Dominican Republic

1. Dominican Republic President: Leonel Fernandez Reyna

2. Background • Area: 48,442 sq. km. • Capital: Santo Domingo • Pop 9 million, annual growth rate 1.8% • Language: Spanish • Ethnicity: 73% mixed, 16% European, 11% African • Literacy: 84.7%

3. Government • Independence 1844 and 1863 • Representative Democracy • Constitution 1966, amended 2002 • Presidential system • 31 Provinces and one National District • Santo Domingo • Universal suffrage, political parties

4. Government • Multi-party political system • National elections every 2 years • Presidential system (P/VP on same ticket) • Direct vote, 4 year terms • Unitary state – President appoints provincial governors (31) • Bicameral Congress • House of Representatives (178), Senate (32) • Supreme Court of Justice • 16 • Ultimate court of appeals

5. Economy • GDP: 29.33 billion • Growth Rate: 9.3% • Per capita GDP: 3,247 • Economic Sectors: • Agriculture: sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, bananas, tobacco, rice • Industry: cane refining, pharmaceuticals, cement, construction • Services: tourism and transportation • Trade: textiles, sugar, coffee, ferronickel, tobacco, etc.

6. History • Taino inhabitants • Discovery of Hispaniola 1492 – Taino mostly destroyed in first 50 years of colonization • Hispaniola ownership: • 1697 ceded by Spain to France • 1894 independent from France (Haitian uprising) • 1822-1844 Haitians conquer entire island and hold it. • 1844 Juan Pablo Duarte – drives Haitians out, founds DR • 1861 DR voluntarily returns to Spain • 1863-65 independence restored • 1916-24 US occupation • 1924 democratic elections • 1930 Rafael Trujillo establishes dictatorship

7. Trujillo • 1930-1961 military dictatorship ending in Trujillo’s assassination, family exiled. • Promoted economic development • Corruption, mismanagement • Severe repression • 1960 OAS imposed diplomatic sanctions because of Trujillo’s support of the effort to assassinate Betancourt in Venezuela. • 1961-66 efforts to democratize: • Elections, coups, occupation by US

8. Trujillo • Totalitarian control from 1961-58, period of decline to assassination. • Why: • history: geographic isolation and weak weak traditional power holders/alternatives • enhancement of state structures: military • Ideological arguments: anti-Haitianism, Catholicism • Economic/political means: co-opted, corrupted and repressed for his benefit. • International factors – dependence on USA, US no-intervention plus containment policies.

9. 1966 elections • President Balaguer, Reformist Party (Social Christian Reformist Party) elected. • Period of democratic stability ensues: • 1970, 1974 Balaguer re-elected • 1978 defeated by Antonio Gizman (Dominican Revolutionary Party); first peaceful transfer of power from one elected president to another. • 1982 elections PRD candidate wins – era of two party domination between PRD and SCRP ensues • Occasional complaints of electoral fraud other problems have resulted in amendments to the constitution • Since 1996 elections viewed as free and fair.

10. Joaquin Balaguer legacy • Authoritarian modernization. • Governs via electoral processes for 22 years • Combines political stagnation with socio-economic transformation • 1966-78 growth averages 7.6% real GDP • ISI stimulated growth accelerates to 11% between 1968-74. • Stable party structure but dominated by authoritarian framework around Balaguer. • Parties were not strengthened. • Military remains strong unchallenged but managed in this time period. • Possibility of political factionalism emerges from this era. • Institutional weakness another important legacy

11. Political History • 1989 the Dominican Republic had gone through 29 constitutions in less than 150 years of independence. • somewhat deceiving indicator of political stability • Dominican practice is to adopt new constitution whenever amended

12. Positive developments • Sustained economic growth beginning in 1960s and continuing to today despite downturn in 1980s. • Economic growth challenged by crisis in 80-90s forced state to subsidize state enterprises and not draw resources from them. • Awareness of tourism’s sensitivity to political stability? • Civil society has diversified • Business groups • Sharp inequalities still persist.

13. Ethnic cleavage • Dominican Republic has defined itself in opposition to Haiti • DR is primarily mulatto but Balaguer sought to project white, catholic presence, view. • Indigenous population gone but many self identify with this past • Migration from Haiti to Dominican Republic has been consistent • Prejudice, denial of rights, source of cheap labor • Haitian Afro-blackness versus Dominican • Social construction of race: gradations of black • Race or nationality? • Dominicans reject blackness; reject Haitians (bc/they are Haitians not bc/they are black).

14. Contemporary Challenges • Enactment of far reaching market structural reforms which allow the country to maintain economic growth and respond to the challenges of globalization. • Current institutional framework combines presidentialism with fragmented party system. Reducing the ability of the executive to retain power (introduces the possibility of instability). • Political party system is in transition. Historic leadership is falling away, replacement is unknown • Increasing efficiency, accountability, transparency of key political institutions.