Abstract

Between 1990 and 1997, the United Nations (UN) was involved in broad range of activities in support of democracy in Haiti, including election-monitoring, UN Security Council (UNSC)-mandated sanctions, two peacekeeping operations (PKOs), a naval blockade, and UNSC-authorized use of force against the regime in power there. Much of this activity reflected the international concern over a military putsch which ousted Haiti's democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in September 1991. Drawing on a detailed narrative of the UN's involvement in Haiti from 1990 to 1997, this inquiry seeks to answer the central question: how and why did the Security Council reach its decisions on the crisis (and on its aftermath, following the restoration of the legitimate government in 1994)?