Political Culture and Institutional Development in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

There have been many attempts to build stable democracies in Latin America, and nearly as many cruel reversals. The reasons are not well understood. This book is based on original historical documents and contemporary interviews with prominent politicians in democratically stable Costa Rica and in often-violent Nicaragua. It shows that political culture is a combination of rationality and norms that defines what we see as permissible, shapes our sense of realism, how we compete in...
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There have been many attempts to build stable democracies in Latin America, and nearly as many cruel reversals. The reasons are not well understood. This book is based on original historical documents and contemporary interviews with prominent politicians in democratically stable Costa Rica and in often-violent Nicaragua. It shows that political culture is a combination of rationality and norms that defines what we see as permissible, shapes our sense of realism, how we compete in politics, and the kind of power-distribution that results.