Recent Popular Movements in the Dominican Republic

The study of the social movements that have arisen in the Dominican Republic in recent years is valuable in its own right, but it can also help to shed light on more general historical trends. Indeed, such movements have been framed by various forms of structural change, such as the transition from a weakly modernized agrarian export economy to a service-based economy linked to the outside. Politically, they should be considered concomitants of the democratic order, revealing the practical limits of its assumptions with respect both to the parties ’ representation of the people’s interests and to their role as channels for negotiation with the state. Furthermore, the study of these movements can provide a basis for reflecting upon the limits of the move-ments themselves, an important issue inasmuch as it points to the obstacles to substantive social change. Only the urban popular movements that have assumed national signifi-cance will be considered in this essay. These movements are, of course, closely linked to the local and thereby constitute a sort of extension to th