The Dominican Republic
Beyond the Lighthouse
"The Dominican Republic is the land Columbus loved best" runs the advertising slogan. In celebration of the 500th anniversary of the explorer's arrival on the island of Hispaniola, the government has spent a reported US$40 millions on building a bizarre commemorative lighthouse. In the process, it has bull-dozed the homes of thousands of slumdwellers to clear the memorial site. "Beyond the Lighthouse" looks at a country where extreme poverty exists alongside a booming tourist industry. Where workers from neighbouring Haiti are literally enslaved in an almost bankrupt sugar industry. Where political leaders date back to a dictatorship which ended more than 30 years ago. In its comprehensive analysis of the Dominican Republic's turbulent history and its current political crisis, "Beyond the Lighthouse" exposes the inequality and corruption which lubricate the country's economy. It explores the complex and tragic relations between Dominicans and Haitians and the ambiguous role played by the United States. The author also assesses the popular movement which is challenging a decaying political system and proposing a radical new form of democratic participation.
Series: Latin America Bureau Books
Published: 1991
Pages: 128
eBook: 9781909014831
Paperback: 9780906156643
Acronyms | |||
---|---|---|---|
Dominican Republic in Brief | |||
Map | |||
Introduction | |||
I. Identity Crisis | |||
Independence and Foreign Influence | |||
2. Staying Power | |||
Dictatorship and Democracy | |||
3. Power and Glory | |||
Strongmen and Party Politics | |||
4.· False Economy | |||
Sugar, Tourism and Offshore Industries | |||
5. Heaven and Hell | |||
Haitians, Dominicans and the US | |||
6. Pain and Protest | |||
The IMF, Austerity and Popular Response | |||
Bibliography | |||
Index |
Duncan Green Duncan Green is the author of From Poverty to Power and Oxfam GB’s Senior Strategic Adviser. He was Oxfam’s Head of Research from 2004-12. From Poverty to Power contains the accumulated knowledge of 25 years spent researching and writing about reducing poverty and combating injustice and, as he says, trying to “do justice to the complexity of the world, while still believing there is a story about how it can be changed for the better.”
Moving toward Sustainable Rice Production in Northwest Dominican Republic
Sindler, Derek
Useche, Pilar
Tucker, Catherine
Zhao, Xin
Natural Resources, Vol. 09 (2018), Iss. 12 P.468
https://doi.org/10.4236/nr.2018.912029 [Citations: 0]Not a Cockfight
Martínez, Samuel
Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 30 (2003), Iss. 3 P.80
https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X03030003006 [Citations: 23]The construction of gender identities in public sector organisations in Latin America
Dawn Metcalfe, Beverly
Rodriguez, Jenny K.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, Vol. 29 (2010), Iss. 1 P.53
https://doi.org/10.1108/02610151011019219 [Citations: 10]