The Struggle for Democratic Politics in the Dominican Republic

Over the past several decades the Dominican Republic has<br/>experienced striking political stagnation in spite of dramatic<br/>socioeconomic transformations. In this work Jonathan Hartlyn<br/>offers a new explanation for the country's political evolution<br/>based on a broad comparative perspective.<br/>Hartlyn rejects cultural explanations unduly focused on<br/>legacies from the Spanish colonial era and structural<br/>explanations excessively centered on the lack of national<br/>autonomy. Instead he highlights the independent impact of<br/>political and institutional factors and historical legacies<br/>while also considering changes in Dominican society and the<br/>influence of the United States and other international forces.<br/>In particular Hartlyn examines how the Dominican Republic's<br/>tragic nineteenth-century history established a legacy of<br/>neopatrimonialism a form of rule that found extreme expression<br/>in the brutal dictator Rafael Trujillo and has continued to shape<br/>politics down to the present. By examining economic policymaking<br/>and often conflictual elections Hartlyn also analyzes the missed<br/>opportunity for democracy during the rule of the Dominican<br/>Revolutionary Party and the democratic tensions of the<br/>administrations of Joaquín Balaguer.