Walter Rodney and the Politics of the Haitian Ruling Class: Rethinking the State in Haiti (A CONFIDENT THIRD WORLD: FACING THE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CHALLENGES OF THE TWENTY-FIRST Century) (Essay‪)‬

INTRODUCTION A theme at the 2007 Walter Rodney Conference, held annually in Atlanta, Georgia, was that a task before a new generation of scholars, organizers and activists was to explore the continued relevance of Rodney's scholarship to the contemporary realities confronting the African Diaspora. This reflected, in large part, the continued relevance of Rodney's lasting theoretically, methodological and practical contributions. Specifically, Rodney was perhaps most prolific in mapping out the contradictions inherent in the emergence of the contemporary Africa state and its leadership. Throughout his intellectual life, Rodney made the case for viewing African states as the end product of a systemic exploitation through external dependencies and internal instruments of power. Later, his studies on colonialism transcended the African continent with more focused critiques of the dimensions of post-independence neo-colonial leadership throughout the Diaspora. This essay specifically extends Rodney's insights with an analysis of the contradictions of the contemporary state in Haiti.