ABSTRACT
More than a quarter of a century ago, following bloody wars that resulted in thousands of deaths and displaced people, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua signed the first agreements that brought peace back to Central America. The process of pacification facilitated two additional transitions: from authoritarianism to democracy and from a state-centred model of development rooted in agriculture to a neo-liberal one based on non-traditional exports and remittances. The way in which formal politics was organized changed dramatically and, with the exception of a failed coup attempt in Guatemala during the 1990s and a successful one in Honduras in 2009, elections have taken place regularly. At the same time, the region’s economy has changed: Central America is now more urban, more service-oriented and more diversified in its export basket. What has been the ultimate impact of this triple transition from war to peace, from dictatorship to democracy and from state-led to market-led development? Have the region’s power relations changed significantly? Do the gains over last three decades outweigh the losses?
