Argues that geography and geology sparked the Haitian earthquake, but the extent of the destruction was due to the massive failure of Haitian institutions, in particular the state, and international policy, which predated the earthquake.
Special Issue: CUBA., Describes Cuba's past and future as the only Marxist-Leninist socialist nation in the Western Hemisphere; cultural, political, and social perspectives. Topics include effects on Cuba of the demise of the Soviet empire
This article deals with the question of ethnic political entrepreneurship in Trinidad. It treats the ethnic entrepreneur as a political operator who has a clear agenda, which is pursued via ethnic means. Though often disguised, the concerns of ethnic entrepreneurs are class concerns and they have definite economic and/or political goals. Two groups of such operators in the Trinidad context are the black nationalists or Afrocentrists and the Hindu nationalists or those who embrace the ideology of Hindutva. Leaders of both groups are seen as pursuing a form of ethnic nationalism that eschews class analysis, that plays upon peoples' insecurities, and that embraces a great deal of myth. Among other things, ethnic entrepreneurs traffic in social divisions, seek to manipulate the emotions of their followers, and carefully avoid any critical, intellectual engagement of the issues involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR];
"In the first half of the century diasporic connections, particularly shared oppression and ancestral ties, triggered responses. When the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), an informal organisation of African American congressional representatives, became the key architects of African American foreign policy in the early 1970s, civil rights tactics were wedded to diasporic appeals to motivate African Americans to help shift US foreign policy towards South Africa and Haiti." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR];