MAG Z INE NAM E (AK M A STER PAGE ) COR R E SPONDEN T AU RAÉLIE POLL | F OR EIGN Aurélie is currently on a research stay in Costa Rica. She is investigating innovative practices related to the country’s high human development rates and environmental protection policies for her Master’s thesis in Innovation and Global Sustainable Development at Lund University.
THE ABOLITION OF THE MILITARY FORCES IN COSTA FROM DIPLOMATIC STRATEGY TO HUMAN RICA DEVELOPMENT DID YOU KNOW THAT SOME COUNTRIES DO NOT HAVE A STANDING ARMY? COSTA RICA ABOLISHED ITS ARMY 70 YEARS AGO—AND MANY ARGUE THAT IT HAS PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE COUNTRY’S UNIQUE DEVELOPMENT CAPACITIES. BEYOND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, THE EARLY ELIMINATION OF THE ARMY IS ALSO AN ALTERNATIVE MODEL OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.
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HE PERSPECTIVE spoke to Carlos Cascante Segura, professor at the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, and Historian José David Cortes, to shed some light on the mechanisms that allow a country to function without an army and on the long process of peacebuilding and development. Since 1949, the elimination of permanent military forces in Costa Rica has been inveterated by the
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Constitution. Whenever I ask a Costa Rican about the absence of military forces, they tell me that it was a positive decision as it permitted redirecting investments toward social and environmental policies. But what is the link between military forces and social development? How can a country located in a rather unstable region of the globe guarantee its security and sovereignty without military forces? The answers may be linked both to the historical heritage of Costa Rica and strategic international relations.
