ABSTRACT
The processes of pacification, democratization and liberalization that Central America has experienced concurrently (see Chapters 1 and 2 in this Handbook) are closely interlinked, and all three have had profound impacts on the objectives, composition and organization of the right. In this chapter I will argue that the central objective of the contemporary Central American right involves a deepening integration into globalization processes. This in turn has involved a change in the composition of the right’s core constituency from nationally based oligarchies to regionalized and transnationalized elites. Additionally, this has involved the construction of new organizations and the colonization of existing organizations in civil society, including political parties, to advance the globalizing agenda. Finally, these three processes have been supported, organizationally and financially, by the international financial institutions and international donors, such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The final result is a right which is diffused throughout civil and political society and is not always organized specifically in what could be identified as dedicated right-wing parties. Rather, it is located in multiple economic, social and political sites at the national and regional level, which incessantly advocate, implement and consolidate processes of globalized integration for the Central American region.
