2025 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 7(2) rotating door of leaders within the nation, Dupuy’s research also explores how systemic dysfunctions render political agency hollow; though formal political structures are technically present (eg, voting and governance), they are practically inaccessible, mapping onto the concept of de facto statelessness I seek to apply as descriptive of the lack of functioning citizenship in Haiti. Almost 30 years later, Dupuy argues in a 2010 article that the devastating effects of the 2010 earthquake were exacerbated by a long history of governmental neglect and detrimental economic policies imposed by foreign powers seeking to expropriate Haitian people and environments.36 For Fatton and Dupuy alike, the current phenomena in Haiti that I explore through this article are not a result of chance, but rather a series of intentional actions which drive a dysfunctional state-citizen relationship, fragmenting the expression of community, voting and belonging central to what it means to be a citizen.37 The case for this article focuses on Haitians’ experiences in the 21st century, particularly following the 2010 earthquake and last election in 2016, the effects of which I contend represent de facto statelessness. I chose to examine intra-Haitian experiences to showcase that de facto statelessness involves not only displacement but in situ ‘unbelonging’. Unbelonging is typically perceived as antithetical to a life amongst one’s birthplace. However, Kristy Belton argues that precarity, psychosocial displacement and a lack of community are emblematic of statelessness, even for those in the ‘communities within which they were born and raised’.38 Following Fatton and Dupuy’s directive, I focus on the 2010 earthquake for its significance in suppressing Haitian community, civic freedoms and the crumbling of infrastructure that I contend fundamentally restricts one’s citizenship to the point of de facto statelessness. The earthquake is by no means a standalone event, but rather the culmination of the ‘abysmal conditions’ in Haiti curated by the nation’s wealthy elite, and the bloc of foreign nations and economic actors whose interests in Haiti diminished citizenship fulfilment in Haiti by and for Haitians. 39 By analysing the earthquake’s impact through the lens of de facto statelessness, this article reveals how a singular catastrophic event can expose and intensify longstanding systemic issues that suppress effective citizenship. I then speak to the lack of democratic voting in Haiti since 2016 as the latest iteration of a lack of political expression for the populace. As many scholars such as Castor, Fatton and Dupuy have pointed out, Haiti is highly familiar with a revolving door of leaders, democratic or not, placed at the helm of the nation.40 Yet, with this latest stint of democratic suppression, it appears no end is near in sight. Though Western powers have engaged in their routine condemnation of the lack of democratic leadership in Haiti, in the past nations such as the US have taken a heavy-handed approach, including the Clinton administration’s military-led reinstatement of Father Aristide in 1994.41 Presently, the response to the current situation in Haiti is more middling. For example, a 2024 article from the US Council on Foreign Relations frame the issue of Haitian living standards 36 37 38 39 40 41 Dupuy, ‘Beyond the Earthquake’ (n 7). See, eg, Fatton (n 7) 79; Dupuy, ‘Beyond the Earthquake’ (n 7) 196–7. Kristy A Belton, ‘Rooted Displacement: The Paradox of Belonging among Stateless People’ (2016) 19(8) Citizenship Studies 907, 917. Dupuy, ‘Beyond the Earthquake’ (n 7) 196. See, eg, Castor (n 20) 254–6; Fatton (n 7) 142; Dupuy, Haiti in the New World Order (n 34) 52. Dupuy, Haiti in the New World Order (n 34) 1. 132