Pat Lauderdale is Professor of Justice and Adjunct Professor of Law at Arizona State University. Michael Cruit is Acting Director of Herbert Blumer Institute, Costa Rica.

"A brilliant synthesis of sensitive and insightful case studies and the development of hypotheses and a multi-level model of 'dispute management.' It is this difficult combination that makes this work a distinctive and powerful contribution to this relatively unexplored, yet increasingly important, domain of research." — Ray Corrado, Criminology, Simon Fraser University"This study is a gold mine of insights, revelations, and critical reflections on the inter-connectedness of social psychological, social, cultural, economic, political, demographic, and geographic factors. It penetrates, unpacks, and reveals the inter-connectedness of both important micro-level and macro-level social, economic, and political structure."— Richard L. Harris, Harvard University

• ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgments1. The ScopeIntroductionDisputes, Law, and DevianceThe SettingSocial Relationships and DisputingRationalization and Access to Dispute ForumsTimeCostThe Politics of Dispute Management in Costa Rica: An Introduction to the Case2. The Disputing ProcessCase 1 - Resident or Squatter?Case 2 - The Colorado CampCase 3 - The House Without a HomeCase 4 - Denouncing the CampesinoCase 5 - The Fruit of the LandCase 6 - The Sierpe GiftCase 7 - The Absentee Landlord and the LocalCase 8 - The InspectionCase 9 - The Rainy Season3. An Analysis of Dispute Management: The Absence of ResolutionThe Nature of the Social RelationshipSimplex/MultiplexInsiders/OutsidersSocial Context and Social RelationshipsAccess and Social ContextTime and Social ContextCost and Social Context4. Conflict and the Struggle for ControlCultural DimensionsTide-TimeMilla MaritimaPrivate/Productive PropertyNonviolent DisputingEncompassing IssuesModes of Dispute ManagementSocial Control and DevianceEpilogue: Justice and Social ControlAppendix A: Agrarian Reform in Central AmericaIntroductionRationalization and Land ReformThe World-Polity PerspectiveLand Tenure and ReformThe Incorporation of Central AmericaThe Commodification of LandWorld System ImpactConclusionAppendix B: The Rationalization of Law in Costa RicaRationalizationRationalization of the Law in Costa RicaIncreased RationalizationSection I: Agrarian Reform in Costa RicaNotesReferencesSubject IndexAuthor Index