Descripción:
This book analyzes the formation of the Dominican state and explores the development of state-society relations since the late nineteenth century. Betances argues that initial state expansion occurred between 1886 and 1924, as governments opened the economy to foreign capital, entered the international credit system, and extended the role of the military. During this period, however, the social and economic base of national elites was not strengthened, creating an imbalance in state-society relations that provided the structural framework for the emergence of the Trujillo dictatorship. The author also explores the impact of foreign intervention and socioeconomic change on the process of state and class formation since 1961.


CONTENTS:

Foreword, Hobart A. Spalding......xiii
Acknowledgement......xvii

Introduction: Historical and Theoretical Perspectives......1

1. Nineteenth-Century Regionalism, Political Struggle, and State Formation......9

2. Capitalist Agriculture and Class-State Formation at the Turn of the Century......23

3. Merchants and the Integration of the State into the International Credit System......41

4. The Beginnings of the Modern Dominican State......57

5. State Formation and the U.S. Military Occupation......77

6. Class and State Formation Under Trijillo......95

7. Consolidation of the Modern State, Class Formation, and Capitalist Restructuring......113

8. State and Class Formation in the Dominican Republic: Some Conclusions......135

Bibliography......141
About the Book and Author......151
Index......153