1986–2026: Forty Years of Waiting for a Social Contract for Haiti

February 7, 1986 marks a turning point: the end of a regime, but above all the opening of a new expectation — that of a new social order.

One year later, on March 29, 1987, the Haitian people acclaimed a new Constitution, carrying the hope of a renewed social contract. Nearly forty years later, the question remains unresolved: what have we done with that promise?

Between the rupture of 1986 and the promise of 1987, a gap took hold. The announced transition never truly came to fruition. Over the decades, the Constitution has been invoked without being fully applied, while political agreements have followed one another without ever producing the expected social order.

Thus, neither the constitutional framework nor the agreements meant to replace it have succeeded in durably anchoring the social contract promised to the people. This drift has not only disorganized institutions; it entails a historical responsibility toward several generations.

The generation of the 1980s, who believed in rupture. The generation of the 1990s, who relied on a democratic promise carried by popular suffrage. Those after 2000, confronted with repeated frustrations and unfulfilled promises. The generation of 2010, eager to participate in the transformation of the country, yet kept away from decision-making spaces. The generations of the 2020s, now disillusioned, often choosing despair or migration.

Today, a youth living between shame and despair, yet in 2025 still clung to the idea that February 7, 2026 could mark the dawn after a forty-year dark night.

Added to this is the diaspora, called upon to bear the weight of local inconsistencies, torn between support from afar, forced exile, and loyalty to a country whose refoundation it nevertheless continues to hope for.

And whatever happens, future generations will inherit these deferred choices, accumulated renunciations, and a social contract still in limbo. By continually postponing the social contract, it is trust itself that erodes.

A country cannot indefinitely survive between a bypassed Constitution and agreements that are never honored without breaking the bond that unites the State and its people. Therefore, the question goes beyond the present moment and its actors. It is historical, moral, and collective.

After forty years of waiting, ruptures, and deferred promises, can February 7 still be anything more than a date on the political calendar? Can it finally become the moment when a responsible and historic political agreement envisions a truly shared, assumed, and lived social contract?

Chantal Volcy Céant
January 26, 2026