From the late 1870s onwards, Latin American countries in general and Central America in particular, entered a new phase of economic organization. Even though the essence of the ideological parameters of this new phase was similar for all Central American nations the implementation of these ideas was quite different in Costa Rica. While Liberalism in the rest of the isthmus seemed to provoke the strengthening of repressive systems inherited from the Colonial period, in Costa Rica it was associated with a search for consensus in the exercise of power. Periodic reform movements have marked Costa Rica's history, restraining the dangerous condensation of social unrest which has been the spark of many revolutionary uprisings in other lands. Gradual change has allowed slow structural transformation, thus promoting a high degree of political and social stability. This political option has not been the result of chance; rather it is closely linked with peculiar social relationships and a particular power structure, in which the education system has played a most important role. The process of development, disruption, and subsequent restoration of the 'Liberal oriented political pact' favoured since the 1880s is the key issue of analysis in this thesis. The relationship between politics and education, during the period 1880-1930, is the centre of particular interpretation since under the prevailing scheme of domination, one which favoured consensualism over repression, control over education became a most crucial element of competition in the political game.