Haiti's fate is a textbook example of Realpolitik at work, where the economic might of world powers was used to punish a breakaway state that won its freedom th

Haiti's fate is a textbook example of Realpolitik at work, where the economic might of world powers was used to punish a breakaway state that won its freedom through military rebellion to disincentivize other colonies from doing the same. The message was simple: there are other ways we can make you miserable; and it worked to great effect. Once the stage was set, it was difficult for Haiti to climb out of the hole on its own, so it became trapped in a cycle of poverty and misery and the resulting power squabbles, which were occasionally compounded by outside interference, or terrible luck. As to why Haiti is still poor, the reason is even more sinister. Haiti has the highest number of operating NGOs per capita, yet remains rather dysfunctional in every way. This state of affairs has been criticized from several perspectives [1][2][3]. For the most of the last 40 years, the international community has been allowing Haiti's own government and Haiti's own people very little voice and control over funding of how aid is distributed, distrusting the underpowered government as corrupt, and the people as helpless. But if international and private-sector governance results in such underwhelming outcomes too, perhaps it's time to let the people of the state take a larger role in their own destiny, instead of being treated as an untrustworthy group with no agency. [1] https://nacla.org/news/ngos-and-business-poverty-haiti https://nacla.org/news/ngos-and-business-poverty-haiti [2] https://www.npr.org/2011/01/13/132884795/the-nation-how-ngos-have-failed-haiti https://www.npr.org/2011/01/13/132884795/the-nation-how-ngos... [3] https://newint.org/features/2012/01/01/haiti-money-ngo-un https://newint.org/features/2012/01/01/haiti-money-ngo-un