Abstract
This chapter strives to answer the following question: Why was Costa Rica markedly more successful than Guatemala at creating a legitimate state and a democratic regime even though the two states are near neighbors in the Central American isthmus, the Spaniards began to colonize each region during the first half of the sixteenth century, and both colonies gained their independence at approximately the same time? To answer the question, this chapter identifies the challenges each state encountered, from the beginning of independence to the present, as each one sought to consolidate the power of the state and form its own political regime.
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Notes
- 1.
Harold Blakemore and Clifford Smith, Latin America: Geographical Perspectives (London: Metheun and Company, 1971), 131–132.
- 2.
Thomas E. Skidmore and Peter H. Smith, Modern Latin America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 309.
- 3.
Quoted in D. Michael Shafer, Winners and Losers: how sectors shape the developmental prospects of states (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994), 185.
- 4.
See Harold D. Nelson, ed., Costa Rica: A Country Study (Washington, DC: American University, 1983), 12.
- 5.
It is estimated that by 1800, 67 percent of Costa Rica’s population was Spanish and Mestizo, 16 percent was Indian, and 17 percent was Black. Most Blacks, however, resided along Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. See Mitchell Seligson, “Costa Rica,” in Howard J. Wiarda and Harvey F. Kline, eds., Latin American Politics and Development (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990), 457. See also John A. Booth, “Costa Rica: The Roots of Democratic Stability,” in Larry Diamond, Juan Linz, and Seymour Martin Lipset, eds., Democracy in Developing Countries: Latin America (Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner, 1989), 388.
- 6.
That same year, Costa Ricans passed the Pacto de la Concordia. The pact formalized Costa Rica’s independence from Spain and set up the provisional government of the Province of Costa Rica.
- 7.
In 1825, Costa Ricans passed the Fundamental Law of the Free Nation. The law described Costa Rica as an independent state within the United Provinces of Central America.
- 8.
See David Bushnell and Neill Macaulay, The Emergence of Latin America in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 273.
- 9.
Between 1824 and 1842, only 5 battles took place in Costa Rica, while a total of 51 were fought in Guatemalan territory.
- 10.
It was around this time that coffee became a modish drink in Europe. See Richard Biesanz, Karen Z. Biesanz, and Marvin H. Biesanz, The Costa Ricans (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1982), 19.
- 11.
It is estimated that coffee cultivation in Costa Rica started in 1779. See Nelson, Costa Rica: A Country Study, 12.
- 12.
Ibid, 19. See also Seligson, “Costa Rica,” 459; Dana G. Munro, The Latin American Republics (New York: Appleton-Century, Inc., 1960), 412; and Booth, “Costa Rica: The Roots of Democratic Stability,” 389.
- 13.
See R. L. Woodward, “Central America,” in Leslie Bethell, ed., Spanish America After Independence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 180.
- 14.
Tico (feminine tica, plural ticos, ticas) is the term typically used for a native of Costa Rica, in place of the formal Costarricense.
- 15.
According to Booth, the number by 1847 did not amount to more than 10 percent. See Booth, “Costa Rica: The Roots of Democratic Stability,” 389. Seligson estimates that less than 3 percent voted in the first election under the 1844 constitution. Seligson, “Costa Rica,” 461.
- 16.
Between 1835 and 1899, Costa Rica was ruled by the military over half of the time, and the generals in the presidency were almost always wealthy coffee planters. See Booth, “Costa Rica: The Roots of Democratic Stability,” 389–390. The number would increase markedly if the period considered were to begin with Mora's presidency in 1849.
- 17.
Munro, The Latin American Republics, 415.
- 18.
Seligson, “Costa Rica,” 461. See also Leslie Bethell, Latin America: Politics and Society Since 1930 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 41.
- 19.
The same type of assembly exists today.
- 20.
See Seligson, “Costa Rica,” 459; and Carolyn Hall, Costa Rica: A Geographical Interpretation in Historical Perspective. (Westview Press, 1985). Print.
- 21.
Booth, “Costa Rica: The Roots of Democratic Stability,” 390.
- 22.
See Seligson, “Costa Rica,” 459; and Booth, “Costa Rica: The Roots of Democratic Stability,” 389.
