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Book Cover
E-book
Author Cruz, Consuelo

Title Political culture and institutional development in Costa Rica and Nicaragua : world-making in the tropics / Consuelo Cruz
Published Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2005
©2005

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Description 1 online resource (xvii, 281 pages)
Contents Theoretical overview -- Manichean identities and normative scheming -- Orphans of empire -- Post-colonial paths -- Costa Rica -- Nicaragua -- Tropical histories -- Transition
Summary "Democracy's checkered past and uncertain future in the developing world still puzzle and fascinate. In Latin America, attempts to construct resilient democracies have been as pervasive as reversals have been cruel. Political Culture and Institutional Development in Costa Rica and Nicaragua - based on a wealth of original historical documents and contemporary interviews with prominent political actors - analyzes five centuries of political history in these paradigmatic cases of outstanding democratic success and abysmal failure. It shows that while factors highlighted by standard explanations matter, it is political culture that configures economic development, institutional choices, and political pacts in ways that directly affect both democracy's chances and its quality. But this book argues for a fundamental revision of the concept itself. The book claims that political culture, far from being a static repository of values, is a dynamic combination of rational and normative imperatives that define actors' views of the permissible, shape their sense of realism, structure political struggles, and legitimate the resulting distribution of power."--Jacket
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Political culture -- Costa Rica -- History
Political culture -- Nicaragua -- History
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Cultural Policy.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture.
Political culture
Politics and government
Politische Kultur
SUBJECT Costa Rica -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85033217
Nicaragua -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85091736
Subject Costa Rica
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
Nicaragua
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781107321830
1107321832
9780511528088
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