Latin America is a region that has deep roots in Spanish colonialism. Since its independence, many countries in the region have heavily depended on agriculture exports to industrialized states to support their economies. This has led to political theorists to label Latin America as an area full of "periphery" countries that are exploited for resources by "core countries. Costa Rica, Panama, and Nicaragua were not the exception. In recent years, however, a noticeable difference between the economies of the countries has helped Costa Rica and Panama become more successful than Nicaragua, on the basis of GDP, GNI, and other similar measures. This thesis attempts to explain this economic difference by analyzing what type of relationship the three countries have had with the United States (which has acted as a regional hegemon) and analyzing how each country has handled economic dependence on agriculture. Through this comparative case study, the thesis tries to add to development and dependency theory literature.

No description available.

Loin d’avoir provoqué l’indifférence des Espagnols, l’Amérique hispanique a attiré le regard péninsulaire au lendemain des indépendances américaines et encouragé une production littéraire et iconographique continue depuis le début de l’ère isabelline jusqu’aux premiers temps de la Restauration. Constitué de près de 300 œuvres dramatiques, romanesques etplastiques, le corpus réuni et analysé dans le cadre de cette thèse montre qu’une production littéraire et artistique sur l’Amérique hispanique traverse bien le XIXe siècle péninsulaire. Afin d’en dégager les caractéristiques et l’impact sur l’imaginaire collectif espagnol, nous avons mis en lumière les spécificités des modes de production et de diffusion de chacun des supports artistiques. Cette production, fortement conditionnée par les moules artistiques préétablis, a favorisé la construction d’une imagerie américaine collective, notamment à travers la cristallisation d’images type qui circulent entre les différents supports. Dès lors, si les oeuvres elles-mêmes sont pour la plupart tombées dans l’oubli, elles demeurent néanmoins le reflet du regard porté par les Espagnols sur le continent à une période charnière des relations entre l’Espagne et l’Amérique hispanique. / Far from leaving the Spaniards indifferent, Hispanic America has drawn Spanish attention after its independence and fostered a continuous literary and iconographic production since the beginning of the era isabellina to the early days of the Restoration. Consisting of nearly 300 plays, novels, paintings and sculptures, the corpus collected and analyzed in this thesis shows the existence of an actual literary and artistic production about Hispanic America through the nineteenth century in Spain. In order to identify its characteristics and its impact on the social imaginary of Spain, we have highlighted the specific modes of production and distribution of each artistic media. This production, heavily influenced by preexisting artistic standards, has favored the construction of a collective American imagery, particularly through the crystallization of images that circulate between the different media. Therefore, although most of these works have sunk into oblivion, they remain a reflection of the way the Spaniards looked at the continent and of the need to redefine and legitimize the relationship between Spain and the young American republics.