Abstract
Political decentralization in the Dominican Republic was initiated between 1994 and 2008: non-concurrent municipal elections were introduced, revenue-sharing for local governments was multiplied by twelve, and the capital city was subdivided. Moreover, a centralizing “Municipal League” was significantly weakened, and Participatory Budgeting was mandated within all towns and cities. There is a causal link between these steps and the existence, between 1986 and 2004, of a three-party system in Dominican national politics. Three way competition among parties created opportunities for a social-political coalition favoring decentralization to introduce limits on the central state’s power, utilizing the mechanisms of a centralized polity to change and reform it. The topics in the succeeding chapters are outlined.
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Notes
Eliza Willis, Christopher da C.B. Garman, and Stephan Haggard, “The Politics of Decentralization in Latin America,” Latin American Research Review, Vol. 34, #1 (1999), p. 9. Panama was also placed in this category.
Alfred P. Montero and David J. Samuels, “The Political Determinants of Decentralization in Latin America: Causes and Consequences,” in idem, eds, Decentralization and Democracy in Latin America (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004), pp. 5–9
and Kent Eaton, Politics Beyond the Capital: The Design of Subnational Institutions in South America (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004), pp. 27–30.
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© 2014 Christopher Mitchell
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Mitchell, C. (2014). Introduction. In: Decentralization and Party Politics in the Dominican Republic. Palgrave Pivot, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137353122_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137353122_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, New York
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