Contemporary Constitutions and Constitutionalism in the Dominican Republic: The Basic Law within the Political Process

THE REVOLUTION OF APRIL 1965, and the subsequent landing of United States military forces focused an enormous amount of worldwide attention on the Dominican Republic. The frequently chaotic revolution, which quickly became a civil war, was made still more confusing by reports which at one and the same time referred to one side as the "rebels" or "constitutionalists" and to the other as the loyalists" or "anticonstitutionalists." As the events of Dominican revolt, civil war, and United States intervention became disentangled, however, it became clear that the issue of "the constitution" and "constitutionalism" and the principles and forces of which these terms were symbols were perhaps even more important than any of the personalities or groups involved.