E. Paulino National Politics and Ethnic Identity in the Dominican Republic In
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E. Paulino National politics and ethnic identity in the Dominican Republic In: New West Indian Guide/ Nieuwe West-Indische Gids 76 (2002), no: 1/2, Leiden, 105-113 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 10:06:14AM via free access EDWARD PAULINO NATIONAL POLITICS AND ETHNIC IDENTITY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC The Struggle of Democratie Politics in the Dominican Republic. JONATHAN HARTLYN. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. xxi + 371 pp. (Cloth US$ 49.95, Paper US$ 17.95) Holocaust in the Caribbean: The Slaughter of 25,000 Haitians by Trujillo in One Week. MIGUEL AQUINO. Waterbury CT: Emancipation Press, 1997. xxii + 184 pp. (Paper n.p.) Race and Politics in the Dominican Republic. ERNESTO SAGAS. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000. xii +161 pp. (Cloth US$ 49.95) Azücar, Arabes, cocolos y haitianos. ORLANDO INOA. Santo Domingo: Ed. Cole and FLACSO, 1999. 219 pp. (Paper n.p.) Over the last few years there has been an increase in the publication of books about the Dominican Republic and Dominicans in the United States. This can be partly attributed to the increase of Dominican communities.1 Moreover, Dominican and Dominican-American writers who underscore the trials and tribulations of the immigrant experience are becoming more visible in the mainstream print.2 1. The 2000 U.S. Census reports that the Dominican population in the United States is 764,945, or 2.7 percent of the overall population. 2. For an excellent introduction to the origins of Dominican migration and the long neglected contributions of these immigrants and their children in American society, see Torres-Saillant & Hernandez 1998. Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 10:06:14AM via free access 106 New West Indian Guide /Nieuwe West-Indische Gids vol. 76 no. 1 &2 (2002) For scholars trying to understand the Dominican Republic at the begin- ning of the twenty-first century, certain recurring themes within Dominican historiography - from making sense of Trujillo and his legacy to the evasive and historical role of democracy in the Dominican Republic - continue to pose challenging questions, some of which are tackled in the books under review here. In The Struggle for Democratie Politics in the Dominican Republic, Jonathan Hartlyn asks why democracy failed to flourish after Trujillo's assas- sination in 1961. And why did a democratie transition finally take place between 1978 and 1986, only to be undermined between 1986 and 1996? For Hartlyn, neither the history of U.S. interventions nor domestic actors such as caudillos alone can adequately explain the failure of democracy to take hold in the Dominican Republic. Rather he proposes that one must look at the interaction of forces and individuals, mediated by "institutions," and the failure or limited success in establishing new institutions and patterns of behaviors at critical junctures that have marked either the reinforcement of authoritarian and neopatrimonial patterns or the limited successes of democracy in the country, (p. 5) Hartlyn utilizes the model of neopatrimonialism to explain why Dominican democracy has been inconsistent. For him, neopatrimonialism resembles somewhat caudillismo in that leaders seek to consolidate power while under- mining institutional authority and the power of those around them by culti- vating loyalty through a system of quid pro quo relationships. Neopatrimonia- lism is seen as an inevitable "blurring of public and private interests and purposes within the administration"(p. 14). Trujillo's regime can be consid- ered patrimonial and/or sultanistic. Ask older Dominicans who experienced his dictatorship and they will teil you that Trujillo ruled the country as a per- sonal fiefdom, at once torturing dissenters and cultivating popular support by baptizing thousands of godchildren. Trujillo's assassination in 1961 allowed for the possibility of a democratie transition, but the shift from neopatrimonialism to democracy is often difficult, and in this case the refusal of Trujillo family members to leave power compli- cated matters. Fearing another Communist Cuba, the United States worked diplomatically in the democratie transition that culminated in the 1962 presi- dential election of Juan Bosch. But although the United States played an impor- tant role, Dominicans themselves directly influenced the fate of democracy as Bosch was overthrown by a military coup after only seven months in office. Hartlyn argues that the overthrow was due to conservative business sectors, which feit threatened by Bosch's new constitution, legislative initiatives, and liberal reforms that limited their privileges. Discontent within the army, which was swayed by propaganda depicting Bosch as a Communist, led to his over- throw. Hartlyn also attributes the failure for a complete democratie transition to Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 10:06:14AM via free access REVIEW ARTICLES 107 Bosch's own tragic inability to rise to the occasion and be a true leader. He suggests that Bosch's presidency