Case 182 - Hamstrung over Haiti: Returning the Refugees

Ortmayer, Louis L. and Joanna Flynn

Following the September 1991 military overthrow of the first democratically elected Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the United States, in conjunction with the Organization of American States, imposed an embargo to pressure the junta to restore democracy and power to President Aristide. This case study highlights a situation in which foreign policy goals and instruments are in tension, even contradiction; explores the options available to a new administration for the task of reconciling refugee and immigration policies with the foreign policy goals of restoring democracy in Haiti and promoting democratic transitions in a new world order; and examines the tortuous evolution of Haiti policy under the Clinton administration.