Reviews
The Dominican Republic Today: Realities and Perspectives edited by Emilio Betances and Hobart A. Spalding, Jr., Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, City University of New York, 1996,...
...This hypothesis probably holds as long as no meaningful challenge to the prevailing orthodoxy emerges...
...These essays-three in English, four in Spanish-grew out of the Bildner Center's Research Seminar on the Dominican Republic, and were presented in an April 1993 International Research Workshop at the City University of New York...
...The last three essays consider the role of U.S...
...The kind of development promoted by these multilateral lending institutions enriches the few at the expense of the well-being and the dignity of the many...
...We see factories in the "free-trade" zones, producing for U.S...
...This sobering video examines the impact of neoliberalism and the new economic order on Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere...
...policy in the Republic will follow the general pattern of promoting political-economic "liberalization" while exercising restraint and neutrality vis-ti-vis electoral competition...
...Patricia Pessar discusses the role of return migrants or ausentes in defining a new balance of forces in Dominican society--challenging the traditional oligarchy while acting as a stabilizing factor in the realm of class relations...
...Andr6s Dauhajr6, Jr...
...The emergence of local-level popular organizations discussed by Roberto Cassi may hold promise for the emergence of a genuine grassroots challenge to the neoliberal regime, but the depth of the economic crisis, coupled with the narrow political self-interestedness of the traditional left, have severely restricted their impact...
...Erica G. Polakoff...
...As a whole, they provide a coherent, theoretically eclectic account of the political economy of the Dominican Republic just prior to the pivotal 1994 elections...
...Deadly Embrace: Nicaragua, The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund a video directed by Elizabeth Canner, produced and distributed by Compas de La Primavera, Buffalo Rd., Wentworth, NH 03282, 30 min., 1996, $30 plus $3 s+h (accompanying "Activist's Guide," $6...
...Graham and Hartlyn argue that U.S...
...The central issue confronting the country's political elite in the aftermath of the socioeconomic pact of 1990 was the viability of Balaguer's structural-adjustment program, particularly insofar as it rested on the promise of-and need for--key political reforms...
...retailers like Gap, Guess, Sears, KMart and Dupont, with dangerous working conditions and wages of 63 cents an hour...
...We learn of restrictions on both credit and technical assistance to small farmers and businesses...
...But the inefficiency and corruption of the Balaguer regime prevented such reforms from taking place, as Jos6 del Castillo points out, and the sharp divisions in the center-left opposition didn't help matters either...
...While the the essays are a few years old, they nevertheless serve as useful background reading for the Dominican specialist...
...A neostructuralist critique by Miguel Ceara, however, questions the longer-range viability of an economic project aimed at tearing down barriers to foreign investment without meaningful political reform...
...The accompanying guide provides some of this information, but only in a superficial way...
...The consequences of structural adjustment for the majority of Nicaraguans do emerge clearly, albeit in rapid-fire form...
...This is a passionate video with a strongly held point of view: Nicaragua's poor have been devastated by the new economic order...
...policy, the impact of migration and the rise of "new social movements" in the Dominican Republic...
...The Dominican Republic Today: Realities and Perspectives edited by Emilio Betances and Hobart A. Spalding, Jr., Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, City University of New York, 1996, 205 pp., $43.95 (cloth...
...In 30 short minutes, the video provides the history and structure of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), discusses the consequences of indebtedness, demonstrates the relationship between national debt and poverty in Nicaragua (which has one of the highest per-capita debts in the world), and analyzes the structural-adjustment policies which the IMF imposes on debtor nations in collusion with their central governments...
...In the period leading up to the 1994 elections, certain institutional reforms-tax laws, labor code, public administration-were in the legislative pipeline...
...This very useful, well-conceived collection sets the stage for a clear understanding of the conditions and circumstances confronting the new PLD government of Leonel Fernandez...
...While it is not essential to have a strong background on recent political changes in Nicaragua, the film makes much more sense if the viewer is aware of the circumstances leading up to the Sandinista revolution of 1979, conditions during the 11 years of Sandinista rule, and the Chamorro presidency of the past six years...
...defends the structural-adjustment package of August, 1990, praising its success in reducing inflation and allowing the resumption of payments on the national debt, thereby restoring the government's credit rating...
...Nicaragua is the perfect choice for exploring the nefarious nature of the policies of the World Bank and the IMF, institutions that further the interests of private enterprises based primarily in the North...
...We are told of deep cuts in social programs in areas like health care, education and welfare, lay-offs of thousands of public-sector workers (including 4,500 teachers since 1990), and the privatization of state industries...
Vol. 30 • March 1997 • No. 5
