The Importance Of Democracy In The Dominican Republic

The United States established diplomatic relations with the Dominican in 1884 following its independence from Spain. They are not run by a dictatorship, but through a democracy. They have a Representative Democracy government, which means that all eligible citizens vote on representatives to pass laws for them. The government has about 61% control over the economy down there. Their form of government is a lot like the United States. They have three branches (executive, legislative and judicial) of government and the court is in charge of actions against the President, designated members of his cabinet, and members of Congress.

The Spaniards made what we now know as Mexico into a racially segregated country, where the Europeans had priority in the casta. The white Caudillos were at the top of the pyramid, while the middle class, and then the Mexican Campesinos and the Mestizos were on the bottom. Each group of people worked against each other to try and distinguish themselves from another group. After Mexico gained its independence and the colonials went back to Spain, Mexico had to find a way to function as a country on their own. Society, let alone a democracy would not continue to work if all the racial groups continued to fight against each other. The different groups needed to learn to work together, which is what complicated Mexico forming a democracy. Colonial, racial, religious, and economic legacies served as roadblocks to Mexico’s independence and ability to establish a lasting democracy, because Mexicans could no longer compete against one another like they did under Spanish rule.

On the night of May 30, 1960, Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo was killed. He was shot to death on a highway in the capital city. This event set off a chain reaction over the next five years. The United States has been a partner in the assassination of Trujillo that helped climb to power.

Haiti’s conquest over the region, years back, had ignited an animus in the Dominican Republic that would materialized in the years to come. The immigrant policy in the Dominican Republic was strictly crafted in such a manner that Haitians were ensnared in a “foreigners in the transit” trap. Disregarding the generation gap between modern Haitians and their ancestors that were illegal immigrants at the time, the Dominican Republic Constitution Court labelled two Haitian girls as “foreigners in transit” and stripped them of their citizenship status. The victims are just not these two girls, but over 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent were unjustifiably denationalized. While it was true that they were descendants of illegal immigrants, when they are born, there is no excuse to revoke them of their citizenship. What it means to be a citizen is to conform to society; to have an identity. These Haitians, however, are not even given a chance when they are born into this world. They are ostracized from society the moment they step into this world because of the misdemeanors that their forefathers had bear. The Dominican Republic as a whole is blinded by its rugged history with Haiti. Even children that have no relation to their past are deprived of many rights, such as attending universities while their Dominican friends are eligible to move on with their lives.

The Dominican Republic “never became a democracy” (Diaz 227). Instead, the realities of what the Dominican Republic is are brought into relief as Oscar sets foot there in his trip with his family to visit La Inca. He observes “the mind-boggling poverty, the Dunkin’ Donuts, the beggars, the Haitians, selling roasted peanuts at the intersections, the mind-boggling poverty, the asshole tourists hogging up all the beaches […] (Diaz 227). About this, Mahler writes that it

Slowly but surely Rafael Trujillo started making the Dominican Republic his own little piggybank. As he saw that the country had been stripped of many industries, he started to buy back everything that was in foreign control. (Sagas, 172) If he could not buy the business or gain control of the economic sector through lawful competition, he would gain control unlawfully. These other means often consisted of giving unfair interest rates to the businesses he competed against, using the banks that he owned. Ultimately, if he didn’t own the leading business, through his banks, he slowly ate away his competitors.

In Latin America, if the issue of democracy is raised, a reference almost obligatory is Costa Rica. This is located as a country with a democratic tradition of many decades, which provides social and political stability without many points of comparison in the region. This characteristic has implied that Costa Rica appears throughout history as a role model, evidence that is based on the position that it acquires in the various international indexes about democracy and protection of political and civil liberties. However, this condition could be questioned and discussed, since over the past two decades there has been a series of political, economic and social transformations that call into question the myth of being the "paradise" of democracy. In addition, a series of phenomena have emerged that seem to account for transformations that have been brewing for several decades and that are now beginning to generate problems, which prompt reflection about the construction of the notion of democracy in Costa Rica and how that has impacted in a certain

Dominican Republic was founded long ago. The land was amazing for growing crops. Many people started to become interested in what the country had to offer. Problems began to arise when people did not have many jobs to support themselves with. Economically the country was suffering but many things were experimented to increase the overall income of the people. Soon, agriculture was not the only source of income. The country relied on tourism, agriculture, and many other things to help them provide jobs to the people.

"Dominican Republic: History." GlobalEDGE: Your Source for Global Business Knowledge. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 July 2015.

The economy of Dominican Republic has risen 7.4% since 2016. The economy of the Dominican Republic is based off agriculture, with sugar, coffee and tobacco. Unemployment rates went up to 26% and inflation reached 37.5% after 2 hurricanes hit the island in 1979 but the country recovered. Tourism remains important industries and helps build the country.

The research article developed an idea of party polarization being an essential factor in the continuation and development of modern democracy. This is represented within graphic organizers of latin american countries that carry varying levels of party polarization that affect voter belief and direction. Singer utilized legislative surveys to find voter placement and how differentiated the chosen party was from an ideological norm in a specific country. He also found that in poorer countries current

Today, Cuba is still not a democracy, which builds significant opposition to the Castros among people of right-wing, left-wing, and centrist ideologies. The Castro regime prizes Cuba’s electoral process as a marker of sovereignty from foreign imperialism-the Castros have barred inter-governmental organizations such as the Organization of American States, and domestic observers from changing electoral rules. Traditionally, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) have “strictly controlled” Cuban elections; Communist party officials who serve on these committees design ballots that do not say what positions candidates have on issues from trade and emigration to mandatory military service. In short, the elections that Cubans have

Now days democracy has been establish in every Latin America country except Cuba, which is still a socialist state. It seemed that every other alternative form of government such as Marxism or Leninism has failed and been replaced by democracy. Furthermore it looks like people in Latin American really enjoy democracy and its’ benefits, as they also consider it to be the best form of government. After the failure of authoritarian leaders and the military intervene their lives, Latin American citizens wanted to change their system into a more fair and honest system, democracy. Democracy is usually defined as a system of honesty, equality, freedom of rights, though for Latin America countries it means gains, welfare and patronage. Latin

Like most government and politics in most countries, the government of the Dominican Republic have an influence on business plans and other economic strategies. “The Dominican Republic is run as a democratic republic with a presidential form of government” (Gonzalez, F., et al., 2012). The government of this developing country has always has a great influence on the economic and business environment. The government creates policies that are related to business plans. All business plan will have to go through the government officials in order to be approved. With the sale of a water filtration/purification system will have to be reviewed by those in office to make the country’s economic is ready for a global business.

These authors argue that because Pinochet still had considerable power and used it to influence policy making decisions political elites were less likely to meet the demands of the public. Pinochet established a binomial electoral system that as a result influenced political parties to form pacts or party coalitions. Posner (1999) and Hunneus (2007) argue that because political parties formed party coalitions there was a lack of representation. Political parties spend an abundant amount of time on negotiations within the party coalitions. Because the political elites only negotiated among themselves, they took away the public’s ability to have a say on important issues.