Politics

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InteRDom is a competitive internship and academic study program which aims to encourage and promote academic, scientific, technological and cultural exchange between students, universities and NGO, public and private sector professionals on a national and international scale.

The flexibility of the program ensures that InteRDom not only benefits university students but also serves as a forum for professionals and academics who wish to share ideas and work together to identify similar goals in a variety of fields, thus encouraging research and academic exchange within the Caribbean.

Through our extensive contacts network, students can research specific projects for their studies and receive vocational support from assigned supervisors during their internships. Upon successful completion of the program, students are awarded a certificate and a full evaluation of their performance by their supervisors. Through our agreements with international universities, awarded credits can be co-validated and transferred to a student’s educational establishment.

InteRDom is part of GFDD/FUNGLODE´s commitment to fostering exchange and collaboration across nations.

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A Political History of the Dominican Republic


Like many Latin American nations, the Dominican Republic has a relatively young history as a democracy, and a tumultuous history as a sovereign nation. After finally gaining complete independence from Spain in 1865, but economic instability, the threat of European invasion and other problems resulted in a U.S. takeover of the country in 1916. A military government was established, but ended in 1924 when democratic elections were held.

But democracy was to be short-lived: in 1930, an army commander named Rafael Trujillo took absolute power, and established a corrupt, iron-handed regime that was responsible for many ensuing human rights abuses and economic problems. After a long, 31-year dictatorship, Trujillo was assassinated and his family was forced into exile.

In January 1962, a council of state was formed in an attempt to restore democracy to the Dominican Republic. It included moderate opposition forces and attempted to create a division of power through executive and legislative branches, which had previously been under Trujillo’s complete control. President Joaquin Balaguer was elected, but resigned shortly thereafter; then a council under President Rafael E. Bonnelly took power.

In 1962, Juan Bosch was elected, but was quickly overthrown by the military that same year. Violence and discord within the military resulted, and the U.S. military even intervened to both establish order as well as protect and evacuate U.S. citizens. In 1966, Balaguer returned to the presidency as the Reformist party candidate (now called the Social Christian Reformist Party–PRSC), and was re-elected in 1970 and 1974, but was defeated in 1978 by Antonio Guzman of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD.) This was a milestone in Dominican political history: it marked the first peaceful transfer of power from
one democratically-elected president to another.

The PRD stayed in power with the election of Salvador Jorge Blanco in 1982, and gained a majority in both Congressional houses. Like many Latin American nations at the time, his administration began to implement economic structural adjustment policies, including a financial austerity program in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This was hailed by much of the developed world — particularly the United States — as the prescription to the economic woes of the Americas. However, the supposed trickle-down effects were never felt in the Dominican Republic, nor were they experienced by the majority of Latin American citizens as a whole, and what resulted was an even greater disparity between rich and poor and both a collapse of social programs and a default in the payment of foreign debt.

Because of the economic and social disasters that ensued, Balaguer was re-elected yet again in 1986 and 1990, but he unfortunately inherited (and some say worsened) the economic depression, high inflation and currency devaluation that plagued the country. Poverty and general discontent was prominent, and many strikes and protests occurred during this time.

In 1990, Balaguer instituted a different type of economic reforms in conjunction with the IMF that succeeded in balancing the budget and curtailing inflation, and the Dominican Republic experienced a steady period of economic growth that lasted until the year 2000. However, Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) was elected for the first time in 1996, and is also credited for the advancement of the Dominican economy and government, as well as making the Dominican Republic an active participant in world and hemispheric affairs. In another free election, Hipolito Mejia was elected president in the year 2000, and continued to champion free trade and integration in the regional economy. The Central American Free Trade Agreement was signed with the United States and five other Central American nations in 2004, near the end of his administration, but Mejia faced growing domestic problems dealing with a deteriorating economy, fraud and power outages that darkened his last days in power.

Mejia ran for re-election, but Leonel Fernández was elected yet again, promising to fight corruption, fix the economy and concentrate on social issues. President Fernandez continues in power, and continues to work multilaterally and internationally with Latin American nations and often with the United States on counter-terrorism and immigration matters (he grew up in New York City.) In 2006, his party took control of both houses of Congress and also won a plurality in mayoral seats. He intends to run for re-election in 2008.

 

Related Pages

Women In Politics 

Heros  

Buzz On The Street 

 

Prominent Political Figures (past)

For a complete list, please refer to List of Presidents of the Dominican Republic

 

Prominent Political Figures (present)

 

 

 

 

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