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Foreign policy, domestic policy, political system and parties, government and administrative structure, international activity and more. Updated annually ... Read more

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Costa Rica Foreign Policy And Government Guide ... Read more

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Completely updated and revised for this new edition, our unique electronic book on two CD-ROMs has an amazing collection of the finest federal documents and resources about Costa Rica, providing encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of the country. This disc set provides a truly fantastic reference source, with over one hundred thousand pages reproduced in Adobe Acrobat format! There is complete coverage of newsworthy material about Costa Rica, including doing business, CAFTA free trade agreement, USAID reports (over 13,000 pages), floods and hurricanes, Peace Corps, volcanoes, archeology, country commercial guide, NASA CR-AVE experiment, economic reports, First Lady Laura Bush visits Costa Rica, energy and agriculture.This incredible and comprehensive series on the countries of the world contains material from the State Department, Department of Defense, White House, and cabinet agencies including Agriculture, Energy, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.There is complete information about geography, people, government, the economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues.In addition to the nation-specific material, as a bonus we have included reports about every country on the globe, with 271 nations, dependent areas, and other entities identified by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA World Factbook is considered an invaluable "world encyclopedia" reference book.This incredible two CD-ROM set is packed with over 100,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Macintosh systems. The Acrobat cataloging technology adds enormous value and uncommon functionality to this impressive collection of government documents and material.Our news and educational discs are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly refere ... Read more

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Completely updated and revised for this new edition, our unique electronic book on two CD-ROMs has an amazing collection of the finest federal documents and resources about Costa Rica, providing encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of the country. This disc set provides a truly fantastic reference source, with over one hundred thousand pages reproduced in Adobe Acrobat format! There is complete coverage of newsworthy material about Costa Rica, including doing business, CAFTA free trade agreement, USAID reports (over 13,000 pages), floods and hurricanes, Peace Corps, volcanoes, archeology, country commercial guide, NASA CR-AVE experiment, economic reports, First Lady Laura Bush visits Costa Rica, energy and agriculture.This incredible and comprehensive series on the countries of the world contains material from the State Department, Department of Defense, White House, and cabinet agencies including Agriculture, Energy, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.There is complete information about geography, people, government, the economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues.In addition to the nation-specific material, as a bonus we have included reports about every country on the globe, with 271 nations, dependent areas, and other entities identified by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA World Factbook is considered an invaluable "world encyclopedia" reference book.This incredible two CD-ROM set is packed with over 100,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Macintosh systems. The Acrobat cataloging technology adds enormous value and uncommon functionality to this impressive collection of government documents and material.Our news and educational discs are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly refere ... Read more

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''Sterling Evans has written a passionate yet balanced account of the history of conservation in Costa Rica. Both environmental historians and activists will gain from this book a great appreciation of the work that went into protecting Costa Rica's natural heritage, along with the work that still must be done.''--Lane Simonian, author of Defending the Land of the Jaguar: A History of Conservation in MexicoWith over 25 percent of its land set aside in national parks and other protected areas, Costa Rica is renowned worldwide as "the green republic." In this very readable history of conservation in Costa Rica, Sterling Evans explores the establishment of the country's national park system as a response to the rapid destruction of its tropical ecosystems due to the expansion of export-related agriculture. Drawing on interviews with key players in the conservation movement, as well as archival research, Evans traces the emergence of a conservation ethic among Costa Ricans and the tangible forms it has taken. In Part I, he describes the development of the national park system and "the grand contradiction" that conservation occurred simultaneously with massive deforestation in unprotected areas. In Part II, he examines other aspects of Costa Rica's conservation experience, including the important roles played by environmental education and nongovernmental organizations, campesino and indigenous movements, ecotourism, and the work of the National Biodiversity Institute. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Definately worth reading!
A superior book that will interest ecotourists, conservationists and amateur naturalists wish to learn more about the green soul of this irresistible country.

For about the same price,another book that details the history of conservation in the country's diverse geographical zones (seacoasts, prairies, jungles, and volcanic highlands) is "Costa Rica: The Last Country The Gods Made."

