This book, first published in 1987, is a solid, analytical exploration of the complex dynamics of the revolutionary economic transformation from 1979 to 1986. This collection of eleven essays provides a clear picture of the goals, internal debates, external influences and shifting policy decisions which affected the efforts of the Sandinista government. They help to clarify the dynamics between soaring food prices and falling wages, and explain the complex relationship between the private sector and the state. They also document the policies of the Reagan administration toward the Sandinista government.

Since its inception in the 1960s to the regional negotiations in the 1990s and onwards, Central American integration has been a process characterized by both dramatic advances and setbacks. This book provides a theoretical explanation of this ebb and flow, examining different stages including the military conflicts of the 1980s, the subsequent Esquipulas peace process, and the relaunch of integration during the 1990s under the System of Central American Integration (SICA). Sánchez Sánchez's analysis focuses on the policies and preferences of the larger states of the region, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala, and argues that integration relies on intergovernmental bargaining. Interviews, historical and comparative data are presented in a format invaluable for students and teachers concerned with comparative regional integration, as well as for those seeking a greater understanding of contemporary Central American regional and international politics and development.

Exploring regionalism from a political economic perspective, this text investigates why regional arrangements are formed, the conditions under which these arrangements solidify, and why they take on different institutional forms.

In 2004, the United States, five Central American countries, and the Dominican Republic signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), signaling the region’s commitment to a neoliberal economic model. For many, however, neoliberalism had lost its luster as the new century dawned, and resistance movements began to gather force. Contesting Trade in Central America is the first book-length study of the debate over CAFTA, tracing the agreement’s drafting, its passage, and its aftermath across Central America. Rose J. Spalding draws on nearly two hundred interviews with representatives from government, business, civil society, and social movements to analyze the relationship between the advance of free market reform in Central America and the parallel rise of resistance movements. She views this dynamic through the lens of Karl Polanyi’s “double movement” theory, which posits that significant shifts toward market economics will trigger oppositional, self-protective social countermovements. Examining the negotiations, political dynamics, and agents involved in the passage of CAFTA in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, Spalding argues that CAFTA served as a high-profile symbol against which Central American oppositions could rally. Ultimately, she writes, post-neoliberal reform “involves not just the design of appropriate policy mixes and sequences, but also the hard work of building sustainable and inclusive political coalitions, ones that prioritize the quality of social bonds over raw economic freedom.”

The Routeldge Handbook of Latin American Politics brings together the leading figures in the study of Latin America to present extensive empirical coverage and a cutting-edge examination of the central areas of inquiry in the region.

This is the second volume on the changing nature of state-business relations. This book examines how the dynamics of business have influenced public policy in the context of economic liberalization and democratization. It identifies the circumstances under which business might support progressive policies in developing countries.