Topic of thesis: When Policy Meets Politics: Border Development and Economic Integration in Central America
Abstract: The research project will analyze border development policies in ten border cities located in six countries of Central America: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The analysis of such policies would indicate whether cross-border development, known as horizontal integration, in contrast to supranational institutions, known as vertical integration, contribute or not to a new integration paradigm in Central America. The main hypothesis of the research is that border policies in fact contribute to the achievement of horizontal integration in Central America through the creation of enlarged markets where common development policies are applied in common areas. For the data collection, three levels of explanations are provided: a micro level (borders), an intermediate level (cities), and a macro level (central governments and supranational institutions). As for the analysis of the data, the fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) is considered as a strong methodological candidate for this type of research. An advantage of using fsQCA here is that it enables potential clusters of institutional configurations and, hence, policies to be identified. This allows an assessment of the extent to which various institutional combinations can explain horizontal integration.
Research interests: Regional Studies, Economic Integration, Policy Analysis
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