Invention et rémanence d'une crise : leçons d'Amérique centrale

Abstract

Invention and persistence of a crisis: Lessons of central America All political crises give rise to a competition for the imposition of a reading of events. This production of meaning is partially dependent on the stages and the outcome of the crisis. The invention of a regional crisis in Central America during the 1980s was meant to hide the domestic origins of the unrest and to blame only Sandinista Nicaragua for the disorders. But an analysis of the diplomatie work carried out by the Presidents who held regular summit meetings since 1986 makes it possible to construct a reading of the crisis and its outcome. The collective treatment of a crisis supposes the implementation of regulation mechanisms which do not disappear once the crisis is over. This persistence can be seen in the process of regional integration. The analysis of the relations between a type of integration and the type of crisis that it engenders is carried on the basis of a comparison between the 1950s and the 1980s in Central America.