At a time when a new president has taken office in Haiti and the UN Secretary-General has appointed a new head of MINUSTAH, this book’s release is particularly timely. The volume brings together some of the world’s leading specialists on Haiti, from both Haiti and abroad, to examine the challenges Haiti faces today and what they entail for the international community. Even before the devastating earthquake of January 2010, Haiti was a “fragile” state ⎯ the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, plagued by decades of complex political crises and suffering from severe social problems. Since 2004, the United Nations has been in Haiti through MINUSTAH – and many of the UN team died in the earthquake. This volume, edited by CIGI Distinguished Fellow Jorge Heine and Programme Officer for the Global Governance Programmes at the Balsillie School of International Affairs Andrew S. Thompson, examines the performance of the UN and other key hemispheric actors in helping Haiti both before and in the aftermath of the earthquake.