Dominican Republic THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
Figure 5. Structure of the Government, 1989
Constitutional Development
By 1989 the Dominican Republic had gone through 29
constitutions in less than 150 years of independence. This
statistic is a somewhat deceiving indicator of political
stability, however, because of the Dominican practice of
promulgating a new constitution whenever an amendment was
ratified. Although technically different from each other
in some
particular provisions, most new constitutions contained in
reality only minor modifications of those previously in
effect.
Sweeping constitutional innovations were actually
relatively
rare.
The large number of constitutions does, however,
reflect a
basic lack of consensus on the rules that should govern
the
national political life. Most Dominican governments felt
compelled upon taking office to write new constitutions
that
changed the rules to fit their own wishes. Not only did
successive governments often strenuously disagree with the
policies and the programs of their predecessors, but they
often
rejected completely the institutional framework within
which
their predecessors had operated.
Constitutionalism--loyalty to a
stable set of governing principles and laws rather than to
the
person who promulgates them--became a matter of overriding
importance in the Dominican Republic only after the death
of
Trujillo.
Dominicans historically had agreed that government
should be
representative and vaguely democratic, that there should
be civil
and political rights, separation of powers, and checks and
balances. Beyond that, however, consensus broke down. The
country
actually had been alternately dominated throughout its
history by
two constitutional traditions, one relatively democratic
and the
other authoritarian. Rarely were there attempts to bridge
the gap
between these diametric opposites.
The first Dominican constitution was promulgated in
1844,
immediately after the nation achieved independence from
Haiti. It
was a liberal document with many familiar
elements--separation of
powers, checks and balances, and a long list of basic
rights.
However, an authoritarian government replaced the
country's
liberal, democratic government during its first year. The
new
regime proceeded to write its own constitution. This
second
constitution considerably strengthened the executive,
weakened
the legislative and the judicial branches, and gave the
president
widespread emergency powers, including the power to
suspend basic
rights and to rule by decree. Thereafter, governance of
the
country often alternated between liberal and authoritarian
constitutional systems.
Even the dictator Rafael Trujillo always took care to
operate
under the banner of constitutionalism. Under Trujillo,
however,
the legislature was simply a rubber stamp; the courts were
not
independent; and basic rights all but ceased to exist. He
governed as a tyrant, unfettered by constitutional
restrictions.
After Trujillo's death in 1961, the constitution was
amended
to provide for new elections and to allow the transfer of
power
to an interim Council of State. Although promulgated as a
new
document, the 1962 constitution was actually a
continuation of
the Trujillo constitution, and it was thus unpopular.
In 1963, Bosch's freely elected, social-democratic
government
drafted a new and far more liberal constitution. It
separated
church and state, put severe limits on the political
activities
of the armed forces, established a wide range of civil
liberties,
and restricted the rights of property relative to
individual
rights. These provisions frightened the more conservative
elements in Dominican society, which banded together to
oust
Bosch and his constitution in September 1963.
Subsequently, the
more conservative 1962 constitution was restored. In the
name of
constitutionalism, Bosch and his followers launched a
revolution
in 1965, the objective of which was restoration of the
liberal
1963 constitution.
Largely as a result of the United States military
intervention of April 1965, the civil war had died down by
1966.
With Balaguer and his party in control, the Dominicans
wrote
still another constitution. This one was intended to avert
the
conflicts and polarization of the past by combining
features from
both the liberal and the conservative traditions. The 1966
Constitution incorporated a long list of basic rights, and
it
provided for a strengthened legislature; however, it also
gave
extensive powers to the executive, including emergency
powers. In
this way, the country sought to bridge the gap between its
democratic and its authoritarian constitutions, by
compromising
their differences. Although the 1966 Constitution had been
amended several times afterwards, it was this document
under
which the Dominican Republic continued to operate in 1989
(see
fig. 5).
Data as of December 1989
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