This article analyzes the role of Haitian migration and Haitian transnational engagement in the past 20 years. Shows that dependency on Haitian migrants' economic flows into their country has historically not been met by public policy leveraging these flows and that under the current economic recovery period, opportunistic views aside, it is unrealistic to expect a strategy drastically different from that of the pre-earthquake period.
Proposes to examine the aftermath of the "Goudougoudou," as Haitians now call the earthquake of January 12, 2010, relating it to other events that have taxed Haitian resolve over the course of two centuries.
Argues that geography and geology sparked the Haitian earthquake, but the extent of the destruction was due to the massive failure of Haitian institutions, in particular the state, and international policy, which predated the earthquake.
Argues that the historical boycott of Haiti's government in the 19th and 20th centuries by the international community, the constant internal struggle among the members of the elite for the control of state power, and the weakening of state structures through the creation of nongovernmental organizations have weakened the government's capacity to deal with major catastrophe and meet the needs of its citizens.
This essay is framed around interpretations of Haiti's long history in order to demonstrate that there is neither curse nor punishment in Haiti's history; there is only intrigue, interest, and interference. The natural disasters whether earthquakes or hurricanes do not occur because of some rational targeting of the country but are the results of the arbitrariness of nature.
Policies imposed on Haiti by international financial institutions (i.e., the World Bank and International Monetary Fund) since the 1980s, such as currency devaluation and trade liberalization, negated Haitian agricultural performance and the capacity of the Haitian state to manage the economy, thus exacerbating the current food crisis.
