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Dominican Republic THE ROLE OF THE MILITARY IN PUBLIC LIFE
The 1966 Constitution describes the armed forces as
"essentially obedient and nonpolitical and without the
right to
deliberate. The purpose of their creation is to defend the
independence and integrity of the republic, to maintain
public
order, and to uphold the Constitution and the laws." By
law,
members of the armed forces are denied the right to vote
and the
right to participate in the activities of political
parties and
organized labor.
Although by 1989 the political influence of the armed
forces
had declined relative to the early 1960s, the
characterization of
the military as a nonpolitical body was still an ideal
rather
than a reality
(see Dominican Republic - Interest Groups
, ch. 4). The armed
forces
continued to be an organized force available for use
against a
regime's opposition, and military personnel and equipment
were
employed overtly to support candidates favored by the
armed
forces. Individual officers also competed for national
political
and economic power and privilege.
The practice of appointing military officers to
positions in
the civil administration had lessened somewhat by 1989,
although,
as was traditional, military officers continued to hold a
significant number of government positions, serving either
while
in uniform or after temporary or permanent retirement. The
appointment of military personnel to civilian positions
occurred
in part because officers possessed proven managerial and
administrative skills that were frequently in short
supply. The
practice also provided a source of largess that gave
powerful
officers a stake in the current regime and a reward for
loyalty
to it. Many officers in such positions achieved levels of
wealth
not attainable in the purely military sphere.
Data as of December 1989
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