Student Research Projects

International Organizations and Haiti: Did the UN Fail?

Student Name(s)	Stephanie Kimec
Faculty Mentor(s)	Dr. Laura Landolt
Department	Political Science
Course	POLS 499: Senior Seminar

Abstract

My research seeks to understand whether the United Nations accomplished its goals when it intervened into Haiti in the name of security. It will offer a postmodern critique of modernization theory, demonstrating the superficiality of assumptions about development. The topic of the goals and outcomes of external intervention by the UN is significant. Current debates concern whether the goals and effects of the UN and were in sync with its declared mission. Haiti is still the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, despite multiple interventions by external powers. Some believe the UN has used the loosely-defined word ‘security’ to intervene unnecessarily.