State structure and political system of Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a democratic, free and independent republic.
Costa Rica has a Constitution of 1871, radically reformed in 1949 and with subsequent amendments.
The country is divided into 7 provinces (Alajuela, Guana Caste, Cartago, Limón, Puntarenas, San José, Heredia), each of which is divided into cantons, and those into municipalities. There are 63 cantons and 81 municipalities in total.
The largest cities: San Jose, Alajuela, Liberia, Cartago, Lemon, Puntarenas, Heredia, La Cruz.
Costa Rica is a unitary presidential republic with separation of powers. The Constitution enshrined the highest values: independence, respect for human dignity, social justice, peacefulness.
The highest legislative body is the unicameral Legislative Assembly. The highest body of executive power is the government council, headed by the president of the republic. The Supreme Court is at the head of the judiciary.
The head of state is the President of the Republic (now A. Pacheco). The President appoints and removes the personnel of the Armed Forces, civil servants and other officials, takes measures to maintain public order and protect civil liberties, concludes and executes state international treaties, has legislative initiative, sends a draft budget to the assembly and exercises the right of veto over laws adopted by it.
Provincial governors are appointed by the President and report to the Minister of the Interior.
The Legislative Assembly approves the budget, imposes national taxes, authorizes the alienation or acquisition of public property, controls the preservation of natural resources, decides on the replacement of the president in case of his incapacity.
The Legislative Assembly appoints the members of the Supreme Court and his deputies, the Comptroller General and his deputies, establishes the courts and other national bodies.
The judiciary has administrative, economic and organizational independence and is subject only to the law. Members of the Supreme Court are elected by the Legislative Assembly by an absolute majority for 8 years.
Presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections are held simultaneously once every 4 years. Elections are equal, direct and secret. All Costa Ricans over the age of 18 have the right to vote.
Until ser. 1970s the most influential was the National Liberation Party (founded in 1950), which is part of the Socialist International. In the 2002 elections, PLN received 30.99% of the votes and won 17 seats. The Civil Action Party, the youth wing of the PLN, advocates an alternative model of an associative economy and the preservation of socialist values, in the 2002 elections received 26.16% of the vote and 14 seats in parliament.
The leading political party in Costa Rica is the Social Christian Unity Party (formed in 1983), which is part of the Christian Democratic Organization of America. In the 2002 elections, she received 38.6% of the vote and 19 seats in parliament, but lost a qualified majority. 7 seats in parliament received 2 opposition parties – the Liberal Movement and the Costa Rican Renewal.
in Costa Rica in the 19th century. established an influential civil society. It is made up of numerous organizations of the middle strata, trade unions, business associations, unions of students and youth.
According to the Constitution, Costa Rica does not have a standing army, but has well-organized police and border forces.
Science and culture of Costa Rica
According to searchforpublicschools, the system of organization of science in Costa Rica is inextricably linked with higher education and international scientific and university organizations, since Costa Rica is the host country of a number of regional international organizations and institutions, such as the International Institute of Agricultural Sciences, which has been operating since 1944 in Turrialba (funded from the budget OAS), the Higher School for the Training of Administrative Personnel for Central America (opened in 1967, financed from the state budgets of the Central American countries and the UN budget).
In total, 0.1-0.2% of GDP is spent annually on science and technology in Costa Rica.
Since 1964, the State University of Costa Rica has been the central institution responsible for coordinating research and technological activities on a national scale. It has a number of research institutes, centers, and laboratories. The university was founded in 1843, then dissolved for political reasons and resumed its activities as an educational and scientific institution in 1940. Other state universities: National University in Heredia, Open (correspondence) university with 28 regional departments, successfully developing distance education, Technological university (gives higher agricultural and forestry education), private university – Autonomous University of Costa Rica with regional branches.
Costa Rican art and literature are fairly young (by Latin American standards). National literature began to take shape in the 2nd half. 19th century within the framework of costumebrism. J. Garcia Monje (1881-1958), a prominent Central American writer and journalist, who created the first Costa Rican novels The Orphan and The Daughters of the Fields, is considered the founder of the realistic trend. He is the permanent publisher of the Repertorio Americano magazine. This direction can also be attributed to the work of the outstanding educator and poetess, Mexican by origin M.I. Carvajal (1888-1951), who entered the history of Costa Rica under the pseudonym Carmen Lira.
Such representatives of the “older generation” as the poet R. Brenes Mesen (1874–1947), the prose writer R. Fernandez Guardia (1867–1950), and R. Estrada (1901–34) came under the banner of modernism.
The social theme was developed in his work by K.L. Fallas (1909-66) with the widely acclaimed novel Mamita Yunai (1944). Among the “younger generation” there is more attention to the development of personality psychology and a heightened sense of the word, the sophistication of style.
The National School of Fine Arts of Costa Rica was founded in 1897, the fine arts were guided by European models.
In the 1960s and 70s. a new direction took shape, associated with an interest in social topics, in Indian and African American motifs and a subject manner of writing (“new figurativeness”, symbolism). We are talking about the work of such artists as C. Poveda (born 1940), D. Garita (born 1943), C. Barbosa (born 1943), J. Gonzalez (born 1946).