- 23.
Samuel Z. Stone, The Heritage of the Conquistadors (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990), 113.
- 24.
Charles D. Ameringer, Democracy in Costa Rica (New York: Praeger, 1982), 3.
- 25.
Nelson, Costa Rica: A Country Study, 147.
- 26.
Hall, A Geographical Interpretation in Historical Perspective, 125.
- 27.
D. Michael Shafer, Winners and Losers: How Sectors Shape the Developmental Prospects of States (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994), 186.
- 28.
See Alex Roberto Hybel, The Making of Flawed Democracies in the Americas: The United States, Chile, Argentina and Peru (NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), Chapters 3 and 4.
- 29.
See Alan Rouquie, The Military and the State in Latin America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 189.
- 30.
Booth, “Costa Rica: The Roots of Democratic Stability,” 435–436.
- 31.
Ibid., 436.
- 32.
Walter LaFeber, Inevitable Revolutions (New York: W.W. Norton, 1983), 100–107.
- 33.
Ibid., 106.
- 34.
Such strife never reached the level of intensity experienced by countries in which the leaders controlled large territories, had access to an abundance of mineral resources, or could rely on the cheap labor of large indigenous Indian populations, but it was sufficiently high to require the involvement of the army. See Hybel, The Making of Flawed Democracies in the Americas, Chapter five.
- 35.
Booth, “Costa Rica: The Roots of Democratic Stability,” 460.
- 36.
Ibid., 448. A figure that helps capture the role of the state in the economy is the size of its workforce, which increased from 6.1 percent in 1950 to 19.1 percent in 1985.
- 37.
Argentina is a good case in point.
- 38.
Thomas E. Skidmore, Peter H. Smith, and James N. Green, Modern Latin America Eight Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 108.
- 39.
Indigenous People of Costa Rica. http://www.iwgia.org/regions/latin-america/costa-rica .
- 40.
“Apoyo a la democracia,” Latinobarómetro 2015. http://www.latinobarometro.org/latOnline.jsp.
- 41.
Juan Carlos Hidalgo, “Growth Without Poverty: The Case of Costa Rica,” in CATO Institute, Economic Development Bulletin No. 18 (January 23, 2014). http://www.cato.org/publications/economic-development-bulletin/growth-without-poverty-reduction-case-costa-rica.
- 42.
Ibid.
- 43.
Jeff Dayton-Johnson, Latin America’s Emerging Middle Class (New York: Palgrave, 2015).
- 44.
Booth, “Costa Rica: The Roots of Democratic Stability,” 449. See also Hidalgo, “Growth without Poverty Reduction: The Case of Costa Rica.”
- 45.
Alexandra Alper, “Costa Rica leftist easily wins presidential run—off,” Reuters, April 7, 2014. http://news.trust.org/item/20140406183401-werw4/.
- 46.
Jaime Lopez, “Public Opinion of President Solis worsens in Costa Rica,” The Costa Rica Star, (September 26, 2015). https://news.co.cr/public-opinion-of-president-solis-worsens-in-costa-rica/41771.
- 47.
Zach Oyer, “More than 1.1 million Costa Ricans live in poverty,” The Tico Times (October 23, 2015). http://www.ticotimes.net/2015/10/23/1-1-million-costa-ricans-live-poverty.
- 48.
Ronaldo Alfaro Redondo, Jorge Vargas Cullell, and Mitchell A. Seligson, “Cultura politica en Costa Rica: El declive de largo plazo de las actitudes que favorecen una democracia estable continua,” in Perpectivas desde el Barómetro de las Américas: 2015, Número 11. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/insights/IO911es_V2.pdf.
- 49.
- 50.
Chunlong Lu, “Middle Class and Democracy: Structural Linkage,” International Review of Modern Sociology, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Autumn 2005): 173. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41421642.pdf?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.
- 51.
Susanne Jonas, “Guatemala,” in Harry Vanden and Gary Prevost, eds., Politics of Latin America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 305.
- 52.
