Abstract

MOLINA ALFARO, Eugenia. Costa Rica and the production process of the FTA: Professional socialization strategies and new state elites. Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos [online]. 2017, vol.43, pp.189-223. ISSN 2215-4175.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/aeca.v43i0.31557.

Through a case study about the main members of the Costa Rican negotiator team of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) among Central America, Dominican Republic and the United States, this article addresses the question about what were the mechanisms and strategies through which they became influential actors of the development policies promoted in the last twenty years. The paper argues about the anticipatory professional socialization as the mechanism for adopting ideas that provided them, as well, the professional promotion inside a new State elite. It shows how the personal promotion strategies of those individuals causes the production of policies and processes that institutionalize certain professional practices, as Adler and Haas denominate, an epistemic community that contribute to the consolidation of the new face of the Costa Rican State.

Keywords : Professional socialization; state elite; epistemic communities; free trade agreement; policies.

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