Oscar Arias: Liberal Peace and Costa Rican Exceptionalism

Abstract

This chapter examines Óscar Arias’s unique approach to promoting peace and democracy in Central America. After the armed conflicts of the 1980s, structural changes in the international system paved the way for the success of the Esquipulas II peace plan or “Arias Plan,” for which the Nobel Peace Prize would eventually be awarded. Arias’ leadership, political mastery of the peace plan, ability to capitalize on critical junctures that emerged in the complex reality of Central America in the 1980s, and his ability to generate an ethical discourse mobilized a broad network of support in Latin America and the European in the face of opposition from the United States, all of which contributed to the success of the peace plan, is the main argument of this chapter. The authors discuss, using social-constructivist variables, that Arias was consistent with the liberalization and openness policies of the Washington Consensus and neoliberalism, which led to globalization. His concept of positive peace linked the absence of violence with eradicating poverty and inequality, but he believed that this could be achieved by integrating Central American economies with U.S. and global markets.