“Countries do not 'fall out of the sky,' ready-made; countries are laboriously built. Colburn and Prado study the construction of one small democracy, Costa Rica. With deftness and grace, they elucidate the good decisions that Costa Rica has taken in education, health care, management of the environment, economic development, and, underpinning it all, governance. The intellectual novelty of the study is Colburn and Prado’s understanding of the links among national identity, imagination, and democracy.”

– Alexander Jiménez, professor of philosophy, Universidad de Costa Rica

“Successful societies are built by the choices they make—and by the conception of nation that makes those choices possible. Colburn and Prado trace the decision-making processes that shaped Costa Rica, one of the world’s most remarkable development stories. Once known as 'the poorest and most miserable' Spanish colony in all of the Americas, Costa Rica has become a stable and prosperous democracy—a 'living Eden' that defies conventional expectations about what drives a country’s success. There is much to learn from this study.”

– Diana Trujillo, professor of management, Universidad de los Andes

“Costa Rican democracy is the oldest in Latin America—older, by some measures, than democracy in the United States. Yet it remains poorly understood. This book helps close that gap. Full of insight and nuance while remaining highly accessible (and beautifully written), Costa Rica: A Different Path to Democracy in Latin America is an outstanding introduction to Costa Rican democracy. I strongly recommend it.”

– Steven Levitsky, David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies at Harvard University and New York Times bestselling coauthor of How Democracies Die