[In 1804 Haiti became independent and has experienced since a troubled political
life, which has seen the state and the churches. Catholic and Protestant, interact according
to their mutual interests. Since the American Occupation (1915-1934) up to the mideighties,
the state has carefully orchestrated the manipulation of the church’ to further its
own objectives. Ultimately, the Catholic Church will contribute to topple President-for-
Life Jean Claude Duvalier (1971-1986) with a belated but insignificant support from the
Protestant churches.
I want to propose that in the twentieth century the church allowed itself to be
domesticated because it was mainly looking for institutional survival as defined by the
foreign parent groups. The Haitian Catholic Church, influenced by the Holy See, was
subservient to the state because it was in its interest to do so. In the 1980s, facing the
competition and success of Protestant groups, and as directed by the Holy See, the
Catholic Church, concerned for its survival, denounced the abuses of the government and
heavily contributed to the overthrow of Jean Claude Duvalier. The Protestant churches
caved in to the state because its theology and finances were derived from conservative
British and American groups and also because remaining quiet guaranteed is survival as a
conversionistic group.
Using a sociological model, the Political Process Model, I will conclude that the
Catholic Church became the motivating force and social movement behind the overthrow
of Duvalier because it took advantage of political opportunities, shared an insurgent
consciousness, developed organizational strength while the Protestant churches were
severely handicapped by a lack of insurgent consciousness and organizational strength.]
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/46916 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Michel, David |
| Publisher | Boston University |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | This work is being made available in OpenBU by permission of its author, and is available for research purposes only. All rights are reserved to the author. |
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