Dominican Republic: Democracy for a Better Life recounts the meeting held in Juan Dolio on October 5-7, 2007, the second of of the National Dialogues on Democracy in Latin America sponsored by the Inter-American Dialogue and the Organization of American States.

The core objective of these national dialogues is to summon analysts, politicians, private sector leaders and civil society actors to reflect on the quality of democracy in their countries. In conjunction with a local partner, the Inter-American Dialogue and the OAS anticipate that the participants in these meetings will define benchmarks to measure democratic progress five years from now. The Center for Governance and Social Management, Santo Domingo Technology Institute (INTEC) was our partner in the Dominican Republic. In Juan Dolio, 28 Dominicans from a variety of sectors brought differing political perspectives to the conversation.

In each country, one of the participants will assume the role of rapporteur —in this case, Dr. Pedro Wilfredo Lozano— with the task of producing a report that would prompt a public debate about governance and democratic consolidation. In every case, the reports will reflect exclusively the views of national participants regarding the state of democracy in their countries. These participants sign the reports in their individual capacities. Although not all the signatories —in this case, the 28 Dominicans— actually subscribe to each phrase contained in the document, all of them —with the exceptions made in their individual comments— support the content and the overall tone of the report.

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Table of Contents

I. Is There Discontent within the Democratic System or with Democracy Itself?

II. Institutions: Expectations vs. Reality

III. Growth and Development

IV. Political Parties and Civil Society

V. Citizen Security

VI. Basic Points of Agreement on Development

VII. What Is to Be Done about the Democratic Malaise?

VIII. Benchmarks 2012