The normative liberalism theory explains some aspects of the policies enacted by the U.S. concerning the crisis in Haiti. However, it also explains why it fails. We can examine this by reflecting on actual historical records. First, normative liberalism would assume that the State Dept s. annual reports would take an uncompromising stand. But, in reality we see that this is not exactly how the reports were written. Overall, the reports spoke only in terms of the need for elections and showed a serious lack of attention on human rights issues that were plaguing the country. Evidence also shows that the State Dept. in fact painted a rosy picture of the Avril government s human rights record in its reports. The State Dept. s eagerness to portray human rights in this falsely positive light suggested a willingness to color the facts in order to facilitate the easing of restrictions on U.S. aid to the Haitian government (The More Things Change 1989).
In the second place, as far as human rights group s attacks on the U.S. policy of interdiction and repatriation of the refugees, evidence indicates that the organizations were unfounded in their accusations that the U.S. was violating both international law and U.S. legislation. On June 21st, 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that there was no limitation on the President s power to repatriate undocumented aliens intercepted on the high seas and that the right to non-refoulement applies only to aliens who are physically present in the host country. (Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti, 1994, p. 147) As it stood during the flood of Haitian cruises , there was no remedy within the U.S. for individuals intercepted at sea. Therefore, refugees could be repatriated without being given a chance to make their case for asylum unless there was a change made in Congress. But, until then, the U.S. policy of interdiction and repatriation of the Haitian refugees remains legitimate. Regardless of how one interprets adherence to legality, the U.S. was still abiding by its own set of liberal laws.
Next, the actions taken by the Clinton administration demonstrate clear conjunction with normative liberalism. President Clinton kept his word that the U.S. would restore democracy in Haiti. In 1994 he sent 20,000 American troops into which resulted in the reinstatement of President Aristide and the liberation of the country (Denver Rocky Mountain News, 1997). In a state of the union address regarding the situation he said, Unfortunately the best strategy to ensure our security and to build a durable peace is to support the advance of democracy elsewhere. Democracies don t fight each other. (The Economist, 1995) This account is undoubtedly evidence in favor of the theory.
Nevertheless, as far as aid suspension being adequate punishment to the Haitian government for violation of norms, as shown earlier, there is little evidence that suggests this was due to the restoration of aid when it wasn t merited. Evidence suggests that aside from being a punishment mechanism, the suspension of aid was used more as a tool to avoid acknowledging the human rights nightmare in Haiti. For example, after the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Haiti on October 29, 1991 there was no public denunciation of human rights abuses by the State Dept. or the U.S. Embassy in Port-Au-Prince for quite some time (Return to Darkest Days, 1991). Also, it is possible that the aid suspension led to poor economic conditions in Haiti, which could have been suggested that a major reason why the Bush administration did not condemn the human rights abuses was because it feared that by doing so, they d be forcibly repatriated (Silencing A People, 1993). Consequently, under these circumstance4s, the theory of normative liberalism is damaged due to over whelming hypocrisy depicted in this scenario.
Finally, evidence regarding the punishment of human rights abuses suggests some ambivalence in U.S. policy. According to a report in 1996, there was a dispute over U.S. refusal to divulge evidence seized that would have been used to prosecute those responsible for abuses in Haiti. U.S. Embassy spokesman, Stan Schrager, had this to say: we do intend to turn over all the documents, but we have a responsibility to protect the lives of U.S. citizens or Haitian civilians who might be in danger. These documents belong to the Haitian government, but these are legitimate concerns. He went on to say that the U.S. wanted assurance that access to the documents would be restricted and that they would be securely stored. Eventually, it was deemed that U.S. retention of the documents violated international law and it was called that they be immediately released to Haitian authorities (Orange County Register, 1996). On one level the U.S. did not have a right stand in the way of immediate prosecution of the guilty abusers. However, on another level the U.S. did have a conflict of interest with regards to the files and were justified in their actions. Overall, the U.S. expressed a desire for the abusers who were in violation of democratic norms to be rightfully punished, supporting the theory of normative liberalism.
In conclusion, testing the evidence against the theory presented mixed results, but broadly demonstrated normative liberalism politics achieving normative liberalism results. However, a more conclusive test of the theory might include the fact that only three years after U.S. troops liberated Haiti, the island proved itself to be a platform for policy failure. There was no functioning government, unemployment was running at 80%, and foreign aid (which financed 60% of Haiti s budget) was put on hold because there was no budget. In addition, when the last of U.N. peacekeeping troops were due to leave Haiti, the Haitians and Washington both, had little confidence in the ability for the national police force to replace them. Furthermore, in 1997, Pres. Rene Preval s administration were in fear of another military takeover of the government, similar to the one in 1991, but this time the coup would be led by former Pres. Aristide. Pro-Aristide council was also responsible for committing fraud in the elections, causing elections in Haiti to be postponed indefinitely. The island has been described as very tense and politically unstable. (Denver Rocky Mountain News, 1997) Though the U.S. still considered Haiti to be a land of foreign policy success , the pursuit of normative liberalism allows for unintended changes. Therefore, one question to pose is, does this mean that our understanding of normative liberalism as a theory needs to be revised in order to increase its explanatory power?