Question

Haiti is the most impoverished nation-state in the world. How Haiti and the DR, which share the island of Hispaniola, have developed in opposite directions is an important way to understand the challenges of developing democracies. What best explains the divergent development of Haiti and the DR?

Answer 1

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the two countries that share the island of Hispaniola but they both have not seen the same rate of development. They have somewhat similar geographical conditions but still, their development is in two extreme directions. Both countries were having a similar growth rate until the year 1960. But after that, the GDP of Haiti has dropped tremendously and is standing at just the half of the GDP from the year 1960. On the other hand, the GDP of the Dominican Republic was grown three times until 2005. The man reason behind the downfall of Haiti was the implementation of the policies laid by US military operations. This was the initial reason where the downfall of Haiti started. The Dominican Republic was focussing on the growth of their country and they have worked towards building infrastructure, setting up industries and they have focussed on construction and they also put a major emphasis on flourishing the agriculture sector. This helped them in boosting up the economy and taking them to the heights where they are today. The Dominican Republic also worked towards stabilizing the politics in the country as this help the country to grow. Haiti was lacking behind DR in all aspects even they have not managed to gain political stability in their country which has deteriorated the condition of the people in the country and they are still struggling. The people are poor and the economy is working very slow. These were the reason behind the divergent develpopmenet of Haiti and Dominican Republc.