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Dominican Republic President: Leonel Fernandez Reyna 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% 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 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 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. 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 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 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 nointervention plus containment policies. 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. 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 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 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. 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). 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.