INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this research is to assess the impact of the multinational corporation (MNC) on the Dominican Republic. One school of thought in the contemporary international econo mic environment holds that the MNC is the best hope that less developed countries (LDCs) have to create economic growth, while a second school of thought decries this assertion. In this assessment, the position is that MNCs retard real economic development in LDCs.
MULTINATIONAL OPERATIONS INVOLVING
For most of its history, the Dominican Republic "has been a passive victim of forces from the outside" (Fagg, 1965, 139).The initial victims were the native peoples of the island which, in 1989, contains both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The native peoples of the island were replaced by the Spanish, and later by the Africans brought to the island countries by the Spanish.
From the time its territory was claimed for Spain in 1492 through 1850, little economic development of any kind occurred in the country which is today named the Dominican Republic. During this entire time period, the country was either exploited for
the economic benefit of a few hundred individuals, or it was used as a pawn in the great power politics of several European nations.
The Dominican Republic gained independence in 1850, and remained a politically independent state through 1889, with the exception of another Spanish occupation (short on this occa sion) from 1861 through 1863. By 1890, the Dominican Republic was in debt by a substantial amount to foreign financial inter ests primarily American and Canadian. American economic intervention in the Dominican Republic had begun, "when indivi dual commercial interests acquired land to participate in the sugar industry, the mainstay of the economy" (Wheaton, 1984, 420).
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