They are two distinct countries. The government in DR is pretty stable. The locals have a saying that they have to choose between a crook or a killer for their president but the only time it can become unstable is around election times. As an American living in Dominican Republic, we just kind of learned to stay out of sight during elections otherwise we integrated quite easily into the culture.
The most I take for this time of year to the caribbean is a wind breaker, and mostly for cool nights when heading back up the east coast of U.S. It gets hot down there.