City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2014 "A New Way of Doing Politics": The Movement against CAFTA in Costa Rica Jeremy Rayner Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/97 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] “A New Way of Doing Politics” The Movement Against CAFTA in Costa Rica by Jeremy Rayner A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2014 © 2014 Jeremy Rayner All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Professor David Harvey Date Chair of Examining Committee Professor Gerald Creed Date Executive Officer Professor Marc Edelman Professor Katherine Verdery Supervisory Committee Professor David Nugent Outside Reader The City University of New York iii Abstract A New Way of Doing Politics: The Movement against CAFTA in Costa Rica by Jeremy Rayner Advisor: David Harvey In October of 2007, Costa Ricans voted in a referendum to ratify a Free Trade Agreement with the United States (DR-CAFTA, or CAFTA). The first referendum in their nation’s history— and the first referendum ever held on a Free Trade Agreement—marked the culmination of a cycle of contention over liberalization that transformed practices and expectations of politics in a country often considered an exemplar of representative democracy. In this dissertation I provide an account of the opposition to CAFTA (the NO), based on two years of ethnographic research with the Patriotic Committees (Comités Patrióticos), the decentralized, grassroots network at the heart of the movement against the treaty. I emphasize the contested meanings of democracy invoked in the struggle between the grassroots NO campaign and the transnational elite coalition that promoted the treaty (the SI). I argue that the opposition to CAFTA in Costa Rica was a movement to defend the “social state” (Estado social) against a globalizing neoliberal property regime, while challenging existing forms of political representation in the name of a more authentic popular democracy. I show how the struggle over CAFTA was shaped by an ongoing process of contention over liberalization and representation in the context of Costa Rica’s particular social democratic institutions and traditions. I argue that, as the struggle evolved, the SI and the NO appealed to different aspects of the country’s “institutionality” (institucionalidad), raising some fundamental contradictions within and between liberalism and democracy. One outcome was a iv controversial and ambiguous popular consultation, an exercise in “direct democracy” that paradoxically highlighted the limits of an elite-dominated political order. Drawing on theory and scholarship of populism and direct democracy, I show how protagonists of the NO turned a diversity of interests into unity of purpose, enabling them to nearly win a markedly asymmetrical contest. I also explain how the Patriotic Committees worked with established social idioms to pioneer new forms of political participation as they challenged the limits of existing representative institutions. I argue that in doing say they articulated a conception of democracy and social state that makes a distinctive contribution to discussions of post-neoliberalism. v a Jime y Alicita vi Acknowledgements On the long road to completion of this dissertation I have accumulated too many debts to possibly acknowledge here. In the full knowledge that no attempt will be adequate, I would like to begin by thanking my dissertation committee: Marc Edelman, David Harvey, and Katherine Verdery. I am grateful to each of them for all that they have taught me, in classrooms and out; for extensive feedback, support and encouragement during the writing process; and, most of all, for showing me, by example, what it means to be a scholar. Any well-composed, concise sentence the reader may find in these pages should be credited to Marc Edelman, who made great efforts to enliven my leaden prose. A special thank you is also due to David Nugent, who generously agreed to take on my dissertation as an external reader; I am sure that years from now I will still be working through his insightful comments. This project would not have been possible without the collaboration of many people in Costa Rica, who patiently endured my fumbling Spanish while welcoming me into their movements, their work, and their lives. Thank you to Carolina, Joaquin, Olga, Andrés, Verdelito, Ana Maria, and the rest of the community in and around el Edificio for welcoming me, orienting me, introducing me to people, and helping me to get my research off the ground—and even more so for offering their friendship during times both good and less so. I have a special debt of gratitude to the activists of the Comités and the NO who opened up their meetings to a strange gringo with a notebook, who included me in their activities and their plans, and who shared their insights, knowledge, and tico humor with me. A few became close friends, but to all I would like to express my sincere appreciation, admiration and cariño. I would like to particularly thank Aldo, Aurora, Cindy, Daguer, Edison, Francisco, Irene, Janet, vii Juan Carlos, Laura, Mario, Nelson, Nidia, Nora, Peggy, Stella, Valeria, and Yolanda—without in any way diminishing my appreciation and gratitude to the rest. A special thanks to Peggy for her hospitality as well as her friendship and dedication, and to Edison and Nelson, who shared their friendship, wisdom, and so much more; without them, this dissertation would not have been possible. I am also grateful to Jose Luis Amador, Carlos Fallas, Gerardo Mora, and Lorena Salgado, and many others at the ICE for giving me their time and the benefit of their knowledge. Lorena supported my research in any way that she could; through innumerable emails and a few meetings, she responded to my inquiries, read my work, offered her ideas and insights. I would also like to thank everyone who took the time to sit down with me for interviews; your collaboration was indispensable. I was assisted at different times by students at the University of Costa Rica, including Estibaliz Hidalgo Castro, Adriana Méndez, and Valeria Morales. While Estibaliz’s participation was relatively brief, I greatly appreciated her critical perspective and good humor. Adriana shared her knowledge of Guanacaste, conducted interviews, and contributed many ideas. The dissertation owes a special debt to Valeria, and her tireless energy, dedication, optimism, and knowledge of archives and movements. Without her I never would have been able to find el Señor Fantasma, among many other things. I was very fortunate to have the support of the Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales at the University of Costa Rica, which took me on as an affiliated researcher throughout the course of my fieldwork. This dissertation benefitted enormously from the expertise, insight, and intellectual community at the IIS in weekly meetings and regular conferences. I was helped by to many people at the UCR to acknowledge each individually, but I would like to thank Carlos Sandoval, who as director welcomed me and helped me make a home at the IIS. I would also like to express particular gratitude to Ciska Raventós, who has been a constant collaborator as well viii as a good friend. Special thanks as well to Andrés Leon, for his friendship, encouragement, and many contributions to this dissertation; I have been fortunate to have his company on more than one path—I hope that I will continue to have this good fortune. I am grateful to have had the benefit of a remarkable intellectual community at the Graduate Center. I am grateful to Jeff Maskovsky for his insights, encouragement, sage advice, and sartorial expertise. I would also like to thank Setha Low for her encouragement and interest. Don Robotham helped to guide me through the second exam, taught me to bridge theory and politics, and pointed me towards the study of democracy—advice which I only had the sense to understand several years later. Michael Blim, Gerald Creed and Ida Susser have been supportive in every way. Louise Lennihan, saw the potential of bringing geography into anthropology, helping to make the our department the unique community that it has been—perhaps the only department where I could have carried out this project. I thank Louise for helping to make it possible for me to participate in that community. And like everyone else who has passed through the Anthropology Department at the Graduate Center, I owe a special thank you to Ellen DeRiso for her dedication, supreme competence, and good humor. After my return to New York City the Graduate Center gave me community, an intellectual home and helped me to regain my bearings. The participants in the seminar on Radical Urbanism at the Center for Place, Culture and Politics showed me what academic compañerismo could be like. I am grateful to all of my fellow fellows for their fellowship as well as for their feedback, but I would like to particularly thank Vinay Gidwani for his engagement and insights on Gramsci, and Sonia Vives for many conversations about urban geography and possible futures. I was doubly fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in the seminar on Solidarities with the Committee for the Study of Globalization and Social Change at a time ix when the Arab Spring, Indignados and Occupy were inspiring imaginations and firing political passions.