could have been extended if only he had agreed to more concessions. But to do this, Bosch, an avowed leftist, would have had to compromise his beliefs - something he did not do until the 1990s. The April 1965 ei vil war, which represented the opportunity for Domi- nicans to reinstate Bosch as president, was interrupted by U.S. military inter- vention. Without U.S. intervention there might have been more bloodshed, but here as in other U.S. military interventions, dependency theorists are cor- rect when they assert that democracy is rarely imposed from the outside. In the 1966 presidential elections, the United States supported its preferred candidate, Joaqufn Balaguer. It would have been more correct for the United States to support Bosch's return to power. But as Hartlyn suggests, this would surely have provoked another military coup. During Balaguer's presidency - los doce anos ("the twelve years") - democracy was unable to take root because of the semi-authoritarian climate in which political assassinations and disappearances were common. Hartlyn writes that Balaguer could have ruled in a more sultanistic manner like his mentor Trujillo, but that the country in 1966 was very different from what it had been in 1961. Balaguer confronted opposition from political par- ties, dissident groups, and the army, which (unlike Trujillo) he did not control. Yet Balaguer was able to forge alliances and managed to maintain power until 1978. During the 1970s, political parties such as the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) led by José Francisco Pena Gómez forged alliances with anti-Balaguer political parties such as the Socialist International, and bene- fitted from U.S. emphasis on human rights to initiate a peaceful democratie transition in 1978. The diversificaton of the PRD partly explains the window of democratie opportunity that ushered in the presidency of Antonio Guzman (1978-82) and his successor Salvador Jorge Blanco (1982-86). Nevertheless, the PRD did not eliminate neopatrimonialism. Clientilistic policies such as the granting of exoneraciones (tax exemptions on foreign vehicles) and internal strife with- in the PRD along with violent nationwide protests sparked by the signing of IMF loans in 1984 kept patrimonialism alive and democracy weak. Despite these neocolonial and punitive economie measures, Hartlyn finally concludes that ultimately, "it is Jorge Blanco and the PRD who must bear responsibili- ty for not transforming the style of politics in the country" (p. 187). Neopatrimonial politics continued with Balaguer's return to power in 1986. Under Balaguer, private and public roles of leadership were fused as he traveled the nation in helicopter inaugurating hundreds of new government projects and using them to initiate or strengthen cliënt relationships. An exam- ple of Balaguer's autonomous presidential power was the special account used to deposit the checks owed to the Dominican state by the multinational Downloaded from Brill.com10/01/2021 10:06:14AM via free access 108 New West Indian Guide /Nieuwe West-Indische Gids vol. 76 no. 1 &2 (2002) Falconbridge company. According to Hartlyn, Balaguer had complete control over this account without congressional authority. By 1994 Balaguer was forced to step down and new elections were set for 1996. New electoral procedures mandated that a presidential candidate need- ed to win over half of the vote to be elected. Pena Gómez's failure to achieve 50 percent of the vote forced a run-off election and Balaguer convinced his party to vote en masse for Bosch's Partido de la Liberación (PLD), headed by an unknown candidate and ultimate winner, Leonel Fernandez. The 1996 presidential elections showed how difficult it is to separate democracy from neopatrimonialism in Dominican politics. Pena Gómez lost the presidential elections in spite of American support because the anti-Haitian/black Balaguer was able to manipulate political institutions such as his party, the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC). These elections also revealed the weakness of the Junta Central Electoral (electoral college) as the names of many Dominican voters who showed up to vote did not appear on the election registry list. As Hartlyn indicates, democracy has to exist "uneasily" in the Dominican Republic. However, 1994 represented a positive turning point for Dominican democracy because among other reforms to revamp the electoral process, a prohibition on presidential reelection was established. This new reform meant that Fernandez could not run in 2000, thereby paving the way for the election of the current president, Hipólito Mejia. In short, Hartlyn pro- vides an informative historical review of the political process that occurred in the Dominican Republic between 1961 and 1996. He helps readers under- stand in a theoretical and comparative way why Dominican democracy has had to struggle just to stay afloat. Rather than solely blaming American for- eign policy for the fragility of Dominican democracy and thus shifting the focus of his study, Hartlyn underscores a markedly Dominican tone by illu- minating the significant and interrelated roles played by Dominican individ- uals and institutions.