Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: The following study is concerned with understanding the emergence of neoliberalism in Costa Rica since the apex of the debt crisis in 1982 to present from a historical materialist analytical framework.My particular framework is concerned with the centrality of social classes and the role of state in defining and shaping class conflict and the effects of historical class conflict on the state through changes in the social relations of production and internationalization.This critical exploration will be approached not by looking solely within the confines of national borders, but rather by analyzing the emergence as a moment within the wider capitalist world market.I will argue that the emergence of neoliberalism in Costa Rica not only reflects a new form of political domination but also expresses a new form of imperialism; both of these aim to overcome recurrent barriers to progressive capital valorisation and to reconstitute American power.However, as but a historical moment, neoliberalism is open to social contestation and learning processes -that is, class struggle.A critical understanding this emergence is best approached through an analysis of the interrelated dimensions of capital, crisis, and state, which are themselves social forms and moments of the wider social relations of capitalist production. From Economic Crisis to a 'State' of Crisis?: The Emergence of Neoliberalism in Costa Rica 1Macro-economic development promoted by globalization has not translated into social benefits for the people of Central America ….Out of a total population of 37 million, 12 million Central Americans are now living in conditions of misery.
Source: Historical Materialism
Author: Thomas Marois
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1985774681