A NEW DEFENSE POLICY FOR COSTA RICA: CONSTRUCTING REALITY AND THE POLICY AGENDA |
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| Authors: | Jennie K Lincoln Pat Lauderdale |
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| Institution: | Fulbright Scholar in Residence teaching political science at the University of Costa Rica and conducting research on foreign policy and regional security issues in Central America. She is a research associate at the Mershon Center at Ohio State university 2nd is the co-editor and the contributor to The Dynamics of Latin American Foreign Policies recently published by Westview Press.;Fulbright Research Scholar completing on-going projects in Costa Rica at the Supreme Court of Justice and the Herbert Blumer Institute on the politics of social control and dispute resolution, the rationalization of law, and the long-term impact of economic dependericy. He is a professor in the School of Justice Studies and an adjunct professor of law at Arizona State University and has recently complete a co-authored book e ntitled Law and Society with James lnverarity and Barry Feld. He is also co-editor of the international Studies Quarterly. |
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| Abstract: | This paper examine5 the policymaking progress in Costa Rica, specifically the creation of a new item for the governmental agenda. This new agenda challenges the traditional Itno army" policy of Costa Kica. Following a brief historical overview of the traditional policy, the paper considers the role of specific factors that promote structural conduciveness for the new "defense" policy and the attendant transformation of political symbols and definitions. The impact of the definitional and organizational changes on the implementation stage of policy is explored. This article suggests the importance of studying the role of hegemony in the construction and transformation of political and cultural definitions, an explication of deci- sionmaking as well as nondecisionmaking processes, and the influence of external and internal threats on nation-state dependency. |
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