Neoliberal democratic capitalism and the configuration of “community” violence in Haiti

Abstract

This article aims to analyze how neoliberal democratic capitalism, articulated with colonialism, racial capitalism, and international interventions, has contributed to the configuration of so-called "community" violence in Haiti. It is based on the hypothesis that this violence is not an inherent characteristic of Haitian communities, but rather a historical and structural expression of the contradictions of neoliberal democratic capitalism. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative approach, based on a literature review and documentary analysis of specialized academic works, official documents, and reports produced by international organizations. First, the article discusses the tensions between capitalism, democracy, and neoliberalism, highlighting their impacts on the state, citizenship, and the production of inequalities. It then examines Haiti's historical integration into the global neoliberal order, linking colonialism, slavery, the independence debt, neoliberal reforms, and foreign interventions to the country's state fragility. Finally, it demonstrates that the category of "community violence" functions as a political-discursive construct that shifts the structural causes of violence onto marginalized communities, thereby legitimizing strategies of securitization, the criminalization of poverty, and social control. The article concludes that this category constitutes a neoliberal-colonial governance mechanism that obscures the historical determinants of violence and limits the understanding of the contradictions between capitalism, democracy, and citizenship in Haiti.