; the modest trade andshopkeeping functions, out of which a stable indigenous middle class wouldnormally grow, are largely in the hands of foreigners. Even "responsible" and "managerial" autocracy, as typified bythe Bongo regime in Gabon, has failed to deliver the results that mightprovide a justification for autocratic rule. Surmising what was happening, he phoned Jean HilaireAubame, President Mba's longtime rival, and said "There's no Government atthe moment, and in view of the importance of French interests here, heremust be a civilian with whom I can discuss matters."[v] To allappearances, the coup was being handled with dispatch and slightly cynicalgrace. True to his "managerial"character, Bongo has used repression on the whole functionally rather thancapriciously. 115.6. It mayalso bear comparison with other syncretic religions combining African andCatholic elements, such as Santeria in Brazil. The existence or absence of a local populationis merely incidental to the oil industry. DICTATORSHIP AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT Dictatorship, as a form of government, has fallen into opprobrium inthe course of the 2 th century. It has rootsgoing back to the colonial era, and at least by popular tradition hadcurrency in other French colonial territories such as Louisiana. Yet if the Bongo regime has not visited the horrors upon Gabon thatthe Duvaliers visited upon Haiti, it has signally failed to set the countryon a path to development, and in particular has failed to make effectiveuse of its oil wealth. Voodoo is a syncretic religion,combining traditional African with Roman Catholic elements. 12-13. After 1958,however, the Fifth Republic under Charles de Gaulle shifted fromintegrationism to decolonization.[ix] Critics would say that in fact whatwas instituted was a systematic policy of neocolonialism, exemplified bythe 1964 episode at Libreville, and by the cultivation of "managerial"leaders such as Bongo, men whose rejection of ideology provided a frameworkfor the preservation of business as usual.[x] What sort of nation has Bongo presided over? However, things were not viewed so generouslyelsewhere in Francophone Africa. Something may be said of the manner in which Haiti of the Duvalieristera was governed. Haiti: The Duvaliers and their Legacy. 283-32 .Weinstein, Brian; and Segal, Aaron. Reed, "Gabon: a Neo-Colonial Enclave of Enduring French Interest," Journal of Modern African Studies, 25 (1987), p. A racist overtone might be argued in the popular culture'sassociation of the supernatural -- black magic -- to Duvalier or Idi Amin,both black men ruling overwhelmingly black populations. Mba was in declining health.Arrangements were therefore made for the peaceful succession of Albert-Bernard Bongo in 1967.[vii] Bongo would remain the authoritarian presidentof Gabon for the rest of the 2 th century. In contrast, oil operations can benearly cut off from their social surroundings, the functional equivalent ofan offshore oil rig at sea. Coates, Tr. viii-x.29. "Duvalierism without Duvalier" persisted for several years, until under USpressure national elections were held in 1991. But the distinctions are more of degree than kind. Ibid. Once drilled, the wells operate with minimal(and even more highly technical) labor support. "The emerging politicians have proved to beelitist, non-radical -- hints of socialist sympathy, as in alliances withthe West African Rassemblement democratique africain, never materialized --occasionally anti-colonialist, and almost always pro-French."[viii] From 1944 on, the political evolution of Gabon, and of Francophone sub-saharan Africa in general, accelerated. 116-17.7. "Government by franchise involves theassignment of government functions to trusted persons and families withinthe central government, in cities, and throughout the rural area."[xxix]This could also be described as a form of patronage system, in whichDuvalier assigned territories or spheres of responsibility to associates,who were then free to enrich themselves thereby, so long as they keptorder, cut the Duvaliers in for a share, and did not pose any threat. Dictatorship, then, is a political order that dares not speak itsname. Yates, pp. Ibid., pp. (Even the adherents of these symbols doubtless adoptthem to self-proclaim their "badness" and contempt for social approval.) More than any other autocratic leader of the 2 th century New World --more than Batista, or Castro, or Peron -- "Papa Doc" Duvalier, surroundedby his Tontons Macoutes and all the real and imagined terrors of the night,thus became the embodiment of our conventions of the mad, tyrannicaldictator. At one extreme ofthe continuum of authoritarianism is found the tyrannical variant ofdictatorship. 13-15.2 . "Dictator"was originally a Roman constitutional office, exercising absolute powersfor a limited term during emergencies. The winner of theseelections was populist, anti-Duvalierist priest Jean Bertrand Aristide. 165.26. There islittle doubt, however, that Duvaliar's association with Voodoo contributedboth to his power in Haiti and to the lurid reputation he soon acquiredabroad. Even more notorious was the association of the Tontons, and the"Papa Doc" regime in general, with Voodoo. Ibid., pp. The other is composed of urban-based elites who havesaddled the land with an immobile political order unwilling to tackle theenormous economic and social problems the country has faced.[xviii] Originally colonized by Spain, siezed by France in the 17th century,Haiti had by the late 18th century developed into a relatively typicalCaribbean plantation island, with a white elite that identified primarilywith their European homeland (in this case France), a mass of black slaves,and an intermediate stratum of mixed blood. The command structure of the Tontons Macoutes, orrather the lack of one, had the same effect. When the Bongoregime has undertaken development projects, they have tended to suffer froma certain folie de grandeur. New York: Praeger, 1984.Yates, Douglas Andrew. Although Bongo has at intervals played off French and Americaninterests -- threatening to supplant the former with the later -- theFrench influence has remained predominant. In contrast,while Gabon under Bongo has not been free of repression, its extent hasbeen vastly less, and less charactericized by horrific randomness. Yet the Haitian elite has much in common with the Gabonese elite,beyond their common French cultural identification. Ibid., pp. By the beginning of the 2 th century, a domestic Gabonese politics hadbegun to appear, under French tutelage. Haiti: Political Failures, Cultural Successes. These differences in level of horror mirror the different politicaltraditions of each country. Yet it is anything but unusual in the post-1945 world.
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