Community-Centered Globalization

Abstract

The retreat of the state from the development process throughout Latin America has placed added responsibility on local communities to improve local living conditions. Research on the impacts of globalization and tourism has tended to highlight the negative repercussions of such engagements, often portraying the hosts as helpless victims of savage capitalism and overbearing tourists. Examination of the introduction of small-scale development initiatives into a small rural community in Costa Rica reveals that the local community is anything but a passive recipient and may actively manage the very modest inclusion of tourism into its overall development strategy. Drawing on the theoretical contributions of Max-Neef, Escobar, and others, this research provides further evidence that integrated small-scale rural development initiatives can achieve modest success by capitalizing on existing resources, gradually broadening the economic mix and collaborating with similarly situated communities.