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The Catholic Church And Political Mediation In The Dominican Republic: A Comparative Perspective, Emelio Betances

Sociology Faculty Publications

This essay looks at the Catholic Church and political mediation in the Dominican Republic during the 1980's and 1990's. It opens with a review of the Latin American context regarding the transition to democracy, the debt crisis, and the church's response to the new political reality. It draws some comparisons from Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, where the church played an important role mediating political conflicts. The core of the article concentrates on three parts: the Dominican transition to democracy, the church mediation in the Tripartite Dialogue of the 1980's and early 1990's, and in the general elections of …