Conceptually, state formation reconciles power to justice. It promotes citizen-
ship and education as well as deliberation in the calculation of the common
good. It embodies unity and continuity, and it serves universal interests against
the particular ones of civil society. In its formation, the state takes on certain
characteristics and capacities. ¹ Among those is the capacity to govern, which
includes the construction of institutions of deliberation and of execution. Most
important, the state acquires the capacity to make its own choices respecting
the most consequential aspects of its own existence: These include security and
freedom of action in international politics and selection of an economic
development strategy. No less significant is the characteristic in which citizens
have regard for one another and participate in the common life of the state.
Essentially, states are ideas that become approximated as they are embodied in
actual institutions, beliefs, and practices.

In Central America, the state formation process not only has not proceeded
smoothly but also has at times suffered severe setbacks. Much of the difficulty
can be attributed to the harsh inequalities that lead to and are reinforced by the
capture of state apparatus by civil society groups. Other major sources of
impediment are the dependency on the international market and the diplomatic
and military interference of the United States in the politics of the Central
American countries.

To analyze the state formation process as it has evolved in Central America,
this chapter and the following four are devoted to several important dimensions
of the unfolding of the state. This chapter treats the general development of the
state characteristics of (1) justice, (2) institutionalization and finances, and (3)

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