Interested in the story behind the Natl.Parks of Costa Rica?
Sterling Evans' The Green Republic is a fascinating account of the development of the NP of Costa Rica.I've visited most of the parks in CR and after reading The Green Republic I have a greater appreciation for them and high admiration for the Costa Rican individuals and non-natives who through hard work, luck and perserverence have created a system of parks unique to Latin America and the world.

I particularly enjoyed the anecdotes about the indivuduals and also the tremendous amount of facts the book contains--facts that have a purpose as they paint a complex picture of a country struggling to do the right thing despite enormous pressures to cash in for the easy dollar.The book perhaps does read a bit dry at times, but the overall story is well told and worth the time and money.Great book!

yeah
i had to read it for an assignment, so i didn't really enjoy it.if i had to read it for fun, i probably would have enjoyed it more.it was well spoken. ... Read more

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This book examines the political and developmental implications of the new information and communication technologies (NICT) in the Third World. Whereas the concept of the 'digital divide' tends to focus on technological and quantitative indicators, this work stresses the crucial role played by the political regime type, the pursued development model and the specific configuration of actors and decision-making dynamics. Two starkly contrasting Third World countries, state-socialist Cuba and the Latin America's "show-case democracy" Costa Rica, were chosen for two in-depth empirical country studies. ... Read more

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Long characterized as an exceptional country within Latin America, Costa Rica has been hailed as a democratic oasis in a continent scorched by dictatorship and revolution; the ecological mecca of a biosphere laid waste by deforestation and urban blight; and an egalitarian, middle-class society blissfully immune to the violent class and racial conflicts that have haunted the region. Arguing that conceptions of Costa Rica as a happy anomaly downplay its rich heritage and diverse population, The Costa Rica Reader brings together texts and artwork that reveal the complexity of the country’s past and present. It characterizes Costa Rica as a site of alternatives and possibilities that undermine stereotypes about the region’s history and challenge the idea that current dilemmas facing Latin America are inevitable or insoluble.

This essential introduction to Costa Rica includes more than fifty texts related to the country’s history, culture, politics, and natural environment. Most of these newspaper accounts, histories, petitions, memoirs, poems, and essays are written by Costa Ricans. Many appear here in English for the first time. The authors are men and women, young and old, scholars, farmers, workers, and activists. The Costa Rica Reader presents a panoply of voices: eloquent working-class raconteurs from San José’s poorest barrios, English-speaking Afro-Antilleans of the Limón province, Nicaraguan immigrants, factory workers, dissident members of the intelligentsia, and indigenous people struggling to preserve their culture. With more than forty images, the collection showcases sculptures, photographs, maps, cartoons, and fliers. From the time before the arrival of the Spanish, through the rise of the coffee plantations and the Civil War of 1948, up to participation in today’s globalized world, Costa Rica’s remarkable history comes alive. The Costa Rica Reader is a necessary resource for scholars, students, and travelers alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

tiquicia and how it got that way
Rarely does an anthology of original documents of historical value mingled with insightful interpretative essays come together as a coherent work. Steven Palmer and Iván Molina, against those odds, have put the ball in the back of the net with just such a book.

THE COSTA RICA READER'S three-part subtitle (`History, Culture, Politics') is honored along the way with an even touch. Everyone with an interest in Costa Rica as more than a tourist destination with great beaches will find between the covers of this recent collection the stuff that builds insight and understanding. This reviewer lived for sixteen years in 'tiquicia', together with its four million 'ticos', 'nicas', and assorted hangers-on. The West Virginia-sized patch of mountainous land with its sought-after beaches (I rarely found time to visit them) continues to maintain its grip on my soul. I wish this 2004 Duke University Press publication had been available about 1988. It would have rendered easier learning the lessons of tiquicia that had to come the hard, honest way.

