to maintain or gain position in the international system. Despite their small
size, the Central American states compete for relative gains in the international
system. ³

State formation and maintenance of position form the essential concepts
upon which the analysis of this book turns. Both ideas are very broad, but the
analysis is narrowed by focusing on four components of state formation: (1)
capacity to govern, (2) security and freedom of action in international politics,
(3) economic development strategy, and (4) citizenship and political participa-
tion. Among these components, the essential factors in the long-term mainte-
nance of position in the international system lie within the categories of
governing capacity and economic development. Thus, in tracing the fortunes
of the Central American states in the international system, particular attention
will be paid to these components.

The Central American states face severe constraints in their state formation
and maintenance of position activities. Their small size, limited domestic
markets, unequal income distributions, poverty levels, and other social and
economic characteristics place severe constraints on development and compe-
tition with other states. Moreover, these countries possess inherited character-
istics shared with other Latin American cultures. One version of these "specific
cultural traits" includes "hierarchy, authoritarianism, patrimonialism,
corporativism, political monism and paradoxically, political rebelliousness and
resistance to authority." ⁴

In addition to the constraints of their own characteristics, Central Americans
have faced, throughout their histories but particularly during the twentieth
century, domination by the United States and competition in global markets.
Generally, strategic concepts have originated in the United States that govern
the superpower's interests, and it has been the fortune and the misfortune of
Central America simply to lie in the path of those strategic interests. For
example, during the cold war, Americans viewed events through the lens of
superpower competition, thus rendering secondary the immediate and most
important concerns of Central Americans.

The basic dynamics in international economic activity originate in the more
developed countries, thus making states such as those in Central America
vulnerable to changes over which they have little or no influence. These
dynamics include such inventions as chemical dyes, which displaced a vege-
table dye industry in the nineteenth century. They also include shifting public
tastes, like Americans' growing affection for fast-food hamburgers, which led
to the immense growth of cattle raising in Central America in the 1960s and
after. Not only must Central Americans cope with influences like these, but, as
exporters, they also need to compete with the world's most efficient and
high-quality producers.

Because the analysis of this book rests on a concept of state formation that
departs from the dominant view held by Central Americans as well as from

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