“Audiencias were established in the various administrative districts (viceroyalties, captaincies general) of Spanish America. They were empowered to hear complaints against viceroys and captains general (executive officers) and to take appropriate actions to curb abuses of power. Their primary function of the audiencias was judicial. The Crown ordered them to safeguard the rights of the indigenous inhabitants. Audiencias had both civil and criminal jurisdiction and appeals in major cases could be made from their decisions to the Council of the Indies in Madrid. See “Audiencia,” Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/42536/audiencia.
- 53.
Frederick Stirton Weaver, “Reform and (Counter) Revolution in Post-Independence Guatemala: Liberalism, Conservatism, and Postmodern Controversies,” in Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 26, No. 2, 1999: 132–133.
- 54.
Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr., Rafael Carrera and the Emergence of the Republic of Guatemala, 1821–1871 (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia, 1993).
- 55.
Ibid.
- 56.
Weaver, “Reform and (Counter) Revolution in Post-Independence Guatemala: Liberalism, Conservatism, and Postmodern Controversies,”139–140.
- 57.
Richard H. Immerman, The CIA in Guatemala: The Foreign Policy of Intervention (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983).
- 58.
Alex Roberto Hybel, How Leaders Reason—US Intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean Basin (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990), 57.
- 59.
Immerman, The CIA in Guatemala, 48; and Hybel, How Leaders Reason, 53.
- 60.
US Department of State, “A Case History of Communist Penetration: Guatemala.” (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1957), 17. https://www.worldcatorg/title/case-history-of-communist-penetration-guatemala/oclc/2604404.
- 61.
Immerman, The CIA in Guatemala, 68–79.
- 62.
See Hybel, How Leaders Reason, 57.
- 63.
Ibid., 58–59.
- 64.
Jonas, “Guatemala,” 310–311.
- 65.
The Ladino is as a heterogeneous population that uses Spanish as its maternal language, possesses specific cultural traits of Hispanic origin mixed with indigenous cultural elements, and dresses in a style commonly considered as western.
- 66.
Jonas, “Guatemala,” 312–315.
- 67.
Ibid., 321–323.
- 68.
Washington also targeted the Dominican Republic and Chile as countries that had to be protected from communist takeovers.
- 69.
“Guatemala—Maya,” Minority Rights—World Directory of Minority and Indigenous Peoples, minorityrights.org/minorities/maya-2/.
- 70.
Ibid.
- 71.
“The World Bank in Guatemala,” http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/guatemala/overview.
- 72.
“Democracy Index 2014—Democracy and its discontents.” http://www.sudestada.com.uy/Content/Articles/421a313a-d58f-462e-9b24-2504a37f6b56/Democracy-index-2014.pdf. See also “Democracy Index 2016—Revenge of the ‘deplorables’.” The Economist—The Intelligence Unit. http://pages.eiu.com/rs/783-XMC-194/images/Democracy_Index_2018.pdf.
- 73.
Jonas, “Guatemala,” 281.
- 74.
Mireya Navarro, “Guatemalan Army Waged ‘Genocide,’ New Report Finds,” The New York Times, February 26, 1999. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/26/world/guatemalan-army-waged-genocide-new-report-finds.html?pagewanted=all.
- 75.
“Central America, 1981–1993,” in Department of State - Office of the Historian. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1981-1988/central-america.
- 76.
See Hybel, The Making of Flawed Democracies in the Americas, Chapter 4.
- 77.
Booth, “Costa Rica: The Roots of Economic Stability,” 442 and 447.
- 78.
Ibid., 448. A figure that helps capture the role of the state in the economy is the size of its workforce, which increased from 6.1 percent in 1950 to 19.1 percent in 1985.
- 79.
As the reader might remember, during a similar period the percentage of Ticos favoring democracy decreased from 78 to 53 percent, while the percentage who stated that an authoritarian regime would be preferable over a democratic one in certain instances went down from 18 to 15 percent.
- 80.
“Guatemala: HDI Values and rank changes in the 2014 Human Development Report,” Human Development Report 2014: Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/GTM.pdf.
- 81.
“Guatemala Economy Profile 2014,” http://www.indexmundi.com/guatemala/economy_profile.html.
- 82.
“Guatemala,” Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2014/guatemala.
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Hybel, A.R. (2020). State Creation and Democratization in Costa Rica and Guatemala. In: The Challenges of Creating Democracies in the Americas. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21233-9_6
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