| Author: |
Encarnacion Tomas Enrique |
| Author affiliations: |
Howard University |
| Publication date: |
2004 |
| Dissertation type: |
dissertation(Ph.D) |
|
Abstract:
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The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the changing nature of the economy, state and global financial policies and popular movements of resistance to global capitalism, and their impact on the quality of life of the Dominican people from 1960 through 2002. There were two research questions guiding this study. They are as follows: 1) what are the changing nature of the economy, state and global financial institutions and popular movements of resistance in the Dominican Republic from 1960 through 1980s and from 1990 through 2002, 2) how have the changing nature of the economy, state, and global financial institutions and popular movements of resistance impacted the quality of life of the Dominican people, from 1960 through 1980s and from 1990s through 2002? The analysis begins with a brief historical background of the Dominican Republic from the period of colonization in 1492 until the consolidation of neocolonialism in the 1950s. The finding focuses on the period of transition to globalization and neoliberalism from 1960 to the 1980s. Finally, they explore the consolidation of global capitalism and neoliberalism from 1990 through 2002. When possible the researcher made use of available data beyond 2002. The findings suggest that as global capitalism developed and expanded in the Dominican Republic corresponding shifts in the nature of the economy, state and global financial policies and popular movements of resistance took place that directly impacted the quality of life of the Dominican people. Between 1960 and the 1980s, the countrys economy shifted from mostly agricultural production with a small manufacturing sector of the economy to a service economy, including free trade zone and tourism. Following the shift in the productive process, migration from rural communities to urban centers took place. Once removed from the land, poor and working class Dominicans were forced to sell their labor in the tourist industries and free trade zone. Neoliberal policies at the level of the state the Dominican Republic), and global policies such as the Caribbean Basin Initiative and structural adjustments programs have created the space for global capital to more fully incorporate the Dominican Republic into the global production and distribution market. Low wages, unemployment, precarious health and educational conditions, soaring inflation, the polarization of income and increasing poverty, and the growing external debt to the international financial Institutions have resulted in wide spread social unrest, strikes, and protests. Movements of resistance developed during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, primarily to contest class oppression and exploitation and political and military repression. During the 1990s and 2000s new popular movements of resistance to global capitalism have emerged. Although the development of these movements have not impeded the expansion of capitalist economic and political hegemony in the country or the implementation of structural adjustment policies and programs, a few gain has been made. These include slowing down the pace of the deterioration of the quality of life by forcing the government to continue providing limited subsidies for some of the basic necessities of life---food, water, education and health. In addition, working class Dominicans have a more sophisticated analysis of the root causes affecting their lives and have linked their local and national struggle to the poor and working class hemispheric and global movement for economic, social and political equality. |
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