By Raymond Raza
Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rica’s President, has said that she wants Costa Rica to be the first “developed” Latin American nation. If this is indeed a worthy goal for Costa Rica, a deeper question might be “What exactly does it mean to be a developed nation?”
While thinking along these lines, I have essayed five characteristics that would be desireable for a nation to have to be considered “developed.” These are based on my own thinking of what a developed nation ought to be, and there doubtless other characteristics that people may consider necessary to be called developed. But here are mine.
First, a developed nation offers its citizens a rule of law and whatever follows from this – justice and due process, basic human rights, honesty in public institutions and policy, peace and security, and firm control over any criminal element.
Second, a developed nation has established democratic traditions or at least firm and effective governance free from tyranny and the abuses of dictatorial rule. This usually ties in with the first quality – the rule of law.
Third, a developed nation has a functioning economy and offers its citizens the promise of reasonable and secure employment and hope for a quality of life better than that of the preceding generation. This economy is able to provide the infrastructure needed for a society to function and grow, including such benefits as electric power generation, systems of modern transportation inlcuding roads and bridges and the ability to maintain them, and necessities such as hospitals and welfare centers or agencies that assist the vulnerable – the poor, the very young or the elderly.
Fourth, a developed nation has educational institutuions capable of offering its people the tools necessary to reach their potential, not only in the acquiring of job skills, but in the creation of new technologies, and in the creation and transmission of the highest achievements in art and culture.
And, fifth, and for me the most difficult to define, is what one might describe as the human element. It is what makes a person say buenos días to a stranger on the street or to kiss the cheek of an acquaintance or bow before another. This element may be an intangible, but it may be the glue that holds the others together. It is the factor of civilized values.
To provide some examples: The U.S., for instance, is without doubt a developed nation because it has a strongly estblished constitutional and legal system. Some might argue that the U.S. has one of the highest crime rates in the world. That may be true, but its effective legal system is surely a mitigating factor. Mexico, on the other hand, could not be called a developed nation because of the great inequality in its society, the corruption in its police forces probably due to drug trafficking and drug cartels operating with impunity, and the very high murder rate in cities such as Juarez. China, while now is the world’s second largest economy, could not be called a developed nation because of its lack of democratic traditions and its reputation of denying human rights. Japan is a developed nation because of its strong economy and democratic traditions. Singapore is certainly a developed country even though it has a draconian penal system. Pakistan would not be considered a democratic nation in my scheme, even though it is a nuclear power. Pakistan has not been able to maintain the rule of law over all its citizens, as seen from the growth of the Taliban and the political violence that resulted in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Then, there are the borderline countries that are, I believe, not completely developed, but well on the way. One might mention Turkey and Greece as examples.
If we measure Costa Rica according to these characteristics, it is evident that it is well on its way to becoming a developed nation. But to be considered unequivocally “developed” there needs to be improvements in its effectiveness in the collection of taxes, in maintaining and improving its roads and bridges to ensure public safety during the rainy seasons and in the earthquake zones, in the control of the garbage often dumped in many of the streets and the littering of beaches, in innovative ways to control the transit of drugs to Mexico and the U.S., and in the fixing or closing of the open sewers in many sidewalks around the country. If Costa Rica can do these things she will be well on her way to becoming a developed nation, as well as a world leader in the conservation and preservation of the environment and in encouraging the use of renewable energy.
Raymond Raza was born in India and has lived in the US most of his life. He
teaches ESL (English as a Foreign Language) and has taught at the Sarapiqui
Conservation Learning Center in Costa Rica and CIS (Center for Exchange and
Solidarity) in El Salvador. He is a Costa Rican resident and lives in San
Ramón de Alajuela.
