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Articles

Vol. 30 No. 2 (2010)

Dominican Republic: Macro-Economic Growth and Political Stability Versus Social Inequality and Popular Dissatisfaction

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-090X2010000200016
Submitted
January 14, 2020
Published
2020-01-14

Abstract

This article analyzes the political, economic and social situation of the Dominican Republic in 2009 in the context of the capitalist global economic crisis and the Caribbean country’s economic dependence on the United States. It observes the effects of the macroeconomic growth and the scarce distribution of wealth in increasing poverty and marginality as a result of the inequities generated by a neoliberal governmental structure that operates to fulfill the demands of capitalist financial institutions towards increasing the GNP, the foreign investments and the international debt collection without regard for the social demands. In addition, it remarks the critics of public opinion sectors about the rampant rise of public corruption and narcotraffic and how it permeates various spheres of Leonel Fernández’s administration with legal impunity. The analysis of quantitative and qualitative data shows growing levels of popular dissatisfaction towards the government, the dominant political parties and the congress, and the demand for coherent public policies that satisfy the socioeconomic and political situation of the nation. In this context, it is examined the formation of civic organizations and non-partisan political groups as well as the high level of abstention in the May 2010 congressional and municipal elections.

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