"On July 19, 1983, President Ronald Reagan established the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America to examine the social, economic, and democratic conditions in the region and to provide advice that could evolve into a comprehensive U.S. policy for Central America. Headed by Henry A. Kissinger, the twelve-member commission included the president of the AFL-CIO, a retired justice of the Supreme Court, the mayor of San Antonio, the president of Boston University, a professor of economics from Yale, a former ambassador and chairman of the Democratic Party, a financier and former senator, a former governor of Texas, a business leader, a political scientist, and a physician and humanitarian"--Back cover.

The International Commission for Central American Recovery and Development was created in 1987 to analyze development in the region and to make recommendations to the region's governments and to the international community. The essays in this volume were written by experts in Central American development, economics, politics, and administration who were asked by the commission to synthesize existing knowledge on Central America's prospects for aid, trade, and institutional reform, and to propose creative approaches to the problems facing the region. The Center for International Development Research at Duke University was chosen to perform the editorial and support tasks for the commission.