This thesis aims to address the topic of informal vernacular architecture in a focal group of chosen villages in South and Central America. With the goal to represent their informal architecture and its connection to identity, culture, and sustainability. What I’m referring to as informal architecture in this thesis, is something referred to by many names in the contemporary vocabularies. Many of them has been used through a derogatory undertone. Therefore, the prime setting that I want to underline is that this investigation is not to depreciate the informal architecture, in any kind of way. This is an investigation that aims to go deeper through what I hold in high regards – an informal language of architecture that generates another type of value than other languages of architecture do.  It’s an investigation through the tectonic system that defines the private, and the generated voids that holds space for the collected public life of the communities. How the culture, the life, the holistic beliefs, and the condition of the site is reflected on the tectonic structure and architectural expression.  My goal with this work is to not only give my analysis but also to generate an analysis with the viewer through expressing the different villages in a comparative language. Why? Because I want to share a fraction of the knowledge that the people of these villages gave to me.

This dissertation explores technical regulations (sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, technical barriers to trade, and geographical indications) in Central American agricultural and food trade. In the first part, a framework to systematically evaluate the broad issues for developing countries is presented. Evaluation of the issues for Central America is based on interviews with about 100 persons in the region and in the United States (US), and on secondary sources. The topic is of significance in Central America, especially when related to SPS measures. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements have had relatively little direct impact in improving Central America's response to technical regulations, while homologous Central American regional institutions may have been more successful, with indirect support from the WTO and the US, in reducing the incidence of illegitimate regulations in intra-regional trade. Central America may implement illegitimate barriers more against others in the region than against the US. Although the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) may support Central America's capacity to meet more stringent technical regulations, the improvement may not be sufficiently perceptible. The potential for Central American greenhouse tomato exports to the US is analytically evaluated in the second part. These tomatoes may be admitted as the ban based on the risk of introduction of the Mediterranean fruit fly is partially lifted, due in part on discussions in the CAFTA negotiations. Mature green, vine-ripe and greenhouse tomatoes are heterogeneous in demand, and vine-ripe tomatoes are but greenhouse tomatoes are not heterogeneous by origin. A static partial equilibrium model is constructed for the US tomato market, where demand is based on multi-stage budgeting and supply is a function of own tomato price. When the Central American greenhouse excess supply function is introduced to the model, the region exports to the US, the aggregate greenhouse quantity increases, and its prices decrease. As greenhouse preference increases, greenhouse quantity and prices also increase. Changes are perceptible but small in the mature green and vine-ripe markets in the expected direction. Access by Central America is particularly beneficial when US consumer preferences shift further toward greenhouse over other tomatoes. / Ph. D.

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Thesis (Ph. D. in Political Science)--Vanderbilt University, May 2008. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

U.S. policymakers consistently argue that U.S. security depends on hemispheric democracy. As an instrument of U.S. policy, did foreign assistance promote democracy in Central America, 1946 through 1994? Finding that U.S. foreign assistance directly promoted neither GDP nor democracy in Central America, 1946 through 1994, I conclude that U.S. policy failed consistently in this specific regard.

During the debate over the ratification of the United States-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Bush Administration argued that implementation of a free trade agreement would help strengthen the nascent democracies in Central America. As a bilateral agreement, CAFTA would not only foment greater trade liberalization by expanding market access and eliminating trade barriers, but also help transform the entire commercial frameworks in Central America and promote economic development. These implications are not just economic – in particular, its provisions on intellectual property and investment rights, government procurement and labor standards affect the political institutions underpinning democracy and rule of law. This thesis assesses the role in which CAFTA has affected democratic institutions in Central America. It employs a methodology known as the Democratic Audit to evaluate consequences to four dimensions of democracy - the electoral processes, open and accountable institutions, civil and political liberties, and civil society. It demonstrates the value of using the Democratic Audit to assess a trade agreement’s political effects with an application to Mexico after NAFTA. Then this work considers the case studies of El Salvador and Costa Rica, the most salient examples of democratic institutional change after CAFTA, by drawing on original research especially into the electoral politics and civil society development in these countries. Ultimately, the thesis argues that the most significant institutional effects of CAFTA have been its role as a political issue, rather than its content, in galvanizing popular opinion and reinvigorating electoral politics and civil society - ironically, not the consequences that the Administration originally had in mind. The research demonstrates that, even if some conclusions cannot be drawn due to the recency of CAFTA, the framework it has employed will be an invaluable tool for assessing future trade agreements.

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This study emerged from an awareness that educators comprehension of what is taking place in social movements (in social sites outside the formal institution) is most vital for understanding and linking adult education to the wider struggle for radical democracy. The Christian Task Force on Central America is a unique British Columbia wide solidarity network that provided the "practical" context to explore social change education. This case study used participant observation to examine the educational practice of the network. The study began by presenting the theoretical base, as developed from current literature, on education for social change. This included a critique of the dominant understanding and approach to social change education, reflecting a liberal philosophy of individualism and a pedagogy that is acritical and apolitical in nature. It was argued that this model of social change education strips social processes of their political nature and content by situating them within the framework of social adjustment. An alternative "transformative" social change model was presented; one that places greater stress on the relationship between education and social action. This included a discussion of three core elements: social change vision, a critical pedagogy and a pedagogy of mobilisation. The process of analysis involved exploring the Task Force as an transformative educational movement. The historical background to the network and its contemporary work was discussed. Key educational principles were identified from its practice and developed into a "grassroots" liberative theory of social change. The factors of "organisational structure" and "resources" were revealed as elements that have both a liberating and constraining effect on the work of the movement. The Task Force, as a case-study, illustrates the centrality and educational nature of the struggle for social justice. Educational activities of the network incorporate collective and active learning processes for social justice and are based upon a "practical" rather than speculative concept of social change. The study concludes that the radical possibility of education lies within the process of education itself; it is not so much the content as the method of practice which is vital in creating the conditions of a participatory democracy, here and now. Recommendations for further research were suggested for those interested in examining further the role of education within social movements. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Costa Rica embodies many of the characteristics which the United States would like to foster in Central America and elsewhere. In recent years, however, misunderstandings have often been present in the development of relations between both nations, and leaders. These differences have been particularly visible between Presidents Reagan and Arias when carrying out their foreign policies towards Central America. Recent developments in warfare, social and political unrest and economic crises in the region added to the emergence of a Central American political leadership--independent of U.S. decision making-have increased international misunderstandings between both political speakers. These misunderstandings are shown by Reagan and Arias' through their public discourses which have revealed deterioration in communication and cooperation between them. Since Reagan and Arias come from different cultures, their values are different, making it difficult for the two men to communicate effectively. Towards discovering the differences m cultural values underlying arguments between them, this study uses the Toulmin model to provide a critical and interpretative analysis of the exchange of political arguments from both leaders concerning Central America. Data were collected from public discourses by Reagan and Arias. An intercultural communication perspective is then used to assess the effects of the arguments on international understanding. This research was successful in isolating a number of political arguments concerning Reagan and Arias' respective policies toward Central America, it revealed consistently different underlying cultural values. These differences in cultural values may affect the mutual understanding between the two political leaders, since their discourses did not acknowledge each other's cultural values or patterns of thinking. At the core of Reagan and Arias' disagreements is the ethnocentric assumption that each is similar to the other. This assumption is not a recommended strategy for intercultural interaction. Because of the novelty of this type of interdisciplinary interpretative research, the results can not be compared adequately with previous research on values in public discourse. Further investigation in this area should support the worth of studying political argumentation from the combines approaches of rhetorical analysis and intercultural communication.

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