Hispanidad and national identity in Santo Domingo

Abstract

This article compares the nationalist discourse expressed in the writings of two conservative statesmen, one from Spain and the other from Santo Domingo, who tried to come to terms with the complex relation between race and nation. Francisco Franco and Joaquin Balaguer were contemporaries who dominated the ideological debates in their countries for nearly half a century. The nationalist discourse of Balaguer is shown to be more modern, and informed by Enlightenment philosophy (including the idea of democracy), than the discourse of Franco, who repudiated democracy and Enlightenment views. At the same time Balaguer's discourse is blatantly racist and social‐Darwinist, while that of Franco is inclusive and expresses a spiritual universalism. For Balaguer the main threat to the nation was demographical and external, while for Franco the main threat to the nation was political and internal.

Notes

I want to thank Lydia Romeu for her help in writing this article. The translation of quotations from Spanish sources is mine.