Peace Parks: Nation Branding and Soft Power in Costa Rica
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Author(s): Karina Barquet and Ida Andersson
Date: 2020
Topics: Conflict Prevention, Cooperation, Land
Countries: Costa Rica
In this chapter, the authors discuss how political ecology can provide an important and critical lens to understanding nation branding. The following chapter first traces the origins of what the authors refer to as the “Blue (peaceful)— Green (environmental)” nation-branding project in Costa Rica. They then analyse the historical events that have come to shape such an identity. Finally, they reflect upon the expansion of the nation-branding project through the establishment of the Si-A-Paz Peace Park. This analysis is based on four months of field research carried out in Si-A-Paz in 2011 and 2012, complemented with more recent secondary sources.