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... rge state enterprises, active regulation by the government of income disparities, high rates of saving, far-reaching government protection and support, all to benefit its native citizens. The Multinational Corporations that were introduced to the country, largely through China, assisted in creating jobs for citizens, while providing education and developmental reform. Taiwan even developed and educational policy that encouraged an annual growth of nine to ten percent, that gave the highest priority to training top technocrats. The United States aided Taiwan by giving them a direction for growth and providing an alternative to living in China with its communist policies that issued more state control, egalitarianism and eventually resulted in repression.
Author Willem van Kemenade describes Taiwan with a mix of positive and negative elements: "chaotic, ugly, polluted cities, but with unprecedented dynamism and prosperity; a colorful, tolerant society full of friendly, civilized people - in Chinese you jen-ch " ing-wei (traditional human warmth) which has been completely destroyed on the mainland (China) by decades of class struggle and political campaigns. " In 1804, local forces defeated an army deployed by Napoleon Bonaparte, established independence from France, and renamed the area Haiti. The defeat of the French in Haiti is widely credited with contributing to Napoleon's decision to sell the Louisiana territory to the United States in 1804. Haiti is the world's oldest black republic and the second-oldest republic after the United States in the Western Hemisphere. Haitians actively assisted the American Revolution and independence movements of Latin American countries.
Two separate regimes (north and south) emerged after independence but were unified in 1820. Two years later, Haiti conquered Santo Domingo, the eastern, Spanish-speaking portion of Hispaniola. In 1844, however, Santo Domingo broke away from Haiti and became the Dominican Republic. With 22 changes of government from 1843 until 1915, Haiti experienced numerous periods of intense political and economic disorder, prompting United States military intervention in 1915. Haiti could not pay back its debs and the Miles store the island to secure its gold when payment deadlines were not met (Delamaide, 100). U.
S. military forces were withdrawn in 1934 at the request of the elected Government of Haiti. From 1986 -- when the 30 -year dictatorship of the Duvalier family ended -- until 1991, Haiti was ruled by a series of provisional governments. In 1987, a constitution was adopted that provides for an elected bicameral parliament, an elected president who serves as head of state, and a prime minister, cabinet of ministers, and supreme court appointed by the president with Parliament's consent.
The Haitian Constitution also provides for the election of mayors and administrative bodies responsible for local government. Now, Haiti is the Western Hemisphere's poorest country and among the 30 poorest in the world. Seventy-five percent of the people fall below the World Bank's absolute poverty level. It is overpopulated. Haiti lacks communications, cheap power and raw materials for industry. Its mountainous terrain cannot provide a living for its rural population.
Haiti's economic reform agenda includes trade / tariff liberalization, modernization (understood to mean privatization) of state-owned enterprises, measures to control government expenditure and increase tax revenues, civil service downsizing, and financial sector reform. Structural adjustment agreements with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and other international financial institutions are aimed at creating necessary conditions for private sector growth. Much of the population expected more immediate results from tough reforms External aid is essential to Haiti's future economic development. Haiti is the least-developed country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world.
Comparisons of social and economic indicators show that Haiti has been falling behind other low-income developing countries (particularly in the hemisphere) since the 1980 s. Haiti's economic stagnation is the result of earlier inappropriate economic policies, political instability, a shortage of good arable land, environmental deterioration, continued use of traditional technologies, under-capitalization, migration of large portions of the skilled population, and a weak national savings rate. Private domestic and foreign investment has been slow to return to Haiti. The investor community is concerned about political conditions and economic reform.
International financial institutions and donor agencies have committed substantial sums to assist Haiti in restoring and expanding its physical infrastructure. High domestic interest rates and poorly developed internal capital markets are other factors restraining economic performance. Industry and commerce is limited, and heavily concentrated in Port-au-Prince. Vegetable oils, footwear and metal goods are still produced for domestic consumption.
Manufactured goods make up two thirds of total exports. Torusim all but disappeared in the 1980 's, at first because of a scare about AIDS, then because of the political instability. Many hotels were also forced to closed. The Social Implications - Haiti's Poverty Level The Haitians are almost wholly black, with a culture that is a unique mixture of African and French influences. According to UNICEF, the literacy rate is only 45 percent, while only 20 percent of children reach secondary school. Although public education is free, private and parochial schools provide perhaps 75 % of educational programs offered.
Only 63 % of those enrolled will complete primary school; on average, it takes 16 years to produce a single graduate of the six-year cycle. Though Haitians place a high value on education, most families cannot afford to send their children to secondary school. One of the primary economic problems for many families, is the chronic low agricultural productivity, compounded by low world commodity prices. The average farm size is less that one acre.
Only a third of the land is arable, yet most of the people live in the country, using rudimentary tools to grow corn, rice, sorghum and coffee. Agriculture generates 32 percent of the GDP buy employs more than half the workforce. A land reform program was begun in 1997 in the Artibonite Valley to give land to families in an area where violent land disputes had become common. Agriculture was badly hit by a drought in the northwest in 1997, devastating families, causing famine in that area.
One percent of the population controls nearly 40 percent of all of Haiti's wealth. As political stability increases in Haiti, tourism could take its place next to export-oriented manufacturing as a potential source of foreign exchange. Remittances from abroad now constitute a significant source of financial support for many Haitian households. Workers in Haiti are guaranteed the right of association, and trade-organizing activities are protected by the labor code. A legal minimum wage of 36 gourdes a day (approximately $ 2. 25) applies to most workers in the formal sector. The only areas that Haitians seem to benefit from were contraband and drug smuggling (56 kilograms of cocaine passed through Haiti in 1992, 157 kilograms in 1993 and 716 kilograms in 1994).
In 1998, a record of 685 kilograms was seized in two weeks from air passengers arriving from Panama. Author Susan George examines the idea of social classes and how the gulf is far between Latin American countries. Panama, for example, enjoys a comfortable $ 2, 200 GNP per capita while little Haiti sits at $ 320 (George, 119). She also notes that the terms "filthy rich" and "dirt poor" can be used to describe the economic situations of Latin American countries. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Latin American Countries Santo Domingo
