AlterInfos - DIAL

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - “It's the Institutions, Stupid!” The Lack of Independent Political Institutions

Edward D. Gonzalez-Acosta — 2008-02-25T17:09:21Z

Why is there so much corruption in Dominican Politics? Why do people drive down the wrong lanes, don't pay their electricity bill, and a hundred other things? I propose that these phenomena are the result of the lack or weakness of proper institutions. In previous articles I tried to stress the importance of institutions in shaping our behavior, and now I'm more convinced of this than ever before. That's why I told myself the other day, “It's the institutions, stupid!”
Here's a simple (…)

- Latin America and the Caribbean / politique / política, corruption / corrupción, élections / elecciones, República Dominicana, institutions / instituciones, gouvernements / gobiernos, constitution / constitución

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Political clientelism and poverty

Edward D. Gonzalez-Acosta — 2008-02-12T23:05:00Z

In May 2006, after voting in the congressional elections, my family and I went up to visit some relatives up in the mountains just south of Rio San Juan. There we played dominoes and were preparing a sancocho, when my cousin walked in very proudly telling us that she had just gotten RD$500 for voting for the PLD. I was shocked, to say the least, but my relatives went on to tell me that it was not uncommon for all the parties to give out money and other material benefits for votes or joining (…)

- Latin America and the Caribbean / politique / política, pauvreté / pobreza, élections / elecciones, República Dominicana, institutions / instituciones, exclusion / exclusión, inégalités / desigualdad, clientélisme / clientelismo

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Discrimination, Oppression, and Identity in Dominican Society

Edward D. Gonzalez-Acosta — 2008-02-10T23:05:00Z

I have been meaning to write an article about identity and oppression for a while, because I think that by exploring these concepts we can identify some aspects of our political system that maintain the public divided, uneducated, and complacent. When the word “discrimination” is mentioned in the DR, most people REACT by shifting the issue to anti-Haitian movements. Let me start by saying, even if Haitian immigration were not vilify as THE MAJOR problem in the DR, or even if we didn't have (…)

- Latin America and the Caribbean / politique / política, discrimination / discriminación, República Dominicana, institutions / instituciones, politiques publiques / politicas publicas, impérialisme culturel / imperialismo cultural, inégalités / desigualdad, culture / cultura, théorie / teoría

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Santo Domingo: not Paris, not even La Vega!

Edward D. Gonzalez-Acosta — 2008-02-05T23:19:00Z

I just got back from a trip to Paris, where I spent a week in meetings about a research project I am conducting on Migration and Political Transnationalism. But mostly, the trip was an excuse to tour around this majestic city. I walked and enjoyed all the public amenities that Paris and cities like it have to offer. Despite this not being my first time in Paris, I found myself amazed at the importance politicians give to the public sphere.
The Parisian and French governments have invested (…)

- Latin America and the Caribbean / politique / política, República Dominicana, gouvernements / gobiernos, opinion / opinión, société / sociedad, politiques publiques / politicas publicas, culture / cultura, espaces publics / espacios públicos

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Political Culture, Institutions and Politics

Edward D. Gonzalez-Acosta — 2008-02-03T23:11:00Z

My father is one of the best drivers I know. He is very observant of driving rules in our home town of Cabrera and when he goes to NY; but in Santo Domingo, all bets are off! He drives like a maniac. This anecdote shows the power of both political culture and institutions on our behavior. My dad behaves differently in Santo Domingo because there is, seemingly, a different culture and set of institutions than in our small town or NY.
Many theorists claim that culture and political systems (…)

- Latin America and the Caribbean / politique / política, República Dominicana, institutions / instituciones, opinion / opinión, société / sociedad, science politique / ciencia politica, culture / cultura, théorie / teoría

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Criticism is Easy: Political Discourse in the 2008 Dominican Presidential Election

Edward D. Gonzalez-Acosta — 2008-01-30T23:04:00Z

This past weekend, I invested some time in trying to figure out if any of the three leading presidential candidates had a coherent list of political positions and/or policy program that they would support, if elected. I could only find a 2004 PLD document which excellently detailed the PLD's policy goals for 2004 to 2008. In that document the PLD outlined a whole slate of economic, social, environmental, infrastructure industrial policies. I congratulate the PLD for such a wonderful (…)

- Latin America and the Caribbean / politique / política, élections / elecciones, República Dominicana, opinion / opinión, partis politiques / partidos politicos

CENTRAL AMERICA - CAFTA and the U.S. Patron-Client Relationship with Dominican Republic and Central America

Edward D. Gonzalez-Acosta — 2007-05-23T22:13:13Z

Abstract
Patron-client relationships have detrimental implications on the socioeconomic development of communities. In this paper, I study the patron-client relationship between the U.S. and Central America and present a conceptual framework that suggests that the existence of a patron-client relationship 1) increases competition, 2) reduces social trust and collective action, and 3) is detrimental to its prospective regional socioeconomic development. I also review CAFTA and claim that (…)

- Academia / relations internationales / relaciones internacionales, América Central, República Dominicana, United States of America, impérialisme / imperialismo, accords de « libre-échange » / tratados de “libre comercio”, recherche universitaire / academia, « développement » / “desarrollo”, CAFTA-DR

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Building Trans-migrant Citizenship: International Migration and Political Transnationalism

Edward D. Gonzalez-Acosta — 2007-05-15T00:20:35Z

Abstract
The central questions of this paper are: How is the concept of citizenship and nationality of labor exporting countries being expanded to incorporate their migrants living abroad? Through which political and cultural mechanisms is this occurring? And how is this process evident in the case of the Dominican Republic and its migrants living in the U.S.? To address these questions, I adopt a transnational model to the study of migration and political integration– instead of the more (…)

- Academia / migrations / migraciones, El Salvador, República Dominicana, Haïti, México, diasporas / diasporas, recherche universitaire / academia, « développement » / “desarrollo”, science politique / ciencia politica, citoyenneté / ciudadanía, transnationalisme / transnacionalismo, remesas