No matter, it's here now. The editors guide us through a nuanced qualification of `Costa Rican exceptionalism', finding in the tico experience--whether lived by the indigenous groups who were not quite so few and compliant as the national mythology suggests in the face of conquest and marginalization or by the 19th century coffee lords with their debt to German mercantilism or the 1980s Nicaraguan refugee whose task it is to decide with which of her divergent constituencies to identify herself--deep continuities with the rest of Latin American experience as well as a dollop of the country's celebrated idiosyncrasies.

The seventy-odd pieces are brief, illuminating, and usually excerpted from something larger. Individually and as a collection, they leave the reader wanting more.

Which is not unlike Costa Rica itself in the experience of many sojourners there, many of whom will never go back but who at the same time never manage entirely to leave.

Read by this reviewer on a recent working week back in the land it so effectively describes, THE COSTA RICA READER would be highly recommended at twice the price.

Excellent Sociological Reading
I love sociology. This is a great reader presenting different points of view of a complex society.So you know a little about me to judge the (short) review...I've done immersion study in CR and am a master's level student in the us. US born.Also over 40.

A study at democracy through turmoil
By using variouus annotations on short stories the reader lives through many people which have helped create this nation.Events are told in first person that give realism to both their suffering and accomplishments. Interesting information about the United States influence/involement in the Central American zone and the indirect effect on Costa Ricans gives pause to think about current events. ... Read more

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This pioneering study of electoral fraud and reform focuses on Costa Rica, a country where parties gradually transformed a fraud-ridden political system into one renowned for stability and fair elections by the mid-twentieth century. Lehoucq and Molina draw upon a unique database of more than 1,300 accusations of ballot-rigging to show that, independently of social structural constraints, parties denounced fraud where electoral laws made the struggle for power more competitive.They explain how institutional arrangements generated opportunities for several executives to assemble legislative coalitions to enact far-reaching reforms. ... Read more

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Costa Rica Offshore Investment and Business Guide ... Read more

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In the absence of world government, effective national policy is essential to the success of international environmental initiatives. Yet research on global environmental cooperation has proceeded without models of policy change in developing countries, where most of the world's people, land, and species are found. In this book Paul Steinberg provides a theoretical framework to explain the domestic responses of developing countries to global environmental concerns. Drawing on extensive field research, he traces the evolution of public policies to protect biological diversity in Costa Rica and Bolivia over the past four decades, to understand how these countries emerged as leaders in tropical conservation and how international institutions might support similar outcomes in other countries.Environmental Leadership in Developing Countries explodes the myth that developing countries are too preoccupied with short-term economic growth and material survival to devote attention to global environmental concerns. Instead it offers a nuanced account of complex, decades-long efforts to create effective institutions, and analyzes the relative roles of foreign and domestic actors in this process. ... Read more

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Proves environmentalism isn't just for rich white people!
This book totally blasts away the fallacy that a healthy environment is only a concern for affluent countries. The book goes over the history of politics in each country, as it relates to environmental conservation in Bolivia and Costa Rica, and shows why each country, despite its poverty, has made leaps and bounds in conservation. The author also spends a significant portion of the book explaining his research methodology, which is useful for anyone who writes papers or does research. ... Read more

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The Politics of the Spirit is a masterful study of the political effects of evangelical Protestantism in Central America. Timothy Steigenga's thoughtfully crafted work questions whether the spread of Protestantism in Latin America has reinforced authoritarian elements in political culture or deepened nascent democracy. Steigenga provides a thorough review of the literature on religion and politics in Latin America, putting many of the hypotheses generated in this literature to the test through an analysis of comparative survey data and qualitative interviews. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Good...
It was extremely detailed, I mean EXTREMELY detailed. It covered maybe six or seven actual events in a good 560-some pages. It had a wellspring of good information, and a wellspring of really unnecessary information. It was longer than it should have been.

Terrifically detailed
For such a scholarly book, the text is more accessible than one might think.I had to read it for a class on the CIA in college, and enjoyed the hell out of it!

Just a note, I have also traveled to Costa Rica , and one of the VERY few guidebooks to touch on this period of Costa Rica and it's impact today is "Costa Rica: The Last Country The Gods Made." Written in 1994, it sort of takes up where Honey left off. ... Read more