1. Where in the world were you?

I was in Costa Rica from Aug. 26 to Sept. 16. I was involved in a two-prong project, interviewing scholars and activists for my book and filming politicians, historians, and activists for an independent film project. Most of our interviewing took place in San Jose, the capital. Some of our interviews involved travel to areas in the highland coffee country and the west coast national park areas.

2. What work were you doing there?

First, I was conducting film work for an independent documentary film project with Matthew Eddy titled, “A Bold Peace: Costa Rica’s Path of Demilitarization.” The film juxtaposes the national policy of demilitarization (since 1948-49) with their investment in education, health and the environment. Since then, Costa Rica has earned the no. 1 spot in the Happy Planet Index, a ranking of countries based on measures of environmental protection and the happiness and health of its citizens. The documentary will feature the historical development of this policy, the role that Costa Rican leaders have played in Central America and what their national model reveals as possible – and not – for the rest of the world. Pointed parallels and contrasts are made with recent U.S. debates over the national debt, healthcare, the environment and the escalating cost of U.S. militarism. The film features former presidents, officials and scholars from the UN University for Peace, the University of Costa Rica, Costa Rican government officials, leaders of major national co-ops, as well as journalists and citizens of Costa Rica.

The other purpose for visiting Costa Rica is my book on the politics of trade liberalization in the Americas. Costa Rica was the subject of some controversy in 2006 as a popular referendum nearly put a halt to the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the highly contentious expansion of NAFTA to include most of Central America and the Caribbean. For the final two chapters of my book, I interviewed scholars, activists, and public officials about the political fight in their country over CAFTA.

3. What does this work mean for your students, peers and/or the university?

My book project builds on ten years of original data collection and analyses to situate the role of large corporations in shaping American trade policy over several decades. The analyses in my book project leave little doubt that large, highly networked, multinational corporations played a concerted political role in reshaping the economic landscape of the Americas. By penetrating government bodies via official advisory posts in the executive branch, congressional lobbying, testimonies by high-profile executives, and the founding of numerous “free trade” advocacy groups, large, highly networked corporations reshaped the world, including Costa Rica. In the years ahead, this book will shape academic and policy debates about globalization and the force of corporate political power in our world today.

The independent film will bring attention to Costa Rica’s inspirational national project – and the challenges they face – in making happiness, health and human rights a prominent national objective. The documentary film fuses the medium of film with a critical social history to raise important questions for our world today: how will the next generation afford a worldwide, $1.5 trillion military budget when we face so many other challenges; and how does the example of Costa Rica offer fresh thinking about our public policy choices? In short, what could national governments do for the people and the planet if less were spent on the bloated and growing military budgets? If Costa Rica can maintain a peace for generations, even in the face of armed invasions, by using international law, diplomatic pressure, as well as citizen mobilization, can we construct institutions that better serve world peace than the militaries that drain our public coffers?

4. Tell our readers something they should do if they ever visit this locale.

Costa Rica has a well-developed system of cooperative economic organizations. In the coffee-growing, processing and export sector, coffee cooperatives unite small landowning farmers in a single entity so that they can share assets and take advantage of economies of scale. Many of the coffee co-ops in Costa Rica have diversified crop systems and in this way protect rural communities and small farmers from swings in world coffee prices. As many of the co-ops offer tours, I encourage visitors to get a feel for this different mode of economic life and taste some of the best coffee in the world grown under some of the most sustainable and economically just conditions anywhere. Of course the rainforests, river estuaries, beaches and volcanoes are worth seeing!

5. What was the most memorable experience on your trip?

While I was there, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the northwest part of the country. I learned that Costa Rica, while relatively poor, brings good government to serve the needs of the people and their communities. One of the striking observations I made after the earthquake (and many others wondered as well) was how little damage occurred to major buildings, roads, and houses, despite shaking for a full minute with the magnitude 7.6 temblor. As our film project is about the robust social institutions and democracy in this country with no army, we learned that Costa Rica also has one of the strictest seismic building codes and effective compliance rates in the world. Though we certainly saw damaged roads, some mudslides, and cracked tombstones, and the people in the city certainly expressed panic and worry, the overall experience confirmed the value of their social democratic institutions – good regulations, accessible health care, education, and disaster preparedness and prevention measures.

UO Abroad is a recurring feature in AroundtheO that spotlights UO professors, staff and GTFs whose work takes them overseas. If you or someone you know is traveling abroad, contact Communications Specialist Matt Cooper at mattc@uoregon.edu.