Former Kellogg Dissertation Year Fellow (1996-97) Jorge Vargas Cullell reports that the program he directs, Programa Estado de la Nación (PEN), will issue the “Informe Estado de la Nación (2023)" for Costa Rica on Nov. 23. This is the 39th edition of the report, which was first introduced in 1995.
The document includes the usual monitoring of sustainable human development issues at a social, economic, environmental and political level, for the purpose of identifying the particularities of the period and analyzing them from a medium- and long-term comparative perspective. In addition, the report's regular chapters include an in-depth analysis of strategic issues for Costa Rica that enrich the analysis and pay more detailed attention to aspects that have a prior diagnosis that allows generating explanatory studies and creating useful tools for decision-making. decisions, and national discussion. This edition includes a particular focus on the topic of the social contract mentioned in the 2022 Report and with a proposal for a special chapter that aims to integrate, expand, and give an analytical and purposeful approach to the issue of inequalities, not only in terms of income, but also in access to services, goods and quality of the environment, social and political participation and, in general, to opportunities and capabilities that enhance their human development.
Vargas Cullel is a researcher in the areas of democracy and political systems and has written numerous books and articles on the quality of democracy, political attitudes, and state reform. He has worked at PEN since 1996, and as director, he supervises all aspects of the Programa's research processes. He holds a PhD in political sciene from the University of Notre Dame.