Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic: Government and Politics
president and other high officials, act as a court of cassation,
serve as a court of last instance in matters forwarded from
appellate courts, exercise final disciplinary action over other
members of the judiciary, and transfer justices from one jurisdiction
to another.
Implementation of the 1994 constitutional reforms has been
slow but significant. The Council of the Magistrature was
formed in late 1996, and in August 1997 new members of the
Supreme Court were named. This new Supreme Court is
widely viewed as professional and nonpartisan, and for the first
time in the country's history, business, professional, and middle-sector
groups from civil society played an active role in the
nomination and screening process. Critical judicial reforms
have also made gradual progress. The Supreme Court evaluated
and replaced many of the country's judges, leading to
improvements in the system's efficiency and effectiveness. A
law establishing a judicial career service was promulgated in
August 1998, and in August 1999 a National School for the
Judiciary was established to improve the training and the quality
of the country's judges. With these changes, the quality of
the country's judiciary and the historical subservience of the
courts to the government in power appears to be changing
slowly.
Public Administration
Historically, the Dominican Republic has been marked by a
public administration dominated by patronage and clientelist
relations, with nepotism, corruption, and inefficiency as common
features. Although initial civil service legislation was
passed under the United States military occupation of 1916-
24, and changed several times thereafter, the legislation was
never truly implemented. Indeed, the legislation was actually
abolished in 1951 by President Trujillo. Under Trujillo, the
state was largely an instrument for the benefit of the dictator;
this meant there was little localized or decentralized corruption
not countenanced by Trujillo or his closest cronies.
Following the fall of Trujillo, no ruler retained as full a personalist
control over the state and its personnel as he had experienced.
Balaguer (1966-78; 1986-96) came closest, especially
in his first twelve years in office. Under Balaguer 's administration,
the executive centralized expenditures and power
through contracts and patronage networks, and widely ignored
administrative regulations and bureaucratic norms. Although
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