Foundations of DespotismThis book explores the history of the Dominican Republic as it evolved from the first European colony in the Americas into a modern nation under the rule of Rafael Trujillo. It investigates the social foundations of Trujillos exceptionally enduring and brutal dictatorship (1930 1961) and, more broadly, the way power is sustained in such non democratic regimes. The author reveals how the seemingly unilateral imposition of power by Trujillo in fact