ABSTRACT
A number of theories and arguments have been set forth in an attempt to provide a handle to Central American realities. Since industrialization was capital-intensive, relatively few jobs were created. By one estimate, only about one out of every five people entering the Central American labor market between 1970 and 1975 was able to obtain employment. The growth potential in the Central American Common Market was limited, while the high-cost industries created behind the Common Market tariff barriers were unable to compete in the more rapidly growing world market for light manufactured goods. The most ambitious attempt to compare levels and effects of relative deprivation in various Central American countries is Booth's study, "Toward Explaining Regional Crisis in Central America: Socio-economic and Political Roots of Rebellion." One of the most significant phenomena associated with the Central American crisis has been the transformation of traditionally stabilizing actors into destabilizing ones.
