6258: Re: 6253: Re: Haiti parallel government!?? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Maxetluc@aol.com

Actually, in most parliamentary governments (including Great Britain) the 
opposition is expected to set up a "shadow government."  In other words, the 
opposition appoints its own leaders as "shadows" of their counterparts in the 
cabinet.  They wield no power, but are expected to develop expertise in the 
specialized area, act as a watchdog and move into place should the elected 
government fall (as happens so often in parliamentary governments.  Italy, 
for example, seems to have a new government every six months.)

The 1987 constitution sets up the Haitian government as a parliamentary 
government.     The prime minister is the head of government and the 
president a mere ceremonial head of state.  In practice, however, two hundred 
years of government by strongman and the ego of the first president elected 
under that constitution have converged to prevent the installation of such a 
system.

Certainly, it appears that the opposition has goals  and objectives far 
beyond that of a typical "shadow government."  In fact, their program appears 
closer to that of the "alternative" government set up by Irish Republican 
leaders in the years between World War One and independence.  However, the 
sin is in overreaching, not in conception.  Shadow governments have a 
legitimate, honorable place in parliamentary democracies.  In the case of 
poor Haiti, though, it seems any form of opposition is automatically deemed 
illegitimate.

Maxetluc