Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
estate, telecommunications, tourism, and free-trade zones;
importers and commercial interests continued to retain powerful
organizations, however. Behind the array of seemingly formal
organizational structures lies the reality that many sectors
of the economy are dominated by a few large firms that often
form part of family conglomerates that sometimes have complex
histories of collaboration and rivalry.
Efforts to construct a powerful, united umbrella organization
of private-sector interests has had mixed results. The closest
approximation is the National Council of Private Enterprise
(Consejo Nacional de la Empresa Privada—Conep), which,
however, has seen defections during the 1990s as a result of tensions
over the nature and pace of the opening up of the economy.
Such tensions have divided local industrialists from
importers.
Middle Class
By the 1990s, Dominican society no longer consisted of a
small landed elite at the top and a huge mass of peasants at the
bottom, with almost no one in between. In large part as a result
of the economic development and modernization that had
occurred since the end of the Great Depression, a sizable, heterogenous
middle class had emerged that comprised 30 to 35
percent of the population (see Urban Society, ch. 2).
The middle class consists of shopkeepers, government officials,
clerks, military personnel, white-collar workers of all
kinds, teachers, professionals, and the better-paid members of
the working class. Most of the middle class resides in Santo
Domingo, but secondary cities like Santiago, Barahona, Monte
Cristi, La Romana, San Francisco de Macoris, and San Pedro
de Macoris have also developed sizable middle-class populations.
The middle class has come to predominate within the country's
major political institutions: the Roman Catholic Church,
the military officer corps, government service, political parties,
interest groups, and even trade union leadership. It also has
provided important leadership for civil society organizations
committed to good governance and clean government, and
has supported women's and environmental issues and community
development. Yet, many in the middle class remain quite
conservative, reflecting the fact that this social group has often
been divided on social and political issues. Generally, its members
advocate peace, order, stability, and economic progress,
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