ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the basic ground rules and operation of government to determine how Costa Rica handles such problems. It explores political parties and elections and how they affect the breadth, range, and depth of democracy. The chapter examines the branches of government and how they function, as well as political parties and elections. The constitutional elimination of a standing army has indisputably helped ensure Costa Rica's many decades of unblemished political stability, civilian regimes, and excellent human rights performance—a record unequaled in Latin America. Political parties, although not formal institutions of government, play critical roles in democracies. Independent courts can safeguard democracy by protecting citizens' participatory rights, but Latin American judiciaries are generally not renowned for their independence from executives and legislatures. Although this tradition "informs the party's rhetoric, its effective ideological foundation is primarily neoliberalism, although moderated by the centrism that underlies Costa Rica's predominant political culture.
