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12 University of Maryland • Inaugural Edition
University of Maryland • Inaugural Edition 13
The Central American Free Trade Agreement:
From Ratification to Implementation
with an Emphasis on Poverty in the Rural
Areas of El Salvador
Isabela del Carmen Azucena
Mentor: Dr. Wallace Southerland III
University of Maryland, College Park
Abstract
The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is one that particularly
sparks and merits attention. Essentially, CAFTA is an accord between five Central
American countries, the Dominican Republic and the United States. In the eyes of
its authors, CAFTA will foster democratic development, economic reform, and free
trade; but the implementations of CAFTA also brings into question the dominant
role and powerful influence of the United States in Central American policy, hence
the salience of this study. This qualitative cases study focuses implementation aspect
of CAFTA within El Salvador. More specifically, the study examines how, if at all,
implementation has affected poverty within the rural areas of El Salvador.
This study is guided by two main research questions: What are the characteristics
of poverty in the rural areas of El Salvador? and Who are they major players in the
implementation of CAFTA in El Salvador? Answers to these two research questions
enable the analyst to answer a final, broader, more salient research question: How
has the implementation of CAFTA changed, if at all, the characteristics of poverty
in rural areas of El Salvador and who were responsible for those changes?
To answer the research questions, written records on CAFTA in general and
CAFTA’s implementation, electronic data, documentary data, and interview data
will be collected and analyzed. To aid the analyst in data collection and analysis, an
analytic framework steeped in political orientations of policy making and economic
theories of poverty will serve as a conceptual map for the study. To construct the
analytic framework for this study, literature on poverty, policymaking, public policy
at the federal level, and CAFTA will be examined. As a result of reviewing the
aforementioned bodies of literature, analytical categories will be extrapolated,
integrated into research questions, added to interview instrument, and will be used
to collect, sort, categorize, and analyze the qualitative data. This study will include a
set of conclusions and recommendations for future research.
In sum, this study is important because little is known regarding the
implementation of CAFTA and what players influenced, managed, or controlled
implementation strategies. Further, this study is important because gaps exist in the
literature regarding CAFTA’s influence on poverty in the rural areas of El Salvador.
The results from this study will add to current scholarly thought on CAFTA
implementation.